Grey's Anatomy Season 14, Episode 7 Recap: "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story"

For its 300th episode, Grey’s Anatomy starts by throwing back to its indie rock soundtrack heyday and playing Peter, Bjorn & John’s “Young Folks.” Yes, I danced in my chair (I did not whistle). And we get an extended play of the show’s theme song from PSAPP! I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed both 2006 and the music that was on Grey’s Anatomy in 2006.

After Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Alex (Justin Chambers) talk about how great life is while riding the ferry to work and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) finds Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Lady DeLuca (Stefania Spampinato) naked in the kitchen, things roll over to Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Warren (Jason George) having a tiff because he finally told her he’s leaving for the spin-off fire-and-rescue show. Meanwhile, Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) can’t pick a color for a now 7-year-old Sofia’s room ahead of her return to Seattle.

I know new Grey’s showrunner Krista Vernoff has a sense of humor because she made the tragedy in the 300th episode a derailed roller coaster which is about as perfect as metaphors get about the lives of the characters in this show.

Meredith is supposed to leave on a jet plane for the Harper Avery Awards, but she opts to stay and help with the roller coaster mass injury influx instead and sees visions of George, Cristina, and Izzy dancing in the bodies of three second-year residents who were caught up in the accident. I am dubious about this storytelling device out of the gate, but Alex buys in quickly so I’ll give it a shot.

DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) and Sam (Jeanine Mason), the intern he appeared to share a history with last week, give us some exposition of their history. Apparently, he stole her dog after she stopped responding to his texts, which prompted her to break into his house, in response to which he left town without speaking to her, but says that’s because she blocked him on all social media. (That sounds healthy.) After being sent to the supplies hub, this unresolved duo gets caught banging in the skills lab, and it’s almost romantic. His sister casts some doubts on whether she followed him to Grey Sloane or not that remain unresolved.

Alex talks to not-Izzy and makes it super clear that if real Izzy came back, he’d be totally smitten — well until she faints, because not-Izzy is preggers. While this happens, Jem's “They” is playing in the background and it is 2005 in this scene y’all. When she later grabs Alex’s hand and asks him to stay while Arizona removes a tumor, Wilson (Camilla Luddington) is shockingly cool about it.

Watching not-Cristina manipulate Meredith into skipping the awards to operate on her was some serious Cristina-level shit. Not-Geroge’s pontificating makes Bailey cry, which nearly makes me cry. In fairness, it’s been a long, rage-filled day.

I love that Zola wants to be a brain surgeon just like Derek and that she comforts Maggie when talking about their dead parents makes Maggie (Kelly McCreary) cry. It’s a nice 300th episode note. Maybe I cried, or maybe you’re crying. Who can say?

All the ghosts of Grey’s Anatomies past come out of surgery just fine, with an extra baby, and Meredith gets beamed into the Harper Avery Awards as a cover of the Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights” plays and my heart swells like it is 2003 again. When she wins, Jackson (Jesse Williams) accepts on her behalf and runs down the list of people Mer knows who have died in the last 14 years that we’ve known her. And it’s not depressing! It’s really about how hopeful Mer is! It is just about the best metaphor for being an American woman in 2017 as you’ll hear. But that moment she sees the ghost of her mother in the auditorium, looking down on her and clapping…reader, I need more wine.

Like Sofia, I’m going to need to end this with three different flavors of ice cream. Or, like Meredith and Alex, maybe I’ll just have a 2004 dance party while I blast Rilo Kiley’s “Portions for Foxes,” which closes out the episode, and drink bubbly.

Happy 300th, devoted watchers.