TV REVIEW: Love and Death on Grey’s Anatomy “When I Grow Up”

The planets aligned and all was right with the world again on the latest Grey’s Anatomy.

Derek has returned! Maggie questions Meredith about “him” being back, asking “So he’s just back?” Yep. Meredith says she’s “just so blessed.” We agree with her that we want to throat punch anyone who uses that phrase, but we’ll let it go because we feel blessed that McDreamy has graced us with his presence.

Grey’s can bring us to tears every week. Every darn week. How? Well, kill off a couple of heroes, add a grieving mom who wows us with a selfless act, throw in some confessions of love, and you’ve got the recipe for tears, Grey’s Anatomy style.

Worst Field Trip Idea Ever

“When I Grow Up” opens with a group of kids on a field trip to the ER. Wow, who was the brain trust that thought this would be a good idea? It goes about as expected … blood, gunshot victims, and trauma will probably scar the little ones for a lifetime.

First up for the children, several cops being brought in with multiple gunshot wounds. Two of the seriously injured are brothers. The highs and lows of Grey’s are on full display in tonight’s installment. One of the brothers crashes, but Maggie brings him back. Yay! Amelia comes in for the low and says pupils are fixed, “he’s most likely brain dead.” No!

Next stop on this fun-filled field trip – pediatrics. The kids head up to the land of Robbins and Karev, asking questions like “what’s a womb?” and “is that policeman going to die?” Alex, big kid himself, takes over showing the kids a cool x-ray of a nail in a skull and a coffee can in a man’s abdomen. Don’t ask how that got in there.

(ABC/Mitchell Haaseth)
KEELY WILSON, SHANNON BROWN, SARAH DREW

Those Tragedies Keep on Rolling

We are really pulling for the brother of the dead cop, hoping Meredith’s streak will come back. There is no way that Grey’s will kill off both men, right? Wrong. The mom of the pair demonstrates a grief so deep it’s almost palpable. When her second son, Brett, suffers a clot during surgery and is also declared brain dead, we have to remind ourselves this is only make believe.

Cop mom says, “I woke up this morning the mother of two perfect children.” Oh, the feels. Tears here, tears there, tears everywhere. Two brain dead brothers within the first 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, a suspect in the shooting, a teenage boy gets hauled in with gunshot wounds of his own. Turns out the bad teen was probably the driver of the getaway car, has no parents, growing up in the foster system. Bailey is so sympathetic, too sympathetic, doing everything she can to save the boy. He survives surgery but his liver’s done, needing a transplant now. She leaves Ben with him so he won’t die alone while she concocts a plan to get him an organ. You know where this is going, right? Two dead cops with functioning livers, one teen boy who happens to need one. You can do the math.

Meredith is tasked with the daunting job of asking cop mom for her hero sons’ organs. Bailey wants to call dibs on one to save the teen, but Meredith says there is no way. As Mer broaches the topic of organ donation with cop mom, Bailey barges in asking her for the organs. “You can go to hell,” mom tells her. Meredith is not happy. “That’s dozens of transplant patients that you just screwed out of a chance.”

We have to side with Meredith on this one. We love you, Miranda, but how could you? What mother would want to save the life of the man perhaps responsible for her two sons’ deaths? Not this one.

But our Bailey bitter moment ends in tears when the cop Callie’s treating says they all know the bad teen. He’s really just a mixed up kid the dead cops were trying to help out. He says Brett would have called this moment, “his moment.” Either turn it around or end up dead. Meredith has the cop talk to cop mom. They just got that kid his liver. Make you cry music pipes in as we see the surgeons harvest all the organs to hopefully save many lives.

Grey’s expertly interweaves a little funny and sweet in our tragedy of the night. The sweet comes when cute cop under Callie’s care says, “If today weren’t today, you know like it was like any day, I’d ask you to have dinner with me.” He needs something good to come out of the day. She says she needs to see him back in ten days for a follow up on that leg. Sounds like a plan. So they have a date in ten days?

(ABC/Mitchell Haaseth)
SARA RAMIREZ, KEVIN ALEJANDRO

Stephanie’s Hot for Teacher

Stephanie is trying the online dating thing, but her judgy clicks to the next pic are preventing her from actually going on any real dates. She says she can tell it all by their profile pictures. She doesn’t need all that Match.com action because the teacher supervising the field trip is pretty cute and pretty interested. He’s cute but not winning any Teacher of the Year Awards when he goes to the bathroom and, oops, the kids disappear. Stephanie helps him track them down. There is no peeing in teaching, bud.

Later, the school group gets ready to leave, but they’re one child short. Another potty break for teach? A little girl is observing a surgery when Derek wanders in. The two have a heart to heart. The little one says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Derek talks about how great his wife is offering her up as a role model and almost idol. It’s another sweet moment to temper the sad. The frantic mom rushes in relieved that her baby is okay.

“You’re hot for teacher. Let it happen,” Jo advises. Couldn’t agree more.

By episode’s end, Stephanie awkwardly asks the cute teacher if he wants to hang out sometime. He can’t believe she wants to go out with him. She says let’s go get a drink. He can’t. She says coffee on Friday? Sure, right after prom. He’s a high school student! It turns out cute teacher is a teacher helper trying to pad his college application. Poor Stephanie. She finds a man to date and he turns out to be a kid. We cried a little for her. Wait, those were Jo’s tears from laughing so darn hard.

(ABC/Mitchell Haaseth)
KEVIN ALEJANDRO

Derek’s Okay with Being the Number Two Shepherd

Derek wants his old gig back or close to his last gig. Owen is thrilled but says it needs to be approved by Amelia the current owner of his old job. He tries to play nice, telling the field trip group that she’s his boss. Derek does not do second banana and I think he may have actually strained something trying to pretend that he does.

After the tragedies of the day, Derek checks on his sister. “Are you okay?”

She says she’s happy for him, glad he’s back and not running. “Hey, we are runners… when something scares us, we sprint.” But Derek turned around this time. The sibling bonding time is another opportunity for a little sweet among all the sour. Derek admits he visited mom who gave him a little tough love, “your life’s not working. Go fix it!” I like that mom. He further admits that he was missing his kids growing up. He’ll take that over changing the world any day of the week.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Amelia says. We are too. Amelia has her own admission, “I’m falling in love with Owen Hunt. I’m afraid it’s going to destroy me.”

“It wouldn’t be love if not,” Derek advises with a smile. And it certainly wouldn’t be Grey’s.

All in all, it was an emotional episode of loss but also one of forgiveness and strangely enough hope. It pulled on our heartstrings so many times, we couldn’t believe it when Jackson used the term Plastics Parade so we could add a Mark feel on the already overflowing pile of feels doled out.

So what did you think of Derek’s triumphant return? Will he be able to take a back seat to Amelia? Will Mer/Der live the happily ever after we hope for?

Grey’s Anatomy airs on Thursdays at 8:00 pm on ABC..