Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 5, “Never Felt So Alone,” centers on a theme of mental health. Unfortunately, it does so in a way that lays everything on just a little too thick.
Two patients in the hospital represent this theme. First, there’s Winston’s cardiac patient who has such extreme anxiety that medication no longer works. The only thing that helps him is a “professional cuddler,” — something Winston has no time or patience for.
It’s a unique way to cope, and Winston’s attitude toward it reveals his own stress. Jules calls him out on this, noting that he’s no longer the “cool attending” and that she feels he’s being disrespectful.
This is the second time so far this season that an intern has called out an attending for bad behavior, which makes this scene feel repetitive. Yes, the circ*mstances are different from when Yasuda called out Jo for not being present when Sam was in surgery, but to see something like this happen again so soon just feels tired.
That said, Winston does take what Jules says to heart, and he eventually allows himself to be so much more open-minded that he takes on the role of cuddler when his patient needs him to.
That shift is most certainly a way for us to become more invested in Winston’s character, especially as we learn that his grouchiness is likely due to those divorce papers coming in. He also seems pleased to know that he’s been considered the cool attending all this time.
The other representation of mental health comes from one of the medical student patients. Multiple traumas arrive to the hospital after a deck collapse at a med student “white coat party,” where medical students are all, just as it sounds, wearing their first white coats.
The drunkenness and overall chaos provide some entertaining moments, but it’s the one patient who wanders off that’s most significant.
Simone and Blue find him out on the roof, preparing to jump off. Yet somehow, this isn’t all nearly as emotional as it ought to be. It feels too dialogue-heavy and without the kind of connection that it needs.
The message does still come across, and we feel for the patient as we watch him on the screen. Something about his resolve also makes it all a little more eerie.
The pressure on the medical students is clear even from how hard they were partying before the deck collapse. But this patient feels it differently, and it’s made him feel alone and hopeless.
Simone and Blue handle it well, getting a little mentorship from Bailey and Ben, though not to the point where they intervene. They tell Blue it’s better if he and Simone continue to handle it, which they do. Simone connects to the patient, listening and identifying with him, which provides a lesson for Blue who finally does the same.
And it’s revealed that he’s had similar struggles. This backstory provides some extra depth to his character that ties everything together in a powerful way. Yet, still, it’s just not as emotional or layered as it could be.
Bailey seeing all of this also reminds us of her anxiety struggles, and again, we get dialogue-heavy discussions of mental health. It is nice to have that connection back to her character, though, especially in the gentle way Ben knows to help her stop spiraling.
Speaking of spiraling, Jo realizes her period is late, causing her and Link to consider what might happen if she were pregnant.
It feels like a bit too much of a jump for their relationship when they only recently got together, and it’s a missed opportunity to show more developments in their relationship.
Several weeks have passed, according to her account of their movie nights, and their living situation was already family-centered.
Regardless, I’d like to see them navigate more of their relationship with each other before having a pregnancy scare and discussing whether or not they’d want more kids.
It turns out she’s not pregnant, and that’s when we learn that Link would prefer not to have more children, while Jo realizes she wants to have a baby. Link says he can get to that place if they take it slow, so this appears to be resolved for the moment. You do have to wonder for how long, though.
Meredith is also back on this episode, which serves a few purposes. First, it shows her continuing to work with Amelia on their secret Alzheimer’s research.
Second, it provides some drama in her relationship with Nick when Meredith finds out Nick has taken Baby Bailey (I’m saying Baby Bailey for clarity here) to the hospital and hasn’t told her. He was waiting to contact her until he knew more about Bailey’s condition and didn’t want her to panic.
As mean as Meredith is to him about the situation, she’s not wrong. She should have gotten a call immediately so she’d have the chance to be there with her son. She’s definitely out of line — which stems from the third person to this storyline.
It’s a reminder about Derek.
Not only is Meredith used to being a single mom with Derek gone, which means she’s struggling with co-parenting in this way now, but the situation itself is too reminiscent of what happened with Derek’s death.
She couldn’t get to Derek in time to say goodbye, and in that situation, the doctors made mistakes that they shouldn’t have.
Meredith: Even the best hands make mistakes. Bleeding, perforations. It’s the middle of the night, they’re tired, mistakes happen.
Richard: They could, but most of the time, they don’t.
Meredith: And most of the time, people who need craniotomies get head CTs.
So, of course Meredith is paranoid, and of course this is bringing up some tough emotions.
This is all one a heck of a callback to Derek, and it only feels right that Richard is the father figure to her that helps her through it.
Meredith winds up talking things out with Nick as well, and Baby Bailey is just fine, thank goodness. I’m not sure we needed the Meredith and Nick conflict, but the Derek reference and having Meredith revisit those emotions, and to show the impact this all has on her so many years later, makes it worth it.
What did you think of this episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC. The next episode airs on May 2nd.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as an English Instructor with degrees in Literature, Creative Writing, and Cultural Studies. She'll never grow tired of watching Gilmore Girls and is happy to talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer for as long as anyone is willing to listen. Ashley is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and is a Tomatometer approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).
