Grey's Anatomy recap: Meredith takes the job in Minnesota

I find it interesting that Meredith Grey will be figuring out how to cure Parkinson's disease from Minnesota while living in Seattle. I guess she really is a genius to be able to pull that off. The only thing more intriguing than her new job and potential romance with my beloved Scott Speedman is the promise of the one and only Dr. Addison Montgomery arriving at Grey Sloan next week.

The rest of the episode was kind of like Leo's Elsa costume without the cape. Sort of mediocre lacking any kind of pizazz.

Let's get Minnesota out of the way first. Meredith calls her sister to check out the research lab, curious if a neurosurgeon thinks Dr. Hamilton's medical wonderland is as cool as he claims. Amelia's answer is a resounding hell, yes. In fact, Amelia is ready to sign her name on the dotted line. Baby what? Link who? She'd move the very next day and not think twice about it. And she tells Meredith that she'd be a fool not to, as well.

Meredith isn't so easily convinced. You see, she has multiple children to consider. And a hospital named after her where she has a pretty cushy job. Luckily, Nick is there to slip a note under her hotel door (darling) to ask her out to dinner. He reminds Meredith that even though she is scared of failing, losing millions, and being publicly humiliated, it's not her nature to be a safe person. Win or lose, she is a risk-taker.

So she takes a risk and tells Dr. Hamilton she's in. But will have a satellite office in Seattle.

To Nick's point, I am 75 percent sure he was nudging Meredith to take a risk on him. However, this move works in his favor. I assume he let that one go pretty quickly and immediately went out and bought a nice suit so he could match Meredith's wardrobe selections for future dates.

While Meredith is being wooed on many levels in Minnesota, Webber has resurrected the Surgical Olympics for the residents. It's supposed to be a fun, wacky time, with suture tying contests and virtual shooting contests that, I'm sure, represent something extremely important in the field of medicine.

Link, Bailey, and Hayes act like they are having the time of their lives judging the games, and I'm sure we would have joined in on the frivolity if we had any sort of connection to the residents participating. But, unfortunately, the only two people we know are Helm and Schmidt, which makes perfect sense when Schmidt is chosen as the gold medalist to perform a solo surgery.

And Jo has just the surgery for this celebratory event. It seems that one of her OB patients participated in some sort of ceremony, and she mixed up the target location of two elements. To put it bluntly, Schmidt's prize-winning surgery consists of removing an amethyst egg from a woman's stomach since Jo had already removed a strawberry from her undercarriage. Why, yes! They did keep the egg as a souvenir!

Naturally, something goes wrong in surgery, but the troops rally and are able to talk Schmidt through his nerves. The bonding was lovely. I wish I knew who these jokers were.

I do know Oritz because I remember her mother, who now works for Avery. Ortiz is on rotation with Winston, who cares for a woman named Rashida. She has chronic kidney disease, and her entire family has died from kidney failure. What's worse is that she's ineligible for a transplant because her EGFR numbers are too high.

We later learn that the algorithm to determine the EGFR number is antiquated. When Winston compares other people on the transplant list to Rashida's case, the biggest difference is that she is a Black woman. Winston is determined to work with her doctor and find a way around the protocol so Rashida can get a new kidney instead of dialysis.

Winston argues with Rashida's doctor, claiming the formula is unjustifiable. Rashida has no other options if the port for dialysis fails, which it does. He removes Rashida's catheter and puts her on the transplant list, even though they have no idea when a kidney will come through. Because putting her on the list and waiting is faster than not putting her on the list at all.

Cue the applause meter!

Finally, Teddy and Owen treat a man who collapses during an overnight camping trip with his son Danny. He's a vet named Sergeant Young who insists the medical team release him. When Young starts to cough blood, Owen races him to get an X-ray. He and Teddy watch soberly as the scans pull up screens of a man's lungs that are trashed from years spent breathing wretched air while serving his country overseas.

Sergeant Young knows he has pulmonary fibrosis. There's no cure, so why would he want to go through any sort of treatment? All he wants is time with Danny, especially since he recently lost his job. Teddy and Owen work frantically to try and help behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Hayes discharges Danny and Young goes with him. Owen is furious with Hayes until he realizes that time spent with family is that man's prerogative.

And it should be Owen's, too. He and Teddy pick up Allison and Leo from daycare. Leo is in his Elsa dress, which reminds us all to let it go. Live and let live. Just breathe.

Because change is coming, and her name is Addison Montgomery.

Related content:

• Watch Addison reimagine her iconic entrance in new Grey's Anatomy promo
• Scott Speedman joins Grey's Anatomy season 18 as a series regular
• Ellen Pompeo says she and Denzel Washington 'went at it' when he directed Grey's Anatomy
• Kate Walsh is returning to Grey's Anatomy in season 18