Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Episode 14 Review: An Emotional Wrecking Ball of Devastating Losses & Romantic Payoffs

Critic’s Rating: 4.2 / 5.0

4.2

Even when we know devastation is on the horizon, it doesn’t get any easier to witness it.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Episode 14 was a well-balanced hour that delivered two things the season has been building to: the tragic loss of Katie and the romance between Winston and Jules.

We also got Jo’s return to the hospital, and the series is really doubling down on Amelia’s new romance but once again pushing more Towen drama.

Let’s get the sadness out of the way first. We all knew that Katie wasn’t long for this world. Her cancer journey was one filled with tragedy. It was clear, especially after the trial cancellation, that she’d be passing away well before the season concluded.

Grey’s has been on for 22 seasons, and in that time, it has tended to retread some of its classic storylines that shattered us or kept fans buzzing in the earlier days, when everything felt new and fresh.

In many ways, we knew that the Katie and Lucas story arc borrowed a great deal from the iconic, albeit tragic, Izzie and Denny storyline.

Yes, the series reheats nachos with this one, as the kids say. It results in a predictable story arc. In fact, everything that happens during this hour regarding this plot point played out exactly as I envisioned.

But even with the predictability, right down to Lucas not being there during Katie’s final moments or his directing his ire toward Simone — it’s ultimately the execution that makes it worthwhile.

If a storyline can still move you, nothing else really matters in the end, right? I dreaded every aspect of this story. It’s not exactly “fun” or “entertaining” to me to watch a case like this, where we’re watching a character slowly die in front of our eyes.

But this is still the strongest installment for this specific case. Samantha Marie Ware has been such a quiet force throughout this entire arc. We get more of that as Katie slips away in a way that you want to turn away from, but you can’t quite take your eyes off the screen.

And then there’s Niko Terho.

He unquestionably delivers his strongest performance in the series to date. One of my favorite things is watching actors, especially those I’ve seen before, grow and come into their own onscreen in front of my eyes.

At the risk of sounding parasocial, there’s a sense of pride you feel when they flourish.

I felt that watching his scenes during the hour —especially his confession to Katie, the quiet moments of building their lives together, how he was completely falling apart throughout the hour, and the breakdown after learning of Katie’s death—the cold, despondent vibes with Simone.

The arc, and this episode, allowed Terho to really show off his range, and he rose to the occasion in a way that moved me.

Lucas has always been a solid character, but for a while, he simply didn’t have much to work with story-wise. This has opened up new possibilities, from his dynamic with Bailey to the new tension with Simone, which is much richer than something as simple as romance conflict and heartbreak.

We always knew that Lucas was getting too attached to Katie. The chemistry between them was a delicious slow burn that you didn’t want to commit to because the ending was always clear.

But it was something that no one wanted to say out loud. Doctors aren’t supposed to fall in love with their patients. Katie was a dying woman on borrowed time. There was a host of other complications.

Lucas, not wanting to say it out loud, was fair, valid, and perfectly reasonable. But then Katie pressed him, and a true example of his feelings was that he gave her the truth because he couldn’t deny her anything — he cared too much.

I don’t know if it hurts more or less putting it out there, but Katie likely needed to know that the thing between them was real before she died. And they got to talk about their life together — the one they would’ve shared if the circumstances were much different.

Watching Lucas completely lose his mind because the woman he loved was dying was brutal. At some point, he stopped being a doctor and instead was a loved one desperate to cling to the person he cared about and ease their pain however he could.

He also wasn’t sleeping.

So Lucas’ judgement being off was obvious. Simone being there to help him was very noble. Someone needed to have a level head amid all of that. She wasn’t wrong for trying to navigate the situation in Katie’s best interest.

In many ways, Lucas was too far gone to be treating Katie directly.

But I still hate that she couldn’t get through to him when it mattered most. I can’t help but wonder whether, if she’d tried harder to convince him that Katie might die if he left, it would’ve worked.

Instead, he missed Katie’s final moments while retrieving what he thought he needed to ease her pain. Lucas will never forgive himself for that; that kind of blame will run bone deep.

But he won’t forgive Simone anytime soon either. It puts them on quite the crash course. But this time, it’s far more compelling than a trivial, juvenile relationship conflict. For the first time in a while, I’m invested in the Simone/Lucas dynamic again.

Bailey getting the news about Katie was just as devastating. She took that case hard, and it led to a passionate indictment of the government and the System we have. Her analogy about it being a slow death by 1000 cuts was apt.

The System is so broken that it doesn’t feel like there’s enough left to salvage. It’s like fighting an uphill battle you know you’ll never win — demoralizing and exhausting—and it comes with casualties, like Katie.

There was a similar dig when Jo spoke about all the cuts to women’s healthcare. Goodness, I love the show when it can make those digs organically.

Jo was supposed to take it easy on her return, but I’m glad she was around and could step in to help with that gnarly gallbladder case. Bailey needed that support and assistance.

The hour also allowed Amelia to shine again in the OR. It’s when she’s at her absolute best. Thankfully, seeing Amelia in her element, performing rare surgeries to save lives, can always make up for the weird things they do with her love life.

I’m not invested in her and Toni because by now Amelia’s love life exhausts me. It’s like they don’t know what else to do with her. I’m equally as frustrated that she has seemingly stopped being a mother onscreen.

Toni seems very smitten with Amelia, which is great. Her reassuring Amelia that she wasn’t some consolation prize and that she’s as impressed by Amelia as she was by her world-renowned ex-wife was sweet.

Amelia has a terrible habit of being insecure and forgetting that she’s Amelia Freaking Shepherd, a world-renowned doctor in her own right, too, with a nice ass.

Toni seems into Amelia but also not into something serious, so it’s hard to invest in something that feels so temporary.

It’s also hard to invest in whatever the hell they’re doing with Owen and Teddy.

The obnoxious but justifiable hurt wife throwing a tantrum over her husband’s infidelity was a weak call for Owen. He didn’t want to be just a casual hookup for Teddy while she dates other people.

A divorcee-with-benefits arrangement just doesn’t work for them. Sadly, I don’t know what works for them. All I know is that I’m too tired to care.

But maybe I can come around to Jules and Winston. It’s a pairing that I’ve mostly been indifferent about for a few reasons. However, what the series has done well is give us a full-blown slow burn with them.

These two have been circling each other for two seasons, and they’ve both been aware of their feelings and the tension brewing between them, but both have been reluctant to pull the trigger on it.

Their case had them all talking about seniority and power dynamics and how they impact relationships, and Amelia and Toni definitely didn’t care about the protocols regarding that.

But it’s weirdly been the primary thing that has stood between Winston and Jules just succumbing to their feelings, and it’s hilarious because this is Grey’s Anatomy.

You can throw a rock and hit someone who was in a romantic relationship with a power imbalance. That either of them is acting like this is some big dealbreaker or controversy is hilarious.

They even almost caved in the elevator of love, which is the prime location for all of these things.

But ultimately, their big kiss happened in the best way — Winston being the one to acknowledge his feelings and make the move.

While his being the superior is where it gets tricky in most cases, for them, Jules has always been upfront, so romantically, she actually needed him to meet her halfway for a change.

Well-played, Grey’s. They’ve let this simmer long enough for me actually to appreciate the payoff.

Other Notes:

• Mohanty owned up to her mistake and moved to Boston. What a waste of a character. Good riddance.
• Harry Shum Jr. does so much with the little he gets. Love him to bits.
• Dani Spencer is so sweet, and I feel like she and Lucas will get closer in the aftermath of Katie’s death and the Simonee fallout.
• Webber and Link are so hilarious together. I loved them trying to teach people about Prostate Cancer, and Link’s poor efforts had me cracking up. I’m so glad Webber helped one person — sometimes that’s all you need.
• No shade, but when was the last time Amelia was with Scout? Honestly?

Over to you, Grey’s Fanatics. How are we feeling about this one?

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