Grey's Anatomy Season 19 Episode 5 Review: When I Get To the Border
Jasmine Blu
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We got our answer about how the series intends to write Meredith out for the season or beyond.
Meredith is moving to Boston, and there's such a full-circle aspect. It feels like a natural progression for the character, both accommodating her family, or at least Zola's needs, while also appealing to her own.
In addition to that noteworthy conclusion on Grey's Anatomy Season 19 Episode 5, the hour gave us one of the most gutwrenching cases that take direct aim at the repeal of Roe v. Wade, and it did not miss.
Jesse Williams was back in front of and behind the camera for this installment, and he did a fabulous job in both cases. It was good to see Jackson again. He was genuinely thriving.
Have we ever seen Jackson this happy in his life? The move was good for him, and he's in a position of power where he gets to do some good. He's in his element, and you can tell how fulfilled he's been since he left.
They didn't give us any April mentions, but we did catch a glimpse of Harriet, and they zoomed in on that family photo as an easter egg for all the Japril fans.
Jackson and Meredith have had one of the most underrated friendships in the series, permanently bonded as Legacy kids. He knows Mer well, and it felt true to form that he would try to appeal to her thirst for more and find more purpose and achieve something else when pitching for her to relocate to Boston.
He could see that Mer may have been in a similar position in her life where she needed a change, to spread her wings and fly more. It was a frank discussion that felt like it applied to Mer, Jackson, Pompeo, and Williams.
Zola was a critical factor in Mer fulfilling her needs while also doing the same for her daughter. Everything she did during this installment was for Zola's sake.
She put her needs ahead of everything, still feeling guilty that she hadn't noticed anything sooner. It hit hard when she mentioned that she couldn't see Zola's struggles because she was the child she never had to worry about.
It also was realistic. Isn't that always the case? Isn't that usually the problem in the first place?
Jackson: I kinda think you're having a breakthrough rather than a breakdown.
Mer: Relentless.
Jackson: No, I'm just being a friend.
When you're the child no one has to worry about, you suffer silently and retreat inward. Zola has always handled things eerily well and never tried to make waves; she is wise beyond her years and too mature for her own good.
It was great to hear that she and Mer have attended therapy weekly and Mer was taking other measures to help Zola as best as possible. She also didn't hesitate to acknowledge all the reasons why Zola could be suffering now.
She recognizes that Zola has faced many hardships that have built up throughout her life and that her anxiety now is a culmination of all of it, losing her parents, her home country, her father, and nearly losing Meredith too.
And while there's still something worth saying about how things will be if Zola has to uproot her life in Seattle and move to the other side of the country away from her family, the hour brought this storyline together better than they did before.
You have always been and always will be extraordinary.
Mer [to Zola]
It'll take more than Zola making new friends to make up for the drastic changes she's making. And it is still a matter of how the other kids are affected.
But Mer returning to Boston, her roots, and working alongside one of her best friends to find a cure for Alzheimer's while her daughter gets to thrive in a better environment, suits her and this soft exit that her character is making.
Mer was always passionate about Neuro. There was always this desire to find a cure for the thing that took her mother away.
She's done great things with the Parkinson's work, so this feels like a natural next step for her, and there's no reason for her not to get back into what she likely got into medicine for in the first place.
Jackson had all the right words to appeal to Mer, and knowing it would be the best for Zola sealed the deal. And can we take a moment to appreciate Mer's spin on her mother's words? She didn't hesitate to tell Zola how extraordinary she was, whether she wanted to be a doctor or get into something else entirely.
For now, it seems like a fresh start in a new city at a new school with kids she's interested in, and topics that interest her have mollified Zola. And her knowing that Mer is working on a cure for Alzheimer's may put her mind at ease.
Mer is Boston-bound. Jackson, April, Tom, and now Mer. They're building quite a talented team on the East coast.
There was no mention of Nick; frankly, it's good that he wasn't at the center of any decision-making. However, I wonder how things will pan out with the two. He's only in Seattle now because of Meredith and helping with the program.
Otherwise, he'd be in Minnesota. Does he relocate with her or head back home?
Tom's reappearance was fun because Greg Germann is a hoot and always has the best lines.
But things felt ominous on his end because he has the weight of keeping Catherine's prognosis a secret. She's no longer in remission, and her tumor has grown.
Worse yet, Catherine refuses to tell her family about it or do any more treatment. I don't knock Catherine for finding alternative methods to help, and I don't doubt their effectiveness for pain management.
This is my cancer. This is my choice.
Catherine
But it's frustrating that she's keeping her family in the dark, and we have to worry about whether or not she'll survive.
We certainly weren't spared death in this installment, and Susan's was one of the most heartbreaking things ever.
Susan didn't have to die. Politics failed her. I'm so angry thinking about it.
While this isn't a medical drama's first venture into addressing Roe v. Wade's repeal and what it looks like and means, one appreciates everything they did with this particular instance.
It was a straightforward case, and Susan represented the real women impacted by the repeal and the barbaric ramifications of it.
Women like Susan are suffering right now, dying right now. And I appreciate that they showed us who Susan was leading up to her tragic death.
She was a loving, adoring mom and wife. She couldn't stop talking about her sweet six-year-old girl and how much she wanted to get back to her.
She was excited about having another child. She was such a mom, arranging child care for her kid while she hopped a freaking van to cross state lines to get a simple procedure her OBGYN should've been able to get her without fear that they'd be thrown into prison on a felony.
It's important to see how far-reaching these laws are and how much they impede women's healthcare, which is already a flawed enough field.
Susan sought a DNC to get rid of an ectopic pregnancy that formed on her c-section line. Nothing is viable about her pregnancy; all it could do was erupt and kill her, which is precisely what happened.
But she was denied a procedure that could save her life because the abortion bans are blurry enough that medical practitioners are terrified of losing their licenses and jobs or worse.
Bailey and Addison's simple task of getting this woman to the nearest clinic to perform a simple procedure turned into a bloody tragedy in the blink of an eye.
Women's lives are on the line, and our hands, that are trained to help them, our hands our tied.
Addison
Addison was a badass as she inserted that catheter and tried to buy Susan more time as they drove. And kudos to the series for not shying away from all the blood and mess.
Blood was everywhere, all over the seats, Addison and Susan's hands, and the freaking pavement.
We watched a woman bleed to death, the life slipping from her body because of senselessness. Kate Walsh and the actress who portrayed Susan had such tremendous performances that they moved me to tears.
I choked up when Susan started hyperventilating and speaking about her daughter and everything she still wanted and needed to do. And Addison doing those compressions even though Susan was long gone, ashen face, stiff body, and all broke me.
With the anguished expression on her face and wisps of flyaways whipping around, little things like that pushed it further.
But Bailey and Addison, kneeling by Susan's lifeless body, lying in a pool of her own blood in the dirt on the side of the road as traffic carried on and rode past as if nothing was happening, was such a punch to solar plexus it left you breathless.
It was an arresting image, the equivalent of others stepping over a body and choosing not to see. It was utterly heartbreaking, provocative, and yet effective in delivering the message.
Addison's monologue, as she ranted about how she and other doctors are the ones with the degrees and knowledge but have their hands tied from practicing their craft, was so raw. She felt helpless, angry, disgusted, and hurt.
Addison: Bailey and Addison.
Bailey: American heroes.
It was a powerful speech, a rallying cry if there ever was one. And her and Bailey working out the logistics of their next steps felt true to form for both of them.
Yes, it's odd that the series is acting as if Addison also wouldn't be leaving her family behind to pursue her new mission, but that aside, it was enough to give you chills.
Bailey found a way to use the PRT for good, something that Addison could do. She can set up in a state like Illinois, which borders many other states with abortion bans, and she can help in all the ways that only she can.
When Bailey, Addison, and Cynthia recited statistics about the thousands of women who will cross state borders and how that will affect healthcare systems, it felt natural and not forced and preachy.
If this is the future, it's bleak.
Addison
We got to see how a clinic handles the neverending workload and the strain it puts on an understaffed facility via Cynthia's work, which was essential.
We got to see all of this in action organically without it feeling like a "very special episode," and somehow, that made it even more effective and meaningful.
To provide some levity to the hour, we had some limited intern shenanigans, and the issue with Lucas' identity may come to a head now.
Two things can be true at once, and both Lucas and Amelia have points here.
Amelia said that she would let any trusted intern do something like take Scout to daycare, but it doesn't change the fact that she hasn't done that. She exclusively seeks Lucas out for things at work even after he's clarified why he wants some reasonable distance.
Amelia can't seem to help herself. It made no sense that workers at a hospital daycare where they know they're dealing with the children of medical staff would contact Lucas to get clothes for Scout after an accident.
There are changes of clothes somewhere. Somebody else could've done it. Who contacts a doctor for that?
It was some contrivance to lead to all those awkward but amusing moments where Lucas got caught with Scout and spurred on the theories that he was sleeping with Amelia.
But Amelia is 100% right about those lies. Lucas is so self-absorbed when it comes to this issue that he's not even thinking about its effects on Amelia.
Protocols are in place to ensure that sexual harassment isn't taking place for instances like this. He's not thinking about how these rumors could get Amelia into trouble or undermine her.
Blue basically solicited Amelia for a shot at surgery. It's something that can't carry on, and he shouldn't want to subject his aunt or any woman to the effects of rumors pertaining to their sex lives.
His hangups about getting to be himself and forging his path outside of the shadow of his family name and legacy are valid. And no one understands what it's like to feel like the family disappointment more than Amelia, but this needs to end, and the truth must come out.
Amelia is good for giving him ample time to rectify the situation before she comments. My darling Lucas needs to pull up his big boy pants, hopefully, bigger than those he had to buy Scout, and confess.
It's not like Simone doesn't already know the truth anyway. The others will have comments, but there's no getting around it.
Over to you, Grey's Fanatics. Did you like how they addressed the Roe v. Wade repeal with Susan's case? What are your thoughts on Mer moving to Boston? 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.
