Grey’s Anatomy Review: Be Still, My Soul (Season 13 Episode 18)

Anything Shonda Rhimes touches is just about guaranteed to give you some pretty intense feelings.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 13 Episode 18 “Be Still, My Soul” is no exception, but it has more to celebrate than just being a medical procedural.

Ellen Pompeo directs this episode, and there’s a lot to be proud of in her directoral debut. The episode is visually stunning and the acting is superb.

From the start, it’s clear that this episode is going to be about mothers and daughters. Meredith’s voice-over reflects on a note she found going through Ellis’s things after she died that says: “Don’t forget to tell Meredith…” and all the things that note could have described.

“Be Still my Soul” focuses on Maggie’s relationship with her adoptive mother Diane, and how they deal with the trials of Diane’s inflammatory breast cancer diagnosis.

In the same vein of Season 11’s “All I Could Do Was Cry”, and Season 12’s “Unbreak My Heart,” it focuses on a relationship and by condensing the time-frame, gives the relationship the spotlight it deserves while telling a compelling story.

This is an episode where many characters just make cameos for one or two scenes, but with such a clear story-line, I don’t mind that, and I am glad the show isn’t trying to do too many things at once.

My chief reason for liking this format is because it gives Kelly McCreary a chance to really shine. While she’s been an interesting character we haven’t really gotten to see her grow since her arrival two seasons ago.

She’s always bubbly and smiley, with a positive outlook on life. While that’s refreshing, we need to see Maggie take on a challenge—something that only she could handle.

This episode gives her that, with the death of her mom.

The mother-daughter dynamic between Diane and Maggie is very different from the ones we’ve seen on Grey’s Anatomy so far and the dichotomy is put on display when Diane asks where Ellis is buried.

The conversation that unfolds, in which Meredith and Richard reveal that they poured Ellis down a drain in her favorite OR, is dark and comical at the same time, but also demonstrates how different Maggie and Meredith’s childhoods were.

Then comes the last scene between Maggie and her mom, where they talk sex, guys, and general life advice. Watching the heartbreaking moment gives me flashbacks to when Cristina left Seattle.

Cristina’s advice has echoed in my mind for the last three seasons:

CRISTINA: Don’t let what he wants eclipse what you need. He is very dreamy, but he is not the sun. You are.

And Diane’s advice sounds very similar:

DIANE: Never make yourself small for anyone.

While Diane’s advice is more nebulous, Cristina’s is more direct, and it leads me to realize that Diane was Maggie’s Cristina. Diane is the one that Maggie goes to for advice in a way that many of the other women on Grey’s Anatomy haven’t been able to.

And now Diane is gone.

It’s a somber episode all around, but I am glad they it doesn’t shy away from depicting what families go through when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer.

For an hour, we watch as Maggie tries to rationalize what is happening and find a way to save Diane as those around her try to weigh Maggie’s wishes with what’s really best for the patient. In the end, she needs to come to the realization that she’s only human, and that this is the natural order. It’s heartbreaking, but natural.

It also shows the importance of a support system. We don’t just see Maggie and Diane, we also see how Meredith, Richard, and even Jackson are affected by this case, and how Maggie processes it.

The concept of family is a theme that Grey’s Anatomy deals with a lot, but it’s very much a part of the story. Meredith’s family tree is pretty twisty, but the team at Grey-Sloan has always been a chosen family, and this case is no different.

This episode also does a great job of illustrating that family isn’t just biology.

Richard is the biological father that Maggie never got to know. Diane is the mother that raised Maggie. Meredith is the half-sister that Maggie is just getting to know. Amelia is the sister-in-law that Maggie never expected.

And yet they all pull together for her in their own way.

The closing scene where the Grey-Shepherd-Peirce Sisterhood sits in the kitchen, eating the last of Diane’s homemade lasagna is the perfect ending and the quiet “Goodbye, Mom” voice-over the perfect final note.

What did you think of this episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.

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