Grey's Anatomy Season 14 Episode 20 Review: Judgment Day
Jasmine Blu
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Well, it was just as we suspected on Grey's Anatomy Season 14 Episode 20. The Harper Avery scandal is a sexual harassment scandal.
It's a timely topic for the series to address given the Me Too movement. The remainder of the season should be interesting because this isn't a storyline that can be wrapped up in 45 minutes.
I can overlook the fact that we spent an entire hour dragging out a scandal most of us already figured out because half of the doctors being high was hilarious.
Arizona's lesbian couple patients deserve recognition for being one of the kookiest pairs we have seen in the series in a long time. They keep popping up in these unusual ways, and they always bring the humor.
This time, they brought edibles, and it was all facepalm moments from there. So, I didn't know about marijuana-laced peanut butter was a thing. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though.
I also found it odd that they thanked Arizona with peanut butter cookies. The cookie part didn't throw me, but peanut butter, why?
There are so many different types of nut allergies, so it's strange that they would give Arizona that particular type of cookie. It was even stranger that Arizona was passing them around to anyone in the vicinity.
Arizona must have some experience puffing the magic dragon because she was the least affected by them despite eating some.
From her mostly one-sided conversation with Maggie, it seems that Arizona is afraid that she rushed things with Carina.
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It was nice hearing her talk about their relationship because we haven't seen very much of it this season. It tapered off at some point, and they picked it up and dusted it off again on Grey's Anatomy Season 14 Episode 19.
Arizona reevaluating her relationship with Carina (and Minnick) and referring to Carina as Callie was an enlightening moment. What's gleaned from that, or at least what's supposed to be gleaned from that, is that Carina is the new love of Arizona's life.
That's quaint, but again, it sucks that there was so little of their relationship shown. The majority of their relationship has taken place offscreen, so how can we the viewers feel the love between Carina and Arizona when the little we did see felt like a fun and flirty fling?
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As an aside, that's what made the Andrew and Sam relationship miss the mark. They, unfortunately, had more screen time together than Carina and Arizona, but what they did show us wasn't a great love affair that we were supposed to believe when Sam was getting deported.
Then, as if it didn't suck enough that Andrew was wasted for most of the season, high Andrew still spent his time daydreaming about Sam. I did laugh when he kept getting distracted by the artwork on the walls of the hospital, and it was absolutely adorable that he ended up at Meredith's house crashing on the couch while the sisters talked.
Jo was the MVP resident of the establishment because she rocked that surgery she was in. For one, I like the fact that Richard clearly has one of the strongest prototypes of the bunch. The judges were digging it too as he was the only one who was able to present his prototype before everything was shut down due to that "rat poisoning" incident.
Richard's prototype got put to the test on Bailey's Jo's patient, and it was a success. Jo was able to get cancer removed from the patient's stomach without having to remove his stomach completely.
Wilson, you're a surgeon. Pull up your big girl scrubs and make a call. There's a life on the line here.
Meredith
God, it's remarkable how tolerable Jo has been for most of the season. I never thought I would see the day.
The bond that she and Meredith have formed continues to be one of the best parts of the season. For years, Jo was flailing trying to pinpoint a specialty, and there was a brief period where she had a mentor in Callie and an interest in Orthopedics.
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It's great that she's back on track with a mentor, and it's even better that said mentor is Meredith. There are moments, like Meredith's parting advice and comments about Jo being a great surgeon, not just a good one, where it hits you that the show has been on for nearly a decade and a half.
Meredith went from a bumbling intern to this world-renown, kickass, award-winning surgeon who has mentored others the way that she was mentored. It hits you in the feels. That was also hitting home when she assured Miranda that she would take care of everything, and high Miranda told her that she loved her.
Meredith has come so far, and it was this beautiful cycle of mentorship and sisterhood with the passing off of this surgery.
Of course, everything that Meredith thought she knew has been turned upside down because of this Harper Avery scandal. Props are given to the series for humanizing Marie again. She was written off as a petty, vindictive adversary when she left.
Finding out that she was one of the women who Harper Avery sexually assaulted puts a lot of things into perspective. So, that's the real reason Ellis had to take her name off the project. If Ellis had to choose between scrapping their life-saving research and eliminating the cause of it being turned away, then Marie had to go.
The Harper Avery has been this prestigious award and honor for so long, and it's sobering when this sexual harassment scandal tarnishes the legacy of it.
How does one wrap their head around the fact that they spent their entire life working towards this honor only to discover that it's tainted? This foundation is built on the backs, pain, sacrifices, and dignity of women who got sexually assaulted. As a woman, it's hard to look at the award the same way.
Jackson was rightfully livid when he was told the truth. It's not just how it relates to the legacy of the foundation and the hospital. It's his family legacy, too. He loathed his grandfather but finding out that the man was a sexual predator is insane.
I'm not ashamed of myself, Jackson, but I am ashamed of what your grandfather did.
Catherine
What's truly messed up is the fact that the truth about Harper Avery came out posthumously, and now, his loved ones have to pay for his mistakes and indiscretions.
The conversation between Jackson and Catherine was fantastic because it gave two different sides. Initially, it was easy to be disgusted with Catherine right along with Jackson. Right is right, and wrong is wrong.
Of course, that's easy to say now. There is a reckoning, and sexual abusers are facing the music. Now, the thought of someone covering up sexual harassment to this degree and giving women hush money is abhorrent.
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Except, sexual harassment was another part of the job as a woman 30 years ago. It was widely accepted, and a woman had to deal with it.
That's not even taking into consideration the fact that they were women in male-dominated fields. We saw via flashbacks how difficult it was for Ellis being a doctor during the 80's.
Jackson: Why would anyone protect him? Why wouldn't anyone try to stop him? Why didn't you try to stop him?
Catherine: Because that's not how it works.
Catherine did the only thing she thought she could. She gave the victims money and a chance to not have their entire careers ruined because of their experience with Avery.
When you think about the time period when this was happening, you can understand the position Catherine was in. It's loathsome, but it's the sad reality of the times.
However, Froy didn't look very old which would suggest that this was still happening fairly recently, and to that, I think something more should have happened. Also, Catherine isn't off the hook for not telling her son the truth earlier.
How the hell does she expect Jackson to run the board and the hospital if she doesn't give him all the information? It's information he needs to know!
GSM have to brace themselves because a storm is coming. My mind is spinning with all the legal ramifications an things that will come about now that the scandal is out. GSM shouldn't have to weather this storm over the actions of a dead man.
Additional Notes:
- Roy deserved to get fired. Good freaking riddance. His actions were inexcusable, and he could have killed someone.
- High April and Maggie were glorious. I could not stop laughing at the two of them. April had that paranoid quality down. The bagpipe thing was too funny.
- April admitted that she knew about Jackson and Maggie, but like, was it ever a secret? The two of them are all over each other throughout the hospital. She says she's dating someone though, who do you think it is? Tom? Matthew? Someone rando?
- Maggie had the best lines while high. "I don't think I need my neck anymore," had me in stitches. Then there's when she told Jo that she looked like a cartoon, or when she called the time of death for the board because she couldn't bring the liver back up on the screen.
- It was not Alex's first time being high, but boy was he entertaining as all hell. I loved when Amelia packed him snacks for the ride back home and passed him to Jo like he was a little kid.
- How the hell does Owen have a foster baby already? Holy crap!
- I notice that this is the 14 Season and 20th episode. 4/20. Did they plan this? It's like they planned this.
Over to you Grey's Fanatics, did you enjoy this hour? Who was your favorite doctor under the influence? Are you shocked by this sex scandal? Hit the comments!
If you need to relive the laughs and fun, 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.
