In the end, this episode really just captures what makes Grey's Anatomy great. It serves as a marker for why we became so obsessed. The compelling, high-stakes emergency has endangered one of the main characters. It depicts the situation in an interesting, arresting way. It has us at the edge of our seats. It has us unsure of the result. Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects, too, is that creator Shonda Rhimes really knows how to lean in to trauma. Meredith may have survived, but she is not OK. She'll need time before she's OK, and that's a tragically true and comforting fact. Often a TV show's fatal flaw of a show is a noted rush to move on past harrowing circumstances. On Grey's Anatomy, though, there are scars after these wounds. The characters actually grieve their trauma. They do not bounce back fast. They seem real and unbearably human.
