Seattle's hottest club is Jo (Camilla Luddington) and Alex's (Justin Chambers) wedding invitation. It's got it all: pink flowers, sound effects, the impersonal touch of an evite, and the fingerprints of April Kepner: Wedding Planner (Sarah Drew). This is one of the most innocuous "just another day" beginnings to an epically emotional episode in the history of the series. Buckle up.
Speaking of Kepner, her swan song is playing: tonight is her night to say goodbye. Matthew Taylor (Justin Bruening), also known as the guy she left at the altar, shows up injured in the ER and the doctors figure out that Kepner was in an accident with him. And yes, I started full on bawling when Hunt (Kevin McKidd) texted Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) to say he'd found Kepner and it was bad. Mer decides not to tell Jackson (Jesse William) because he's about to go into surgery, and all I can think about is their daughter. Jackson busting into the OR after overhearing the intern say they were operating on Kepner was heartbreaking, but Meredith -- the least emotional person on this show -- sobbing as she tells Karev what's going on was almost more than I could take.
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After several hours of difficult, physical effort they manage to bring Kepner essentially back from the dead. Arizona surprises everyone with a piece of exposition about how Kepner and Taylor have been dating and fell in love again and, frankly, it feels like a cheat that we didn't get to see her happy especially after such a long, difficult, faithless season for her character. Jackson, the man of no faith, tries to make a bargain with God while he waits at her bedside. And just like that, she opens her eyes.
When she wakes up, she's talking and functioning which is shocking. Shouldn't she have suffered brain damage? She insists she didn't die because she didn't see heaven or a white light or anything while she was out. Taylor lives, Kepner lives...for now? And Jackson is in a new relationship. With God.
Yes, Bailey's (Chandra Wilson) speech to Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) when she gave her notice made me cry, but it's been a long day. I don't know what Arizona's excuse is, it looks like morning in Seattle to me. Her mentor, Nicole Herman (Geena Davis) shows up just in time to give her a pep talk about her career -- and because she's having a health issue. Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) tells Herman about how she operated on her with a tumor (Betty's (Peyton Kennedy) skepticism about the whole Amelia having a brain tumor storyline mirrors my own). In return, Herman tells Amelia that she also slept with her mentor, Koracick (Greg Germann), who already gave her the scoop. I love her as a ballsy character, which is why I'm thrilled when Herman proposes they use a grant she was just awarded to open the Robbins-Herman Center for Fetal Health and make the country safe for moms and babies. It's way better than going to Italy to study motherhood mortality rates, although I guess the ship has sailed on her relationship with Lady Deluca (Stefania Spampinato). Geena Davis being a smart ass to everyone is a spin-off I would watch the hell out of if anyone funding streaming shows is reading this.
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Guess we're in for a wedding next week, if Kepner can live through it!
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