Grey’s Anatomy Review: Snowblind (Season 16 Episode 15)

A blizzard makes for a frustrating and yet entertaining episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

On Grey’s Anatomy Season 16 Episode 15, “Snowblind,” the snowstorm becomes symbolic of the chaos in many of these characters’ lives, even causing them to act in ways that don’t line up with who they are.

The first, most obvious example of this is DeLuca, who has a new anger about him that isn’t pleasant to watch in the slightest. He’s also acting more and more reckless, in this instance, walking in the snow to retrieve a liver for a patient, and nearly losing his hands in the process. 

His act is one of heroism, and it might not be so dramatic if he wore appropriate clothing. Wear some gloves, Andrew, for goodness sake! 

The question is whether or not his behavior is an indication that he’s following in his father’s footsteps and needs to be concerned about his mental health. Unfortunately, Carina and Meredith are both handling their concern for him in the worst possible ways, which in itself could be why he’s acting so darn angry. 

It’s also cementing the fact that Meredith and DeLuca are over, almost just as quickly as they got started. Realistically, they may not have been able to work out a relationship in the long term, and even though Meredith did say she loved him, as we’re reminded on this episode, her feelings for him were always complicated.

Meredith is still overcoming the death of her husband, she kept a wall up with Andrew throughout their relationship. 

That wall doesn’t necessarily need to come down, and it was interesting to see how she interacted with that new romance. What’s clearly on the horizon now, though, is a relationship with someone who understands her a little better. Someone who has been through what she has. And that’s going to be interesting to watch as well.

Not that we haven’t seen it already, sort of. It’s why Meredith bonded with Nathan Riggs. But this is different, and it comes at a time where Meredith could be a little more open.

Also acting out of character on this episode is Teddy. She’s got her suspicions that Amelia is pregnant with Owen’s baby, which are now even stronger since Link and Amelia are clearly having some difficult. And Maggie isn’t any good at keeping a secret.

She should try harder, though. Teddy puts her in a bad position begging to know if she’s crazy for being concerned, but Maggie’s answer is a betrayal, especially since Amelia doesn’t actually know if Owen is the father. In fact, it’s a bit jolting after Maggie and Amelia had such a nice sisterhood moment on Grey’s Anatomy Season 16 Episode 14, “A Diagnosis.”

Teddy has a heart to heart with Tom, who she still cares about. She’s also one of the few people to see that he’s a good person underneath it all, and I have to note how much I enjoy Tom’s vulnerability in moments like this. 

But once Teddy learns that her suspicions could possibly be true–she acts with nothing other than emotion and shows up at Tom’s door. 

Color me exhausted. These love triangles have gone on a bit too long, and it’s frustrating to see Teddy to make such a decision.  

Meanwhile, someone who isn’t even present is also acting out of character: Alex. He’s still not answering Jo’s calls, and he’s not responding to Meredith’s text messages, either. Meredith’s message to him early on the episode hints that Alex isn’t where he said he is–she says she knows he isn’t in Iowa.

Then when Link shows up to Jo’s so they can share in their misery, she reveals she believes Alex has left her for good, and that she spoke to his mother. Alex hasn’t been in Iowa, and he hasn’t seen his mom. Something else is going on.

Whatever that could be likely isn’t fitting for Alex Karev. According to the previews for the next episode, we’ll finally be getting some answers to as how Justin Chambers’ exit will be handled, but it’s starting to feel quite a lot like when Derek did something similar just before his death.

It’s not believable that Alex would leave Jo, especially now. They’d only just been growing closer together. I’m also not sold that he’d leave Meredith behind. But I’ll reserve those judgments until we have answers. For now, the word “frustration” comes to mind again, because his disappearance feels uncharacteristic no matter how you slice it.

As if worrying over how one character will be written out and whether or not another is about to have a tough battle with mental illness weren’t enough, it looks like we now have to worry about Richard Webber too.

It’s so uplifting to watch how he teaches and connects with Tess (Beanie Feldstein), the patient who thinks for much of the episode is an intern. Above all else, Richard is an excellent teacher, especially when he has a student who’s so willing to learn.

Tess is just the kind of student Richard would love to have, but her story is one that hurts. She wanted to be a doctor, but a battle with four different types of cancer has made that an extra challenge.

Just because she’s not an intern doesn’t mean Richard doesn’t have advice to give, though. He encourages her to overcome her obstacles if she wants badly enough to be a doctor. Then he shows her his shaking hand and says he can no longer be a surgeon, just before giving her his stethoscope. 

I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Richard’s already dealing with his marriage falling apart, and now this? It’s heartbreaking. It’s also… kind of been done before? I can’t help but recall Preston Burke’s shaking hands after he’d been shot. Granted, these are different circumstances, but it does feel quite familiar.

So much is falling apart, so at least there’s a positive story for Bailey.

She spends much of the episode invested in Joey, the foster-child who’s been at the hospital for a while and has now turned eighteen. She wants him to think about his future, and he even shows some interest in medicine when that mother and baby are both saved. 

Bailey’s connected with him on a deep level, and just following her miscarriage, it’s perfect timing. She invites Joey to stay with her family, and he takes her up on it. This could be such a wonderful thing for Bailey, especially now. 

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 9/8c on ABC.

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