Grey’s Anatomy Review: Unbreak My Heart (Season 12 Episode 11)
Grey’s Anatomy got a lot of buzz this week, and “Unbreak My Heart,” also colloquially known as #JapriltheMovie, did not disappoint. Fans finally have an answer to the question: Will Jackson and April get divorced?
These character driven episodes are where Grey’s Anatomy shines, and this is a character-driven episode that tells a tight story and fleshes out the two spotlight characters. Let me make one thing clear, this episode goes entirely in reverse. If you remember listening to cassette tapes, imagine starting at the end of the tape, rewinding through a section, and then playing it forward to get the bits you missed.
The bits we saw in previous seasons were like the high frequency scrubbing that occurs when you do that and the new scenes shed new light on aspects of their relationship and marriage. This is where a list of 22 Essential Japril Moments comes in handy.
The episode opens with Jackson running down the street to a church where a nervous bride is freaking out. The bride in question is a former patient named Tatiana, and all the Japril fans started yelling: whiskey tango foxtrot! Then it cuts to a lawyer’s office where Jackson and April are sitting with the foreboding divorce papers.
The story of Jackson and April’s relationship is told in tandem with Tatiana’s story. Tatiana had acid thrown in her face, and Jackson spent several years performing reconstructive surgeries to get her back to the beautiful bride we see at the beginning of the episode.
“Unbreak My Heart” is a really tight episode that shines a light on the little moments of one of the series popular couples. There is so much to say about each of these individual moments, but I think the biggest reactions come from the bombshells that were dropped at the end of the episode.
In the end, April signs the divorce papers after asking Jackson if this is really what he wants. Then life proceeds in its regular forward motion. Jackson goes to the church, where we find out he’s walking Tatiana down the aisle. April, on the other hand, is sitting alone when Arizona walks in with every kind of wine and alcohol April could possibly want.
There is one problem: April is pregnant.
Stray Thoughts
- Japril inspired proverb: Love is knowing someone well enough to ask for extra fortune cookies. Then trying to talk about divorce and then getting those fortune cookies thrown at you. (Now if you had a throw pillow, Jackson, you could have used it as a shield.)
- Anything involving memories of Samuel will be sad, always. Whether it’s “All I Can Do is Cry” or these scenes with Jackson and April in the nursery.
- The little dance party scene where Meredith walks in and says: “Who died? I only dance it out when something bad happened.” I am trying really hard not to read too much into that Mer.
- The runaway bride scenes are so adorable. You know that you wanted to see those scenes from the moment they revealed they were married.
What did you think of this episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.
Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.