Grey's Anatomy - One Flight Down - Review

Do you remember “the surge”? Episode 9x02, Mark wakes up, and as Webber describes it has “a final surge of energy, they get better before they get worse...in a little while he’ll do what all patients do, he’ll have epiphanies, he’ll tell you what really matters in life, he’ll ask for his family...” It was sad. It was heartbreaking and if you’re a Mark fan like me it meant that not only did a great character die but a big piece of Grey’s Anatomy died too.

Derek Shepherd has had a “surge”. I’d go as far as saying Richard Webber has had a surge too...but let’s get to that later.

Patrick Dempsey is leaving Grey’s Anatomy. This is not a spoiler, before y’all break down in tears of agony and despair. I do not know if PD is leaving or not. I know no more than you do. In fact I probably know less than you do. But seeing season eleven progress, watching and enjoying another excellent episode in 11.20, all the signs are there for a seismic shift for McDreamy

Derek is missing. But frankly that’s not the biggest signal that something is wrong. What jumps through the screen is the enormous epiphany he’s been on since returning from DC. The man is renewed, refocused and all together wayyyyyy too happy. And if that wasn’t enough he’s declared his undying love for Meredith and his desire to have more kids. His departure has been foreshadowed by both
Meredith – “I can live without you. But I don’t want to. I don’t ever want to” and Amelia – “you have never lost the love of your life, you have never cried over the body of the person you love most in this world. You don’t know how that messes a person up”. It is not a coincidence that Meredith and Arizona find themselves locked together in a supply room telling themselves that they are okay, they are alive while Derek is missing.

Derek is having a surge and we, the poor humble, loyal viewer, are on notice for something tragic.

Episode 11.20, One Flight Down, proved to be a pivotal point in this brilliant season of Grey’s Anatomy. A strategic episode, loaded with content, designed to whet the appetite for season finale, designed to signal quite possibly the most dramatic end to a Grey’s season ever. I feel like I’m watching an entirely different show to seasons 7, 8 and 9, possibly even 10.

A plane went down in Seattle promoting a major trauma alert and a potential PTSD melt down. Meredith, one of the first to react, is caught between the panic that something is wrong regarding Derek and the flashback of her own major plane crash ordeal. Desperate to find solace with a kindred spirit she seeks out a distressed Arizona and the two of them ride the emotional storm together. This particular storm is short lived with both doctors able to regroup and re-enter the OR. Through flashback, a calling card of season eleven, we live through Meredith’s last moments with Derek. They are profound and time will tell whether these moments really are their final moments.

Has anyone actually told Maggie anything about Meredith? The poor girl finally finds out about the plane crash that devastated the hospital. This is a plane crash that killed two doctors, that bestowed tainted riches on the survivors, that forced a sell off of the hospital, that created board members out of surgeons. HOW ON EARTH DID SHE NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?
Amusing as it was listening to another chapter of Maggie verbosing (I think I just made up a verb there) it does seem incredible that she was in the dark. But that wasn’t the only mystery – it seems that all along Arizona has been in the dark about the fact that it was Alex that actually cut the leg off and not, as she had assumed, Callie. Now there are all sorts of things wrong with this....surely you would have post op consultations with the surgeon that did the chop, surely there are other orthopedic surgeons that should have stepped in for Callie, surely Arizona knows that Callie would not have been able to chop the leg off – she had neither the time nor moral authority to do so. And finally, surely someone somewhere would’ve mentioned something. However, setting all this aside, raising this subject so far down the line is, in itself, mysterious. We had been led to believe so far that Arizona had come to terms with the circumstances surrounding her trauma. If it had been an unsatisfactory conclusion perhaps a better epiphany would be for her to acknowledge that Callie made the decision to save her life, irrespective of who physically held the knife to her thigh. Instead the story here was Callie protecting Alex...would this be an issue at all if Arizona’s leg had been chopped off by another Ortho Attending? Perhaps I do it an injustice. The story is also Arizona acknowledging that Callie protected Arizona, that Callie made a sacrifice for her. I appreciated this story arc but I’m struggling to put it in current context.

The mystery continues when I mention a continuity issue with 11.19, which I did not mention in my review. I rewatched the episode, Derek confirmed that the timeline for episodes 11.18 and 11.19 are only one day apart (“she told me last night”). We also know that 11.19 and 11.20 are set on the same day. When did Callie go on her date with the dishy cop? And how is it normal for Callie to be more concerned with Meredith’s PTSD than Arizona’s? She has not cut her ties with Arizona. They are co-parents, they shared a life together...?

What’s going on Shonda? Did a PD decision to leave affect or disturb the ongoing stories of other central couples?

It was good to see that Arizona has come through her trauma. Perhaps she was just a little hyper with the room full of prenatal yoga mums but she is out the other side. As an unlikely alliance, Meredith and Arizona hyperventilating and talking each other up in a supply room was powerful. They were not just in a plane crash, they were lost in the woods for days following in their own version of a horror story. Seeing them convince each other that they are okay was emotional and rewarding and frankly not before time.

Did Richard Webber also have a “surge”? His reunion with Catherine Avery in 11.19 and his sermon to April pointed at the very likely possibility that he will be joining Dr Avery Snr away from Seattle permanently in the near future. I would be sad to see him go but not altogether surprised.

Oh dear, Owen and Amelia’s relationship is far from easy and slowly descending into farce. It almost seems too complicated to keep going and this is Owen’s modus operendi in cutting it dead. This is a very confused coupling and in danger of losing fans even before it’s really got started.

Is there someone out there who can help me to like Stephanie because O.M.G how I don’t care about her love story. I did not understand it. Actually I probably did but more pertinently I did not want to understand it. It was annoying and it felt irrelevant despite the fact that it was actually relevant. The writers are trying with this character, but with this viewer, it’s a big fat fail.

And where oh where is Jesse Williams and Jackson Avery this season, notably absent and surprisingly he is missed.

11.20, One Flight Down was intriguing, exciting and thoroughly enjoyable. Full of important plot points it posed more questions than it answered, and invited us to be on notice for anxious moments ahead. With the arrival of blue lights reflecting in Meredith’s eyes we can only expect the worst while hoping for the best. But what better way to illustrate how much I’m enjoying this ride than to say I can’t wait for this...

About the Author - Brouhaha

Maxine (aka Brouhaha) is a fan of Grey’s Anatomy and writes episode reviews and occasional articles. Her other TV favourites include Foyle's War, Criminal Minds, TBBT and more recently Broadchurch. In real life she's a new mum, self-employed and can often be found arguing about politics or current affairs, attempting to write fiction and buying hair products. Got a question - go to Tumblr ask!

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