TV REVIEW: Grey’s Anatomy At Its Best in “Don’t Dream It’s Over”

When we get a little complacent with Grey’s, a little too comfortable, the medical drama does something to shake things up, to shake us up.

Last week we were slapped in the face with a woman answering Derek’s phone and suddenly a Derek cheating plot line was born. Honestly, I thought we would find out it had been a huge misunderstanding, one of those ha ha moments of some knee-slapping mixup that Meredith would be laughing at by episode’s end. Many events happened in “Don’t Dream It’s Over” but a slap on the knee was not one of them. This one offered up a night of couples, a night of tragedy, and a night of emotional feels leaving us with a cavernous hole where our hearts resided just an hour ago.

Wow, it’s been a while, but Grey’s can make us cry like no other show. “Don’t Dream” brought on the waterworks, strangely in a way that wasn’t even seen with the lost Avery baby episode. Let’s take a look at this heart tugger and pick apart all those feels.

Did He or Didn’t He?

We pick up seconds after the last episode left off, Meredith listening to a dial tone after calling Derek’s phone and reaching a woman on the other end. An unfamiliar, strange woman who hangs up on our favorite original.

So much of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” deals with Meredith contemplating a possible Derek infidelity. “Did he or didn’t he” Grey asks her friends. They all say what we feel, no way, impossible, it can’t be true.

Meredith interrupts Alex and Maggie catching a nap to get their thoughts on the Derek possibly cheating fiasco.

Meredith says, “She was perky and sounded tall with a lot of great hair.” She admits she didn’t talk to him yet; it keeps going to voicemail.

Later, Mer admits to her group of persons (she’s got more than one now) that he’s done it all before (think Addison). Alex, in typical Karev fashion pipes in, “Look. I’ve watched you two suck face for years. You’ve disgusted me for a long, long time. He’s into you… If he still wants to do you, you’re solid.” How can you argue with that one? They all chime in saying that there is NO way Derek is messing around. “Team Mer/Der!” yells Callie.

(ABC/Mitchell Haaseth)
JAMES PICKENS JR., KELLY MCCREARY

April is Back

It’s April’s first day back and she’s uber perky and extra Aprily. She’s all smiles as she tries to get Jackson backed into a storage closet for some sexy time. He’s not buying it. He later calls her on her behavior when she lays into a patient, telling him he may die from having his tongue stuck in a bottle. She is so frustrated with the way Jackson’s been treating her with kid gloves. “I just want to be myself again. I wanna feel like me!” They yell at each other, getting back to good, eventually making out in their car.

It was about time that Grey’s dealt with the fallout of the Jackson/April baby, even if the treatment was a little rushed. We’ve been wondering for weeks how they were doing, and it was good to see they’re working their way out of the darkness.

Calzona Awkwardness

We see Callie strolling in to work with a pretty woman on her arm; they’ve just wound up their first date and seal it with a passionate kiss. Who watches the whole lady love scene unfold? Arizona!

The rest of the episode shows Robbins nosily asking about the relationship, seemingly jealous of her ex’s new gal pal.

Arizona finally admits that all her prodding is because she dated Heather. It turns out that Heather is “steak me knives,” a past romance who wanted to get matching tattoos at the two hour mark in the relationship. Calzona share a laugh about the near miss with Callie thanking her former wife for the save. It seemed strange to have this longtime couple off in friendzone, but I guess it’s better than the screaming at each other zone they’d been residing in before the big breakup.

The Super Tragic Case of the Night aka Get the Damn Kleenex

The super sad begins benignly enough… a pregnant lady and her husband were hit by a car crashing into their house. The woman is wide awake, arguing with her mom on the phone. She seems fine. The husband’s in bad shape, bleeding internally. Meredith is handling his case, so we aren’t too worried. Remember, she’s on that streak.

Because we’re watching Grey’s, the woman who was just reminiscing about meeting her punk rocker husband at a concert suddenly seizes and dies from an apparent brain hemorrhage. Nooo! The close-ups of her pretty face are almost too much. The thought of the baby that will never be is too much.

Arizona, Bailey, and Jo begin performing CPR on the dead woman; they are going to try to save that baby. Grey’s is such a master at showing us a glimpse of the tenuous life we all seemingly just barely have a hold of. The team delivers the baby with Karev coming in for the assist. Jo loses it; we all lose it as the baby is alive and crying. The combination of the camera work, the baby crying, and Jo bawling made for one of the saddest, most tear inducing episodes this season. And this was just the beginning

The other half of the tragedy coin is revealed when the driver who plowed into the couple is brought in. He’s an older man, violent and screaming for his keys. He lashes out at Maggie, throwing her off, knocking her out. Turns out he’s got Alzheimer’s, and is completely unaware of what he’s done. Maggie wakes up and seems fine.

Ironically, the driver comes to and he’s miraculously “cured” of his Alzheimer’s. We find out that he had some fluid on the brain (not Alzheimer’s) that caused his dementia. He needs a surgery to permanently repair the issue, but he should be fine after. His wife is thrilled to have her husband back, and the two are beyond cute as he recites some long forgotten poetry to her.

Things shift toward the tragic when he’s told about the dead pregnant woman at his hand. He decides to not have the surgery believing he doesn’t deserve it, needing to forget what he’s done. His wife begs him to change his mind but he won’t hear it. Webber says they have to comply with the man’s wishes and in one of the final scenes we see the husband forgetting some of the lines of that favored poetry. The tears are back in an episode that held something powerful at every turn.

(ABC/Mitchell Haaseth)
DAN LAURIA, LILY KNIGHT

Back to the Did He or Didn’t He Question

The final scene of the night shows Meredith back at home, the door is being rattled with, unlocked loudly. It’s Derek! Yay, he’s back! Wait, why is he back?

“You called me and a woman answered my phone,” he says to Meredith.

“I called you and a woman answered your phone,” she agrees.

What the heck? You are kidding me. That’s the cliffhanger we have to deal with for a week? The guilty look on his face says it all. Something happened! It is hard to believe that after everything the pair has overcome that he would skip off to DC and start something with another woman. Is it just me or does it seem that every couple is doomed if Mer/Der ends in divorce?

“Don’t Dream It’s Over” was one of the best episodes of the season due to the sheer emotional tugs at the heart. It was powerful in story and acting (what a guest appearance by Wonder Years dad Dan Lauria), giving us a Grey’s classic that not only launched a thousand tears but also launched a thousand “Say it ain’t so’s.” We literally cannot wait for next week’s installment where we are sure to get more than two lines of Mer/Der conversation. Derek, you got some ‘splaining to do!

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays on ABC at 8 p.m.