Grey’s Anatomy Review: 1-800-799-7233 (Season 14 Episode 9)

Grey’s Anatomy returns from its mid-season hiatus with an episode we’ve been waiting to see for a while.

We knew this season would face the issue of domestic violence head-on with Jo’s storyline, and on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14 Episode 9, “1-800-799-7233,” it’s addressed in a really powerful way.

We pick up right where the mid-season finale left off. Amidst the hospital dealing with a cyber attack and a life or death choice for a young patient, Jo runs into her worst nightmare right in her place of work — Paul Stadler, the abusive husband she ran away from.

Those first few minutes, where she stands in shock, only barely hearing him as he manipulates the story of what their relationship was like, are among the most intense moments we’ve seen on the series.

We’ve been building up to this for quite some time, and seeing this man speak to Jo, knowing full well what he’s capable of, is almost more terrifying to watch than any plane crash or natural disaster.

Matthew Morrison, by the way, plays the role incredibly well. If you know him from Glee, you might imagine it difficult to imagine anything other than Mr. Schue, but my goodness, he nails manipulative villain with a creepy smile in a way that makes you forget about that character completely.

What works so well about the way this is written is that most of what you see of Paul isn’t him being physically abusive. You see the way he twists the truth and tries to manipulate everyone around him. You see how he’s verbally and psychologically abusive.

And when he does outright threaten Jo near the end, it’s her reaction to his advances that give us an idea of how violent he can be.

Jo, meanwhile, shows her strength in how she handles the situation. It’s inspiring on so many levels.

She only allows herself fear and tears for a few minutes, then she pulls herself together and watches the man help Meredith in surgery. She resists help from Alex and the others at first, not wanting to be constantly guarded or fussed over, but she’s also strong enough to accept that help when she knows it’s for the best.

She’s willing to face Paul head on to sign the divorce papers, which is a life-changing moment for her. But she doesn’t face him alone — she has Meredith by her side, who shows her own strength as she defends Jo.

That relationship stands out on this episode. Meredith hasn’t always been a fan of Jo, and vice versa, but their relationship has evolved. That’s in part because of Alex, but more because they’ve developed this mutual respect for one another. I really appreciate how Meredith stands by Jo and comforts her.

And how she reacts to Paul when she realizes that’s who is helping her in her OR.

Alex’s support of Jo and immediate impulse to have an intern bring her to him so he can watch out for her is also really nice to watch. He wants to take care of her and knows the danger, but when Amelia asks, he doesn’t explain anything, and when Jo wants to stay and watch him do surgery, he doesn’t object.

It’s exactly how he should react. But what’s more important, more telling, and more powerful to watch is the way women stick together. Meredith has Jo’s back immediately, and when Jo realizes that Paul’s new fiance (Bethany Joy Lenz) is likely in the same danger she once was, she and Meredith get Arizona to help out as well.

Paul’s return once his fiance tells him what Jo said to her is what feels the most threatening, especially since he now knows how to find Jo whenever he wants. Cut to some major foreshadowing from Jo:

Jo: I wish he was dead.

Immediately, at least for me, that brings on some fear that Alex might go too far to protect the woman he loves. He’s already imagined himself doing so. And the cliffhanger at the end of the episode makes you wonder… because now Paul is in the hospital with injuries from a hit and run…

Meanwhile, there’s a LOT going on elsewhere in the hospital and outside of it. I want to turn my attention to the cyber attack, and ultimately, how the hackers are beat at their own game — for now.

Casey (Alex Blue Davis) strikes us immediately as likeable on this episode, but he becomes even more so when he devises a plan to open up the blood bank by using a defibrillator. When Bailey finds out, she’s not angry — she’s impressed, and she wants to know what else he can do.

As it turns out, Casey has his own experience with hacking. He was once arrested for hacking into the DMV’s computer system. For the moment, Bailey doesn’t ask many questions beyond that.

She’s just happy to have someone with some insight, and as she uses his knowledge to feed ideas to the FBI agents and also find out what their plan is, she realizes (again) that the FBI is less concerned with saving her patients and returning the hospital to normal than they are with catching the hacker. That’s also why they didn’t want to pay off the hacker in the first place, and Bailey has had enough.

It’s Casey who uses his knowledge of computers to fight back against the hackers and get the hospital back to normal working order. Through all of that, he bonds with Bailey, who finally asks why on earth someone would want to hack into the DMV.

His reason? The DMV wouldn’t change his gender on his drivers license in the state where he was from. So he found a way to do it himself.

Casey: I’m a proud trans man, Dr. Bailey. I like for people to get to know me before they find out my medical history.

According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Krista Vernoff says that line of dialogue was written and re-written more times than she could count, because it was so important to get it right.

Casey reveals this to Bailey once he feels he can trust her, and the result is exactly what the writers hoped to do — to make it feel like a “genuine unfolding of the character’s truth” as opposed to an ah-ha sort of moment. That happens not only within the world of these two characters, but also for the audience.

It works because of how much we get to know about this character before learning that detail, how invested we become in him first, and also because this isn’t the entire episode’s focus. It’s an important part, but other stories are taking precedence, which makes this scene feel more like a chance to get to know a character than it does a shocking reveal.

Overall, this episode is a clear example of why Grey’s Anatomy is still so successful and so popular — and I’ve been saying this all season, but Grey’s Anatomy Season 14 is showing us the best of what this series can do.

Other thoughts:

• Jackson and Maggie spending half the episode walking around still covered in blood is weirdly funny and very disturbing. All of that said, I’m slowly finding myself on board with the idea of a romance between these two. Slowly. As Maggie says, it’s complicated, and that’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.
• I have very little interest in Deluca and Sam right now.
• “Glasses” should totally try to get people to call him “Specs” instead. A small moment but an important one is when the patient he saves by donating his blood thanks him and insists he stand up straight like a hero should.

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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