Grey’s Anatomy Review: Today Was a Fairytale (Season 18 Episode 7)

Meredith is spending more time in Minnesota than she planned, and I can’t help but feel like we’re working toward an ending.

On Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 Episode 7, “Today Was a Fairytale,” David Hamilton (Peter Gallagher) shows his impatience with the research Meredith, Amelia, and Kai are working on. We’ve already seen how volatile his character can be, and in this instance, he’s kept Meredith from going home by calling an emergency meeting.

His emotions, of course, are high, and Meredith handles the situation well. She’s also not above walking away.

I really do enjoy seeing Meredith and Amelia in this new setting, and it’s giving each of their characters a lot of new stuff to work with. Watching Meredith with Nick personally is one thing, but now professionally — they respect each other so much that it’s impossible not to want them together in some form or fashion.

Amelia clearly has a new romantic interest as well, and it seems to really surprise her. There’s a new sense of vulnerability in Amelia when she’s around Kai. I’m not sure we’ve seen anything like that from her, even from her days on Private Practice.

What really seals the deal is when Kai asks, “Who’s your brother?” and Amelia realizes she’s finally in a setting where she isn’t in Derek Shepherd’s shadow. As tough as Amelia is, it’s nice to have that reminder — this is something she still must struggle with, which would be even more complicated now that Derek is gone.

All of that said, it’s starting to feel strange to have both of these characters be so absent from Grey-Sloan Memorial, especially since both were largely absent from the hospital last season as well. (Er, well, Meredith was *in* the hospital, but you get what I mean.)

Especially for Meredith, it feels like she’s been largely separated from the show itself in a way.

Meanwhile, Bailey is not so present at the hospital on this episode either, but that’s because she’s doing her best to reinvigorate the program.

She and Richard have been working to resolve the program’s issues to get the hospital’s reputation as a teaching hospital back to where it used to be. But at this event, she’s shocked to see how many potential residents are focused on getting cool swag as opposed to hearing from the amazing doctors at Grey-Sloan. Even a description of the “Webber Method” doesn’t keep their attention.

This focus on bettering the program is really fun to watch. It’s bringing us full circle to the early days of the series, though it’s not the first time they’ve faced this sort of battle. I just hope it means we’ll be seeing more antics within the walls of the hospital coming up soon.

There’s a great payoff for this storyline, though, that connects Meredith’s work in Minnesota to Bailey’s recruitment. Meredith finds herself doing surgery with Nick’s “favorite resident,” and that resident reveals to Meredith that he had wanted to work at Grey-Sloan Memorial. The reason? He’d been following Bailey’s work. 

We’ve heard Meredith be described as this legacy for so long now, and Amelia is known in that way too. But this may be the first time we’ve heard someone gush over Miranda Bailey in this way.

It’s so darn satisfying to see.

Meredith pulls some strings pretty quickly (poor Nick, though!) and has the resident come back with her to Seattle. It’s this small moment, but it feels incredibly gratifying for Bailey.

Now, let’s talk about Jo and Link.

The two friends have formed this family, helping each other with their kids and going out for activities on days off. When they take the kids to see a play in the park, one of the actors is injured, and they’re forced to spring into action. Obviously.

This provides a really obvious parallel when another one of the actors insists that the patient who’s been hurt is just her friend — though he’s also family to her. What she isn’t saying, is that she’s in love with him.

That leads Link and Jo to talk about their own friendship, and it’s when Link reveals he once had a crush on Jo.

We all saw this coming from a mile away. I think we all knew it when Link first showed up on the scene. But now, both are single, and even though that seems like a natural progression, and one that might even be perceived pretty well, Link is still focused on Amelia — just as Jo starts to see Link in a new way.

It’s devastating to see Jo go through all of those emotions so quickly, and it feels like an even harsher rejection because Link is so oblivious. 

Of course, this will also be pretty messy now considering the feelings Amelia is starting to develop for someone else.

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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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