Grey's Anatomy recap: Season 16, episode 18: Give a Little Bit

Thanks to the generous donation of a wealthy tech guy, Meredith’s pro bono surgery day has come to fruition. There are 25 patients, four surgeons, and a palpable energy that hums through the triage hallway. Do the residents think Meredith is a legend? Yes. Is she able to pay for this work because Koracick diagnosed the tech guy with a tumor he did not have? Yes. Does anyone seem to care? Absolutely not.

Of course, someone has to cover the ER pit while every other person with a medical degree is on Grey’s pro bono floor. That job goes to Teddy. She examines Kyle, who is an inmate from county jail. He suffers from PTSD and held an entire store hostage with a grenade. Not good.

Teddy obviously feels for the veteran and bonds over serving in Afghanistan. Suddenly, Kyle’s eyes freeze and he stops talking mid-sentence. He’s seizing.

Teddy pages Koracick for a consult and Amelia shows up. Don’t worry, guys. It’s not weird. Amelia made a super awkward announcement earlier to Teddy and Owen (and Jo since she was standing there) that Link is her baby’s daddy. Phew! We can all move forward in a spirit of camaraderie. That is until Teddy confesses to Owen that she’s been messing around with Koracick multiple times. Details.

That’s another problem for another day. The current situation calls for extra security since Kyle is freaking out that his girlfriend Ashely just showed up. Amelia thinks this behavior could be a result of head trauma. And she’s right. All Kyle needs is a little brain surgery. And with Meredith’s help, this veteran could get a little FREE brain surgery in the next few hours.

There’s one person who hasn’t been invited to the party and that is Dr. DeLuca. He’s stuck in the clinic fixing burns and breaks. He finally scores a hernia, which requires surgery. Hooray! But DeLuca’s Spidey senses tell him that something is fishy about his young patient. Aunt Opal speaks for Cindy and claims her niece has abandonment issues when DeLuca wants to separate the two.

DeLuca asks a nurse to run all the labs she can on Cindy and page Dr. Bailey. This girl is being trafficked and must be saved.

Bailey is the opposite of happy when she’s pulled from her surgery to examine Cindy. She wants DeLuca to calm down and go home. Let the record show she does go in and experiences Opal speaking for her niece, but Bailey doesn’t get any feeling that this concerned guardian is harming Cindy in any way. Oh, and another thing, DeLuca is off the case. Cindy is no longer his patient.

Not so fast. DeLuca convinces Opal to let him take Cindy upstairs to get a free surgery from the world-famous Meredith Grey. As in Grey Sloan Memorial. What luck! When he wheels Cindy down the hall, he tries to get her to open up. Does she feel safe? Is there anything she’d like to tell him? Cindy looks confused. Join the club, sister.

With all the veterans and random hernias added to the board, the pro bono floor is a hot mess. Grey enters an OR and is surprised to find Owen and Jo scrubbing in. She looks to Helm, her right-hand woman, who seems unfazed. Grey ordered the OR change for DeLuca’s hernia.

Oh did she now?

Grey is livid, yet somehow manages to hold it together when all of the patients begin grumbling a bit louder each hour. Koracick foresees a riot forming just as a “code violet” is called out over the speaker.

Code violet. Someone is becoming violent with hospital staff. And that someone is Aunt Opal and DeLuca.

As Cindy cowers in her wheelchair, DeLuca takes a defensive stance separating Opal from her niece. He frantically tries to get security to arrest Opal for child trafficking. Every doctor on the current Grey’s Anatomy cast piles into the waiting room and stare shocked at DeLuca’s manic personality.

He begs the doctors to follow protocol by gathering hands and forming a human chain around the deranged person. Meredith, Bailey, Avery, Owen, Jo, Richard, Maggie, Amelia, and Carina all grasp hands and circle around DeLuca. Cindy runs into her aunt’s arms. DeLuca jumps up onto the couch, points to Opal, and shouts to the crowd that what they are witnessing is not love. It’s a trauma bond.

Bailey demands DeLuca climb down from the sofa and wait in her office. He sobs in his hands as Carina speaks softly in Italian for her brother to cooperate. He concedes, claiming everyone in the room is blind.

DeLuca ends up quitting, even though Bailey just suspended him. Meredith intervenes, claiming that she can’t let him walk away because she loves him. He went to jail for her and she will not let him ruin his career. Take the suspension, get some rest, and come back better.

DeLuca: “If you tell Bailey to call the hotline and investigate that woman, I’ll take the suspension.”

Meredith: “Done.”

Meredith heads back to the pro bono floor to try and dampen the tension of dozens of patients who have been waiting all day. In a moment of desperation, she promises everyone a surgery, thanks to the generous donor who extended the day of pro bono surgery as long as patients need help.

Look at Meredith playing Oprah! You get a surgery! And you get a surgery! And you get a surgery! Thank you, rich tech-guy!

While sick people clap at the legend standing before them, Nico and Schmidt hit a rough patch. The Seattle Mariners offered Link his old job back. Since Link is going to be a father, he doesn’t want to travel so much and turns it down. So he recommends Nico for the job. And Nico is thrilled.

Do you know who isn’t thrilled? Schmidt. He thinks they should talk about this. Aren’t they in a relationship? Doesn’t a relationship require sacrifice and compromise?

Indeed they do. And Nico hopes Schmidt can find someone who will give that to him. Ouch.

So Schmidt and Nico are dunzo. Jo offers Schmidt her couch so they can be sad together. Avery and Richard bond over basketball. Koracick gives Teddy the green light to start her life with Owen. Teddy is too afraid to tell Owen the truth. And Aunt Opal aggressively jerks Cindy’s arm demanding she tell her, “What did you say to that doctor?”

I’m sorry, what?

We find Bailey talking to Meredith, explaining that the trafficking hotline recommends they not scare the suspect away. Bad news. Cindy and Opal are already gone. What if DeLuca was right? Which, according to Aunt Opal’s mean behavior, might be true.

Is DeLuca really manic? Or is he just a passionate guy? Can Meredith help him get back to his normal self?

She may be a legend, but is she that good?

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