Grey’s Anatomy Review: You’ll Never Walk Alone (Season 17 Episode 4)

Someone else from Meredith’s past returns on Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 Episode 4, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and well, cue all of the tears.

It’s a reunion that feels even more like a gift, in a lot of ways, than the first. It’s George O’Malley on that beach, a character that was killed off of the show more than a decade ago. 

Unlike the reunion with Derek on the beach, Meredith has the chance to carry on a full-on conversation with George. It’s endearing and it feels like closure that Meredith was never able to have before. 

The beach symbolic in so many ways, as we’ve come to learn already. The sand isn’t real, and George confirms that none of it is, not even his aged body, which is a smart detail to include. Perhaps, he says, it makes Meredith more comfortable to see that he’s aged. 

What it all means, though, is that Meredith is on the brink of death. It would be easy to let herself go, but she has her children, and so many others who need her. George marvels at choice, and the fact that she has one when he didn’t. He says he would have stayed if he could have.

He also notes he’s gotten to see Meredith’s life and knows she has great kids — though he never met them in person.

George: I check in sometimes.

Their reunion offers so many memories and callbacks, and it’s a comfort to see George on the screen. T.R. Knight falls back into this role effortless, and the laughter and love between the two friends feels authentic — as though no time has actually passed at all.

What’s especially meaningful, is that Meredith points out how George changed her. In seventeen seasons, we’ve seen Meredith evolve and grow in lots of ways, and it’s no doubt that who she’s become has been influenced by the people around her. 

In reality, Meredith isn’t on that beach, however. She’s in a hospital bed, with only a few friendly faces hovering over her and worrying. It’s not looking great. 

It does seem right that Richard would be the one by her side the most, and making the call to put her in a clinical trial is only tough for him until he hears her say George’s name. 

It leads to a larger reunion on the beach — Richard, and eventually Bailey, are by Meredith’s side, making sure she’s not alone. Those four original characters on the beach together feels, and I know I keep using this word, like a gift to the audience.

It does lead into troubling territory, a bit, and it really depends on where things go from here. With two deceased characters showing up, it only makes sense that at least one more would arrive.

To see George and not Lexie won’t make much sense, so I’m holding out hope she arrives too. We’ve seen Ellis return before, and I’d take that too, but it seems like now Meredith simply has to see her sister.

There’s also no word yet on if there will be another season of Grey’s Anatomy after this one, but goodness, this is starting to feel like a bit of a farewell.

Meanwhile, Meredith isn’t the only doctor battling COVID. Tom’s seemed fine, as far as his health goes, despite that positive test result. He’s quarantining, getting regular tests, and obsessing over how to stop the pandemic.

His use of the zombie apocalypse game is a much-needed point of humor, but in Helm’s visits, she sees Tom heading to a dark place emotionally.

Teddy visits him at the end of the episode, but he doesn’t answer the door. Presumably, he just doesn’t want to see her, but then the camera moves to show Tom shaking on the floor.

For his character, in particular, it’s a tragic turn of events. He’s walked the line of a villain plenty, but his history and so many other details about him prove that’s often just his exterior. Something about seeing him this way strikes a completely different nerve.

Bias plays a key role on this episode as well. When a patient asks Nico “where he’s from” he responds in the best way possible by saying “Orthopedics,” knowing full well what she really means. Later, though, Owen takes the wrong steps with a patient by not considering their race.

His own bias gets in the way without him realizing it, and of course, he beats himself up over it once he understands the mistake. It’s Bailey who gives him the lesson he needs to hear — and maybe that a lot of us need to hear. 

Bailey: We all have biases, Hunt. Including you. What matters now, is what you do about it.

There’s a lot going on outside of the hospital as well. Amelia and Link are realizing they have different strategies for coping with adversity, and what’s lovely to see is how they come together to discuss what they each need in this moment.

Maggie and Winston continue their relationship virtually, which is fun, but unfortunately, doesn’t work as well since we as the audience didn’t get to know Winston much beforehand. Something about the virtual nature of their relationship distances us from the character, which, granted, isn’t a fault of the show so much as the circumstances we’ve been given.

And then, there’s Jo and Jackson. This is a pairing that actually does make a lot of sense in the moment, though at first it felt like it came out of nowhere. In some ways, it’s a default.

Who’s left for each of them right now, romantically? Still, it works in a way that surprises me as a viewer. I don’t think I’d mind seeing more of them together.

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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