Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 2 Review: Keep the Family Close

Having someone question Miranda Bailey’s methods was not on my Grey’s Anatomy bingo card. 

On Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 2, “Keep the Family Close,” Bailey officially takes over to train the new interns. Her strict orders and high expectations are exactly like they were with the original group of interns in Season 1, and that in itself brings back an energy to the show that’s been lacking for a while. 

She’s also forcing them to complete procedure logs, checking off boxes of various procedures that they must practice before they’re allowed to perform surgery again. 

This makes them more competitive and ultimately increases their workload, making the show itself feel more fast-paced and, really, a little more lighthearted, much like the early seasons before characters started being killed off left and right.

What the interns probably didn’t expect from this new exercise was that they’d become a bit more introspective about the way they work with patients. While checking off those boxes is important and competitive, the lives of the patients — and the respect they give to the work because it of — should always take priority.

It’s Kwan who learns this the hard way, though his focus on the procedure log does ultimately save a patient, Bailey reprimands him for his motivations. He then softens when talking to the patient’s parents, making it clear that he’s learning those lessons.

Simone learns a lesson, too. While rushing through health information with her patient, she inadvertently breaks the news to him that he has HIV. He’s obviously upset and insists she’s made a mistake, which is reasonable considering the circumstances. 

We feel bad for Simone at the moment, but worse for the patient to find out that way. Richard and Schmitt later confirm this with the patient, reassuring him that it’s easy to manage these days with medication. 

And Simone takes it all to heart, realizing she needs to apologize for how she handled the situation. It’s just one of these minor lessons about being a doctor that the interns can only actually learn while working with patients. 

(There’s a spark, too, with this patient and Schmitt that becomes really endearing. I hope we’ll see more of that moving forward.)

All of those little moments of character growth are why shifting focus back to a group of interns is such a smart move for the series. 

But what is perhaps more interesting is the growth Bailey experiences.

It sticks with her when Winston questions her methods, pointing out that keeping the interns out of the OR not only prevents them from learning in real-life situations but also affects his and everyone else’s work. So, does Bailey need to rethink her ways?

Ben points out at the beginning of the episode that this class of interns will be different, but Bailey later determines it’s she who has changed. Does that mean her methods need to change as well? Maybe.

The hospital has already made working conditions better for the interns than what they used to be, and that may only be the beginning.

Something else that’s reminiscent of early seasons is Teddy’s focus on patients while recovering from surgery. 

She calls on Yasuda to check on her patients, which is at least a win-win because it means Yasuda can get in more procedures for her procedure log. But it’s also a way for her to continue to work when she ought to be resting. 

Richard Webber did something similar once when he was chief. While recovering from brain surgery, he called on George to keep an eye on everything that was going on and report back. This feels like a callback to that, a bit.

Of course, Teddy’s working as a way to bury her feelings, and Yasuda finally calls her out on it. (She is great at calling out attendings, it seems.)

Yasuda says she’s not over what she experienced during Teddy’s collapse, how she worked to save her life, and how traumatic it all was. So for Teddy to not try to rest and recover is almost insulting.

It’s as though that’s the moment Teddy realizes she almost died, and she bursts into tears. It’s an emotional moment, and it’s a nice connection between those two women as well. 

At this point, Yasuda may also be my favorite intern. 

Teddy is also emotional, as she later tells Owen, because she feels guilty over the patient they lost, Sam. If Teddy had not collapsed, perhaps they’d be able to save him.

So, even Teddy feels guilty over that whole thing, while Jo and Link are just over here living their happily ever after.

It remains unbelievable to me that they are so unaffected by what happened with that patient and their absence when they were needed. 

I do, however, enjoy hearing more of their backstory as their relationship moves forward. It’s something the show will need to be careful of at the same time, though.

There’s so much more to Jo’s backstory that would be interwoven, and those details will probably need to resurface a little if they keep talking about their early days of friendship. 

Other thoughts:

• Amelia leaning on Winston when she feels otherwise lonely and abandoned is sweet, especially given the friction between the two of them. I also really enjoy the detail of Amelia getting a cat.
• The Simone / Lucas romance has gotten complicated in a way that feels extremely realistic, and it makes it even more interesting that they’re still living in Meredith’s house together. 
• The family with all the injuries after a family reunion baseball game is classic Grey’s Anatomy chaos. I love it. And Jules speech on top of everything makes it that much better, especially when they give her that giant trophy.

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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