Grey's Anatomy Review: Maggie Checks Out of Grey Sloan Memorial!
Jasmine Blu
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With a two-hour special packed with so much, Grey's pulled off a beautiful, simplistic, and fitting departure for Maggie Pierce.
The irony of them combining Grey's Anatomy Season 19 Episode 14 and Grey's Anatomy Season 19 Episode 15 for a supersized farewell that exceeded Meredith's goodbye isn't lost on anyone.
But with the rocky departures, the series has pulled off over the years, it was nice to have something decent and did the character leaving justice.
At the heart of the installments, Maggie spent her last days at Grey Sloan Memorial being the incredibly badass surgeon and the attentive doctor she is and making right and settling things with all the people she was leaving behind in pursuit of her future and passion.
Unlike her mother, Maggie has always been ambitious, passionate, kind, and compassionate. She's in medicine for the love of it as well as a genuine desire to make a difference and help people.
It's the latter that likely separates her from Ellis. Still, there are so many reasons why she invites the comparison to a mother she never even knew, and how she's handled her romantic relationships is a prime example.
Everything that had transpired between Maggie and Winston pointed toward the two being doomed.
But they at least brought us back around to what was always good about the pairing, and that's how well they work with one another in the field.
They've always connected in the OR, and they could be a prime example of how some partnerships don't have to be romantic.
In hindsight, maybe their love story is a case of mistaking what type of life partners they were meant to be to each other. So often, we're quick to shove and define a relationship into a romantic category when that may not be the love and bond intended.
When Maggie and Winston get in that OR, magic happens, and that's where he's genuinely her partner. Trying to change that is likely where things became a problem in the first place.
You loving your job is a beautiful thing. Don't ever let someone make you feel bad about that. It doesn't make you cold; it makes you passionate.
Maggie
Both of them were trying to make their relationship something it was incapable of being because they weren't compatible in the way that leads to marriage, love, and traditional happiness.
High off of the success in the OR, Winston made the grave and pointless error of asking Maggie to stay in Seattle, which was just ludicrous on his part.
Maggie was never the person who would prioritize her love life or even the love of her family over her passion as a doctor, so asking her to stay when she has her heart set on following her dream and breaking new ground in her career elsewhere is like asking her to shrivel up and die.
It was selfish of Winston and even naive if, for a moment, he thought she'd consider it. He shouldn't have wanted her to, frankly.
But it was also presumptuous and selfish of Maggie to ask Winston to come with her to Chicago, with no assurances of a job anywhere, just because he makes her a better doctor and surgeon.
It would've been unfair to him if he got reduced to this man who follows Maggie around with no space outside the shadow she casts, existing in her realm solely to better her career.
It was a selfish ask on her part, too. And their only solution was for Maggie to go to Chicago and Winston to stay at GSM. And by now, we've seen that they're just not compatible for marriage, let alone a long-distance one, so it felt right that they ended things amicably.
They both deserve to be happy.
Maggie: My heart's in my work, Winston. I don't think I'm cold, and I don't think you're a coward. I think that we did the best we could and that neither of us is to blame. I love you, but I have to go.
Winston: I love you, too. And I have to stay.
But Winston had Maggie pondering some things because he brought up Ellis and drew a comparison between her and her biological mother that had her fearing the absolute worst.
And he didn't even do it maliciously, but he was likely making the same conclusions many viewers were as well, that Maggie is her mother's daughter.
And they spent the rest of the time showing that in many ways she is, she's pieces of Ellis, some of the best and most admirable parts, but she's also pieces of her mother Diane, whose influence softens the rough edges.
Maggie is the best of these women, and it's nothing to be ashamed about. She closed out her departure beautifully by stepping into that elevator with Ellis and Diane on either side.
Maggie, you are so much more than Ellis' cold ambition.
Catherine
It was one of the most emotional moments of the ordeal, and there were many of those.
As women in the field, especially women of color, it was a great parallel to have Maggie get this advice and share such a special moment with Catherine, who knew Ellis in a way and saw everything that Maggie was and how she's a great doctor and person.
She could reassure Maggie that she's not a terrible person for having focus and ambition. Catherine could come from this place as someone who essentially paved the way for Maggie as a trailblazer she looked up to herself.
And then we had that moment of sisterhood where Maggie was the trailblazer who inspired Simone and spent her final day teaching her how to be a good doctor, connect with patients, and more.
Maggie's moments with Webber were endearing. As usual, he had such a hard time with losing Maggie and did the same thing he did when Mer left, going off about loyalty and taking his frustrations out on others.
But the most emotional moment for the two was when he gave her that little bench representative of the one they sat on when he learned he had a daughter.
And we didn't get the type of deep moment you'd expect between Maggie and Amelia, but as best friends and sisters, you could feel every ounce of the love between them and how hard it would be for them to be away from each other.
They went into overdrive trying to nail home that Maggie shouldn't be shamed for her ambition when it wasn't that people had an issue with that, so much as how horribly she was treating Winston for being different than her.
We saw that with the case of the lawyer who tragically learned she had breast cancer, as she gave her advice on not being ashamed of being career-focused.
Overall, it was a lovely sendoff for Maggie.
Outside of that, the installments were packed with so many different storylines, twists, and plot points.
They built up Amelia and Kai, bringing Kai back into the fold and cashing in on the love of this relationship and their chemistry. Then they blindsided Amelia and the audience.
With Maggie leaving, Amelia was open with Kai about how she'd spiral out and doesn't handle things well when she learns that people are leaving her.
And Kai was so supportive and comforting. They listened to Amelia and then recited a truly romantic monologue about what they see in Amelia, simply that she's everything; she's a queen.
But then we got the rug pulled from under our feet when Kai shared that they got an opportunity in London and took the job.
While we don't know the extent of their relationship with Amelia and how it's labeled, and Amelia shouldn't have any say in Kai's career choices, it still felt wrong that Kai didn't even pose the opportunity as something worth a discussion.
Kai: I love you; that is still true. But --
Amelia: But. That's what people say before they abandon you.
Amelia had every right to be upset that Kai blindsided her the way they did, and now she's losing someone she loves without much of a heads-up.
But Kai also pointed out that Amelia made this entire situation about herself. We watched her process all these absences and only spoke about how it impacted or reflected on her.
Nevertheless, both of them knew what they were getting into here. It's hard to invest too much in whatever happy ending they thought they'd have when issues always stand in their way.
Kai loves their career and is more focused on the job. Whereas Amelia loves the love and how safe she feels with Kai. It's been rare that Amelia had a safe space.
But how are they supposed to make a relationship last to their liking when there are some obstacles?
Kai is content with their lives being drastically different and stealing away moments when Amelia's not dealing with her kid.
They've somehow managed to make things between them work, but it was bound to be an issue for them that would rear its head.
Kai doesn't want children and wants no part in dealing with them. It means that they're content with Amelia when she's not a mom, and it's impossible to keep those parts of Amelia's life separated and balanced.
The Amelia I know is inspiring. She's not the queen of spirals. She's just the queen.
Kai
As a result, Kai is perfectly okay with a long-distance arrangement, and going off to do whatever they like and pursue their passions seems reasonable for them. Amelia needing more than Kai was ever capable of giving is tough.
As popular as this pairing is, they were due for friction like this, and it's not entirely surprising that they landed where they did. Amelia deserved the truth and Kai being upfront about the move as well as them not making digs about how needy she is, especially after she was vulnerable and opened up about her abandonment issues.
It was messed up to sleep with Amelia, wooing her and everything else, only to drop a bombshell they knew would hurt her deeply.
And Kai deserves someone who can understand their perspective and the boundaries they set without expecting more.
It was all so crushing for Amelia, though.
One of the other big developments was Jo learning that Luna has progressive hearing loss.
While it was sad that Link's plans to tell her how he felt, inspired by Owen's utterly romantic admission about Teddy that seemed to inspire and hit close to home for Link and Lucas, fell through, he showed up for Jo when she needed it most.
She probably would've bailed and avoided learning the truth about Luna if he hadn't come to that appointment. But she's not taking the news well.
She needed time to process it and resented that Link was already on his "Be positive" game with her. You can understand both perspectives.
Sometimes you can do everything perfectly and it still doesn't matter.
Winston
No one wants to hear anything wrong with their child, and Jo needs a minute to process it. But she always was acting as if Luna having hearing loss was the worst thing in the world, and there was something offputting about how doomsday she was over that.
Levi got to stand up for himself in a way he earned because it was surprising how many people were on his case.
Levi is in the interesting position of representing the young doctors whose entire lives and career experiences shifted and changed because of the pandemic.
It was annoying when Blue seemed judgmental about Levi's late consideration of a fellowship, and Webber was rude about all of it.
Webber knows how the pandemic affected how they did things and the residents. He also knows that the program got shut down, and Levi had that burnout issue.
Levi didn't warrant all the treatment he got about all of that. But his connection with Grayson was strong, and the Bar Mitzvah he threw him was great.
I never anticipated Levi in Peds, but that's an interesting turn for him that he could handle based on what we've seen thus far.
Additional Notes:
- Lucas getting stuck on Pru duty was the cutest. They're both so precious, and she looked like him. He's great with kids, though, and it provided more than a few laughs.
- I felt awful for Mika. She's working herself too hard, and it will catch up to her, but it was wrong of Blue to steal her surgery.
- Teddy is so much better when she leans into the comedy. Her whole shtick with Jolink was hilarious.
- It's growing more worrisome that people are after Bailey like this. She's getting pictures of her kids at school, over 200 calls in one day, and so much more. I'm glad she's taking it more seriously, but this is scary.
- Nola's friend barging into the hospital and taking over intercoms, demanding Maggie was so unrealistic and way too much.
- Catherine had another check-up and told Webber everything is fine, but it doesn't stop the worry.
Over to you, Grey's Fanatics.
What did you think of Maggie's farewell? Did she and Winston make the right call? How do you feel about Kai and Amelia's "breakup?" Sound off below!
You can watch Grey's Anatomy online 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.
