Grey’s Anatomy Review: I Wear the Face (Season 12 Episode 17)

Remember when an episode of Grey’s Anatomy meant the ER doors opened with patients that taught the doctors something, and the infighting amongst the residents was the reason we watched?

That’s exactly what “I Wear the Face” is about, and it might be one of the best episodes of the season to date. This hour combines pregnancy, lies and betrayal into a neat little package.

Unlike other episodes this season that include gratuitous and pointless scenes, such as the exploding ambulance, this episode was tight, resolved its cases, and advanced many main character arcs.

To start, Jo and Stephanie are applying for a grant that will send one of them across the country for an amazing career-advancing opportunity. Each attending picks a resident to nominate and then the grant is awarded. So of course, Jo and Stephanie are jockeying for any endorsements they can get.

Penny qualifies, but won’t apply. She has the support of plenty of attendings, including Amelia who wants her to assist in the deep brain stimulation surgery they’re performing on a musician named Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama). Stephanie rants about Penny being unworthy because “she’s from Dillard” and unleashes the dark horse into the competition. Penny applies and steals the grant.

Calzona fans rejoice, because if Penny leaves that will likely be the end of her and Callie’s relationship. We were never big fans of Penny and Callie, but given that Callie introduced her to Sophia last week, it’s bad timing.

Stephanie’s reaction to this is to confront Amelia about not endorsing her and sinking her nomination because she feels that she deserves it. During this scene, we can’t help but get a little nostalgic for an early-day Cristina Yang. Remember when she was an ambitious intern who was so competitive that she would steal surgeries? Or when the residents, as a whole, competed for points? Whatever happened to the competition for the sparkle pager? That is the kind of drama we like to see in Grey’s Anatomy: good, fun, spirited competition.

We also, finally, see some progression in the Jackson and April story. Catherine Avery inserts herself into the situation by giving Jackson some names of family lawyers.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl named Jenny comes into the ER complaining of stomach pains. She’s pregnant and hiding it from her mother. The case mirrors April’s decisions these last few episodes and finally puts her and Arizona in the same room for more than ten seconds.

When Arizona told Jackson about April’s pregnancy it was a despicable, if not accidental, move. With this case, Arizona and April are forced to work together and their perspectives flip. While April wants to tell Jenny’s mom about the baby, Arizona says that they can’t.

Arizona attempts to respect the patient’s wishes, but April reveals Jenny’s pregnancy with little tact. Jenny and the baby are both fine, and Arizona and April appear to be healing their injured friendship.

However, April is reeling from an overheard conversation between Catherine and Richard about Jackson suing her. Deciding to take action, April serves Jackson with a restraining order, but returns home to find that a crib has been delivered to her apartment. The note, from Jackson, states that he’s respecting her wishes and will do whatever she wants in an attempt to win her trust.

This is a smart move on Jackson’s part. Catherine would rather he throw the Avery name around and resolve this legally, but he recognizes that April needs someone to respect her wishes. To be honest, no one has really done that since they found out she was pregnant. (Except Karev, who just offered to help she needed anything and didn’t interfere.)

Let’s see where this goes next week. We bet Catherine has some explaining to do.

Stray Thoughts:

• Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama) is a shameless flirt. We know doctors shouldn’t date their patients, but can we make an exception for Stephanie?
• Richard and Catherine’s fight about her involvement with Jackson and April’s relationship was serious and yet adorable. Pillows are the perfect weapons in these types of situations.
• We finally got the whole truth about Nathan and Owen. To find out that Owen’s misplaced anger wasn’t really misplaced, kind of makes us hate Nathan even more.
• The sisterhood is living under the same roof again! At least, Amelia and Meredith realize that they are adults and can disagree about stupid things like cabinet doors. Owen and Riggs – take a lesson from these ladies.

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.

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