Grey's Anatomy Season 14 Episode 18 Review: Hold Back the River
Jasmine Blu
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That was rude as hell, Grey's Anatomy!
For months, fans have been speculating how Arizona (and April) will depart the series. On Grey's Anatomy Season 14 Episode 18, we (and Arizona) were given quite a scare when they led us to believe that she could have Breast Cancer.
That was low, but at least it wasn't real, and Owen got to release all of that pent-up frustration he's been harboring.
I know we're all supposed to be all up in our feelings about the case with Kimmie, and I totally am, but the best parts of the hour were those involving Owen and Arizona.
The two of them are such an unexpected duo. I couldn't recall if they ever orbited around each other enough to consider themselves friends. Owen is friends with April, and he briefly was close with Meredith when Cristina left him.
Outside of that, he also had a nice rapport with Callie, but I don't recall he and Arizona ever hanging out or anything like that or even working together too often. That's why it was rather amusing that Arizona butted herself into his business by confronting him about his epic Teddy fail.
Yeah, that's not happening, sorry.
Amelia [after trying to talk to Teddy on the phone for Owen]
Poor Teddy probably hasn't heard from any of these people in years, but now she's getting phone calls from the other side of the world from Amelia and Arizona phishing for information on the many ways in which Owen screwed up in Germany.
That's some dedicated friendship type of stuff right there, and I am here for it.
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The return of all these familiar patients that we've seen before was nice because there's follow-up without it being a large arc like the Denny's, Henry's, and Ava's of the past.
Peggy was the woman whose baby Carina delivered. This time, she came in giving high praise to an oncologist, Dr. Hanson, and she was under the impression she had stage two breast cancer.
I have breast cancer?
Arizona
I kind of knew where this was headed because I have been having my fill of it over on another dishy medical drama, The Resident. Feel free to join us in the comment sections of The Resident reviews.
Anyway, I already hated Hanson with a passion, and Owen was my soul brother during this hour because he wasn't having any of Hanson's hanky-panky either. That's how we ended up with the funniest and scariest scenes of the installment.
It was pure awesomeness watching Arizona and Owen pose as husband and wife during their Hanson investigation. Who knew those two had such a fun chemistry? Owen trying to avoid staring at Arizona's breasts during the examination was too funny, but then, the crap hit the fan when Hanson told her that she had breast cancer, too.
Suddenly, their mission to prove that Hanson was lying to these women so he could profit off of the unnecessary chemotherapy he was giving them didn't matter because the ultrasound clearly showed Arizona had breast cancer.
For a few harrowing moments, it seemed like Arizona would be going out with this type of storyline, and I was livid, so I can't imagine how die-hard Arizona fans were feeling!
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The two of them rushing back to their hospital and dragging April into a room so that they could find out if it was true, was the most real moment. By then, Owen didn't care about Arizona's modesty because he was too concerned about his friend.
Can you believe Hanson went so far as to fake ultrasounds? That man is a gosh damn monster! I'm sorry, I know that violence isn't the answer, but Owen was at his absolute sexiest when he approached Hanson after hours with that sleazebag in his crosshairs. He was like a predator zeroing in on its prey.
Don't worry, they're with me.
Owen [After the police sirens are going off]
Owen could have gone as far as jamming that needle in that man's arm, and I can't say I would have cared. Owen screwed up, and he was in the doghouse after that stunt in Germany, but he gets brownie points for how he worked through his anger.
Also, if Owen, Arizona, and April hang out more in the remaining episodes, it won't be disappointing.
Owen's anger was acceptable, but Alex's display was not. For one, we have been here before countless of times. When exactly does he get past this aggressive streak of his? It's not pretty at all.
The other thing is that once again, he directed it at someone who wasn't deserving of it. Alex is extremely attached to Kimmie. In fact, he's at a point where he probably shouldn't be working on her case anymore. That doesn't justify his violent outburst with Tom.
Knowing what we know about Tom's past and losing his son, it made the scene all the more difficult to watch. He can't have another kid's death on his hands. He was also the first one to freak out when the machine was overheating Noah's brain. Tom, for all of his bluster, can't work with the tiny humans.
He can be such an obnoxious jackass, but then he has those moments where you know he's a decent guy. Did any of you catch him telling Amelia that he would use the rest of his vacation days to take Kimmie to all the best Broadway shows?
The procedure barely worked on Noah, but Kimmie doesn't have enough time for them to perfect it. Kimmie is dying, and Alex is going to have to accept that. There is no telling how he'll behave when she eventually dies. It's going to be a mess.
Amelia: What did we do to him?
Alex: C'mon, kid.
Richard, oddly enough, will fare better than Alex. It's great for continuity when they refresh our memories that he's a recovering alcoholic who could fall off at any point with the right trigger.
The death of his sponsor, Olive, would be a heck of a trigger. Did anyone else smile when he brought Maggie and Meredith into the room with him to meet Olive? It was like he was introducing her to his daughters, and he was beaming like a proud dad. Apparently, he talks about them both all of the time.
The parallels between Maggie not accepting her mother's death until the end, and Richard not accepting Olive's death, was right there for the taking. Maggie and Richard's talk was special. They don't have those father/daughter scenes very often.
The AA meeting Richard, Amelia, and Olive held in the hospital room was also a nice moment.
It was also a fantastic moment when Jo realized that she and Meredith don't need the polymers after all! Isn't that crazy?! They went through all that trouble and drama with Marie, and they don't even need the polymers. Meredith can grow her tiny livers and change the game with her cutting-edge research.
Another game-changer is the repercussions of April's apology tour. Bless her sweet little heart, she was apologizing to everyone, and the funny thing is half of them didn't even realize she was off her rocker. Ha!
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Jackson seemed a bit hurt that she was avoiding him, but it was fairly obvious that she was saving the most difficult person for last. It's interesting that she felt her losing God for a bit was like Jackson was being proven right. That was an unforeseeable direction taken.
Her apology to Maggie, however, may have done more harm than good because she let the cat out of the bag that she made a move on Jackson.
You know what's weird? Jackson and Maggie have been all over each other since they made their relationship official. They haven't been hiding it at all, so how is it April didn't notice?
This feels like one of those contrived moments that won't turn into anything.
You know what else is contrived? All things Sam and DeLuca. Does anyone care that they're moving in together? Does anyone believe it'll actually happen? Meh.
I slept with an intern, the douchy one, yeah, and then I slept with Tom Koracik. And I jumped my ex-husband in a closet, so you know, I was just, like, a total mess!
April [to Maggie]
They did bring back the DeLuca and Amelia mentor/mentee relationship that was wicked awesome during Amelia's tumor scare, and he had that funny comment about his roommates banging his MIA sister, though.
Anyway, Bailey trying to seduce Ben was far more entertaining than Bello and Blandrew (I love Tom!).
Over to you Grey's Fanatics, did Alex go too far? Were you pissed about the Arizona breast cancer misdirect? Are you happy for Mer? Hit the comments!
As always, you can watch Grey's Anatomy online right here via TV Fanatic!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
