Season 14 Episode 8: Out of Nowhere
Songs of the Episode:
Youâre Dreaming by Wolf Parade
Synopsis:
Itâs the big one, itâs the Season 14 Mid-Season Finale! I donât know if I can wait until the Jan 18th! Anywho, letâs dive in...
The episode opens with a shirtless Ben prepping for the fire academy. Meanwhile Mer is getting interviewed after winning the Harper Avery, to which sheâs unimpressed and feels a bit tortured with their questions. JO GOT CHIEF RESIDENT!! As she practices the speech she plans to give her interns with Alex, she is trying to embody her inner Bailey (aka trying to be scary), but he comically admits that unfortunately sheâs not scary. Theyâre interrupted by the sound of Deluca and Sam in the on call room, something that has been happening a lot recently (bow-chicka-wow-wow).
Carina, Owen, and Arizona are all crammed in the elevator together, and April, who is quiet in the back, represents all of us watching when she points out how awkward it is. Bailey wants to pawn off the surgical contest bestowed to her by Jackson to Webber because she wants to stay in the game, but he rejects her for the same reason. He then only agrees to do it if he can know who the donor is, to which she rebuts that he owes her (for allowing Ben to use his time as a firefighter to be the equivalent of a fellowship, since he will be working in the medic program) and he finally agrees to (but itâs only temporary).
The intern working with Maggie makes an inappropriate comment to the patient about waiting too long to come in, to which Jackson shuts down instantly. Their patient has an extremely awkward interaction with his visitor, making their relationship really hard to read.
Merâs working with Glasses and their patient makes a joke that he takes literally. Jolex is working a case together! Their patient is a young boy who had a stroke recently. Heâs super smart and is up to date on his case, he then comically informs Jolex that his mom has a crush on Karev, and almost as if on cue she walks in. As they leave Jo teases Alex, and he teases back that thatâs why he got into pediatrics, for the moms lol. Jackson and Maggie try to figure out their patient and his visitor's relationship, when the woman comes to get them since her fatherâs not breathing (so now we know heâs the dad). As they are trying to intubate him, the monitor begins to wig out.
In the pit, every patient begins to code, but on closer examination, itâs revealed that they are all fine. Unfortunately one guy found out a little too late, as one of the interns shocked him out of his nice nap (girl ABCâs, or even CAB you check the airway breathing circulation or circulation airway breathing, either way you check that first before you shock someone)!
Owen tells his intern to calm the patients down, because clearly there is a technical difficulty, and what starts off as a comforting message turns south as she begins to get nervous herself.
Merâs patient is quite nervous for her first ever hospital procedure, but Grey reassures her that she will be fine. Jolexâs patient is experiencing another headache, which could be an indication of another stroke. They go to look at his chart, but the screen is locked. Bailey and Arizona are trying to get into her medical records, when the IT tech comes to help. Then a message pops up on the screen, theyâve been hacked and their medical records and systems are being held for ransom. If they donât pay, the records will be destroyed endangering hundreds of lives. Bailey speaks with some of the attendings trying to figure out how they are going to handle the situation. At first she yells at IT about the ineffective cyber security seminar, but he informs her that it wasnât until this coming week (pointing out the irony of the situation). As she tells all the attendings to remain calm and to try not to worry the patients, the FBI walks in, stealing her thunder.
Webber switches everyone to paper charts, and orders everyone to take manual vitals. Maggie and Jacksonâs patient is in critical condition and we find out that the daughter is estranged (hence the awkwardness). Mer is in the middle of her surgery when she finds out about the hacking, but they are still able to continue because the monitors in the OR have not been fully compromised yet. Glasses reminds us all of how wonderful technology is because of it allows innovation, but how it is also a dependency that can be crippling at times like this. But Mer is worried that the power could leave her patient in a compromising position, so she contemplates switching to a more invasive procedure to reduce complications if the technology crashes or if she should just continue and try to be as efficient as possible (she chooses the latter).
Carina is awarded OB privileges so that she can help given the hospital is currently understaffed and under cyber attack. Arizona and Carina arrive to the pit for a patient who decided that delivering her baby at home was no longer a satisfying option. Sheâd prefer to have an epidural and be attached to all machines available (which could be problematic). Carina expresses her excitement over her first patient at Grey Sloan, to which the mother becomes panicked.
Everyone is in line for the only working CT machine, and Owen tries to convey his authority so that he can be pumped up to the front. Karev defends his patient and Owen backs down! Bailey and Webber talk to the FBI and try to figure out a solution. They recall how another hospital handled a similar situation, where they said they defeated them, but off the record the other hospital had paid the ransom. When Webber offers to pay the ransom, seeing how it was only around 5,000 bitcoin, it turns out the conversion is equivalent to 20 million dollars. A fee that he, nor most people can afford. Then Bailey realizes that the surgical contest drew so much attention to Grey Sloan, that hackers figured that the hospital could afford a hefty ransom. Bailey recruits Avery to help since he has the funds to pay the ransom, while still maintaining her promise of keeping the donor of the competition anonymous. He gives her the go ahead, but the FBI official stops her in her tracks. He warns her of the global consequences involved if the hospital pays that amount of money. If they hackers get the money, then they would be motivated to go after every hospital endangering millions of lives. Jackson backs Bailey 100 percent and tells her to give him a call whenever she needs him. Bailey offers to give the FBI a little more time.
Jackson and Maggie decide to transfer their patient. Carina enlists Arizona for her motherly touch and expertise with the expectant mother. Webber informs Kepner, who needs a CT for her patient, that the line is backed up and it will be at least an hour wait. Pressed for time, she stresses for options when Webber suggests an old school trick. On request of a newspaper, the millennial teenagers offer up the newspaper app, but Kepner comes to the rescue as she grabs a real newspaper. He shows them that if you can read the newspaper through the pink tinted IV bag, then the bleeding in the abdomen has not reached critical levels and that the patient should be okay for now.
Jolexâs patient is stable and his CT was clear, so they reassure his mom. Amelia reveals to Alex that in fact heâs likely to have another stroke in the next 24 hours. Jo comes running with their patients night nurse that sheâs tracked down, who should know if he received vitamin K the previous night. Unfortunately, heâs not the right nurse, but Jo quickly finds out that whoever the one that night/early morning, was there when Doc McStuffins was on. They figure out who the nurse was, but now are tasked with finding her, even though they have no means of contacting her. They need to know if the patient was given vitamin K or not because that will determine what medication he gets, and if they donât give him the right medication he could have a severe stroke.
Webber is in his glory, schooling everyone on how it was done back when there was limited technology. He helps Deluca place a patient in trendelenburg position to help slow down his breathing and heart rate. As Owen finally gets to CT, the hospital loses power. Mer is forced to switch to the more invasive procedure and sends a very nervous Glasses to get more blood.
Jackson and Maggie are set to transfer their patient. Jackson opens up to Maggie while they ride the elevator and they find out that they used to go to the same pool growing up in Boston.
Jo interrogates the nurse in an attempt to help her patient, but is being slightly brushed off. Glasses cannot access the blood bank, since the codes/basically-anything-automated is still under attack. Jo finally gets the information she needs and sprints to find the nurse. Jolexâs patient is getting sicker, he literally feels like heâs gonna die. Arizona and Carinaâs patient is on the (slow) waddle. But it turns out sheâs crowning. Now her patient is extremely scared, but Arizona gives her the best/realest pep talk. Then with her newfound strength, she literally delivers her baby standing up in the hallway leaning on a gurney. Carina feels sheâs screwed up with her first patient at Grey Sloan, but Arizona comforts her. Carina then admits that she misses her and Arizona feels the same way! Turns out Carina is super casual with Owen, which opens up the doors for her and Arizona. Speeding past them during their nice moment, Jo sprints to find her patients nurse.
Amelia and Karev are faced with the tough decision, whether or not to give him a blood thinner, even if they donât know for certain if he had his vitamin K. Mer is furious with Glasses for not receiving the blood. Mer comes up with a solution to her blood shortage, she hooks up Glasses to an IV and does a direct donation to her patient. On the helicopter, Jackson and Maggie subtly show how they feel about each other until they hit terrible turbulence. He grabs her hand to show his support and they start to scratch the surface of their feeling when: their patients LVAD flies loose and BLOOD BEGINS TO SPURT OUT EVERYWHERE. Jackson was the brave soul to fix it. Owen tells Bailey that they need to start evacuating patients, when Bailey puts her medical career and license on the line defending her hospital and patients to the FBI officer. She contacts Jackson to pay the ransom, but his phone is stuck in the blood on the plane and heâs distracted in his efforts to comfort Maggie. Jo finally finds the right nurse, who warns them not to give her patient heparin. She sprints to tell Alex, but heâs already beginning to inject him (with what is presumed to be heparin)!! The screen then jumps back to Jo in the elevator trying to call Alex, but the call wonât go through. (Let the record show that itâs at this point that I started to scream at my tv. Why you might ask, well because she has her back turned to the elevator doors, thereâs less than a minute left and I know that something terrible always happens in elevators. Not to mention cliffhangers thrive in the the last minute of a mid-season finale. I knew the devil would emerge, and boy was I mad to be right!) As she turns around after texting Alex âNO HEPARIN,â she looks up to the sound of Paul saying, âHey Brooke, oh wait it, itâs Jo now right?â Â We then see Jo in a haze as sheâs met face to face with her abusive sickly smiling husband, followed by the black and write Greyâs Anatomy end title.
A Few Additional Thoughts:
IâM SHAKEN! I cannot believe it! Iâm in shock, even though I knew he would reappear and that it makes total sense for him to return just as we must break. I canât even imagine what she must feel like. While Iâm looking forward to the way in which they tell this story and itâs importance, Iâm just so heartbroken that she must relive her past. I hope everything works out well for her. I truly believe that the mid-season premiere is going to be a Jo centric episode. I think they are going to dive into her past and shed some light on the PTSD that can be accompanied with domestic abuse. I also think it's going to reflect on her time with Alex and the life sheâs built for herself. Iâm excited to learn more about her character and interested to see how Alex is there for her.
This episode was bananas! I mean are they going to pay the ransom? Will the hackers back down? Will Bailey be able to wire the money? Will Alex get Joâs text in time? Will they be able to reverse the medication if they end up giving it? Will their patient die? What will Jo say? What will Paul say? Is Jo in immediate danger? Whatâs in store for her? What will Alex do when he finds out? How will he find out? Will Merâs patient live? Will Glassesâ blood be enough to sustain the women through her surgery? Will Jackson and Maggieâs patient live given the sufficient blood loss? Why didnât Maggie stop screaming as all the blood was spurting (I know she was terrified, but donât scream when all that blood is spurting girl!)? Whatâs in store for their relationship? SO MANY QUESTIONS AND SO MUCH TIME UNTIL JAN 18!
But we Greyâs Anatomy fans are built for this!





