Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Episode 6 Review: When I Crash

The Grey’s Anatomy Fall Finale ends on two emotional cliffhangers. On Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Episode 6, “When I Crash,” Jo needs emergency surgery that winds up leaving Winston to perform a C-section, and Richard gives Bailey some shocking news about his health.

On top of all of that, Owen and Teddy work together to save a patient under incredibly dire circumstances, and Bryant proves to be a doctor who prioritizes his patients. 

It’s a mostly well-done episode that keeps the audience in suspense and even revisits a familiar dynamic between Richard and Bailey. Hopefully, it also concludes the exhausting storyline between Owen and Teddy and will allow both characters to move on, once and for all.

Owen, Teddy, and a Bus Accident:

The episode opens with Teddy showing up, kids in tow, to surprise Owen. What they find, is Nora is in his bed. As awkward as it is, Teddy’s reaction is a little unfair — though it reveals that their separation doesn’t mean they no longer care for each other. 

What this interaction also does is set up a reason for Owen to call Teddy to the scene of a bus crash. He sees it happen as he’s getting coffee, and takes off running to find a woman pinned underneath the bus.

As a trauma surgeon, this is Owen at his best, which is nice to see since the conflict between Owen and Teddy has become a bit insufferable to watch. In this situation, we get to see the version of Owen that’s most fun to watch.

That’s true of Teddy, too, who risks her own safety to crawl under the bus and place a tournequit, and quickly corrects a firefighter when he calls her “ma’am.” “It’s ‘doctor’,” she says. That’s the Teddy Altman that we love to see. 

Ultimately, they’re able to get the patient to the hospital, and by the end of the episode, they have another conversation about their relationship. This one leads to, it seems, some final — for real this time — closure. Unfortunately for Owen, Nora also calls things off with him because she’s now so entwined with Teddy as her doctor. 

Bryant and Simone’s Patient:

Bryant and Simone work together again on this episode, this time to help a patient with autism who has no interest in going inside the hospital. It’s his aide who is in need of critical surgery and goes into surgery, but he has a cut on his head that needs tending to in the meantime. 

It’s Bryant who winds up being able to relate to him and coax him into the hospital. He even passes up a chance for a bigger procedure to focus on the patient, which Simone notes says a lot about his character and the type of doctor he is. 

Simone also has her own way of helping when they need to actually tend to his wound. It’s worth noting that guest star J. Chase Bailey is autistic himself, adding an authentic layer to that representation on screen.

Jo’s Unknown Fate:

It shouldn’t be surprising that Jo is having complications with her pregnancy, because there was foreshadowing for this last season. Still, it’s just a few episodes after the hospital explosion, so Grey’s Anatomy is definitely going for the suspense this season in a big way. 

Jo knowing she’s having problems because of her own experience as a doctor, and in this field, makes it a little more emotional.

And while Link’s reaction is one of the more heartfelt parts, it’s Ben’s calm explanation to Jo that he can’t read the results of her tests, then stealthily walking out of the room and telling a nurse to page Winston 911, that really gets me. It’s so subtle and well done.

The cliffhanger we end on is Winston having to be the one to perform a C-section amid everything else, since no other surgeon is available. The problem is that this isn’t his speciality, and it’s not something he’s done in a really long time. Add to that, Jo’s heart is failing, and it’s not clear whether they’ll be able to save her.

This is Grey’s Anatomy, after all, and anything can happen. I just hope they don’t do this to Link.

Richard’s Diagnosis:

Meanwhile, Richard and Bailey have a hard time with each other on this episode. Richard has canceled Bailey’s lecture series without telling her, then steps on her toes in other ways, including with a patient.

One patient seems like he can’t possibly be saved, but Richard goes over Bailey’s head and insists they keep trying — to a good result, and one that feels like a miracle. In doing so, he makes a comment about how not everyone wants to give up. That comment, we find out later, means something else entirely.

Richard takes an odd call from a doctor who wants to speak to him, which Bailey doesn’t think much of at the time.

Between that and the fact that Richard has been a bit off, it all makes sense when he tells Bailey that the doctor actually had some concerning test results for him. Richard has cancer.

Their dynamic on this episode that leads to that reveal reminds me of an early Grey’s Anatomy episode when Richard is annoyed with Bailey that she isn’t jumping at the chance to take a fellowship, only for her to finally say, “I’m pregnant, you blind moron.”

This situation is more solemn, of course, but it feels quite similar and like an interesting role reversal, in a way.

Hopefully, this is a storyline that will have a positive outcome. At the end of the broadcast airing, James Pickens Jr. appeared on screen to talk about real-life statistics for prostate cancer, the especially high risk for Black men, and the importance of early detection. He then revealed that he himself is an example of why early detection works. 

This storyline mirroring his own life is incredibly impactful — and has a lot of potential. It’s also likely to be an emotional rollercoaster, no matter how they approach it.

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Grey’s Anatomy returns Thursday, January 8th on ABC.

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