Personal Jesus 14x10 - Review
Best lines from tonight’s episode.
“It doesn’t come up until it does.” - Jackson talking to April.
“They took away his childhood today.” - Jackson talking to April.
Reflecting on this episode one word stands out more than any other and that is powerful. Powerful is the only way to describe every single second, every frame, every word of this episode.
Although I thought we were going to get more of a focus on Jo’s storyline I am so thankful that they didn’t. Police brutality is something that I have personally not been a witness to in the same way so many people in America, especially, have been.
This episode was, one may argue, both politically correct and the complete opposite all at the same time and that is a true testament to whoever wrote tonight’s episode. Grey’s has never been one to shy away from pointing out an issue in society but this time they truly turned over every single leaf.
From the get-go this episode highlighted that this is an issue ‘white’ people don’t immediately think about. Ben, Bailey and Jackson’s reactions were crushing to watch. Jackson’s stories from his childhood and the way he spoke to police were unbelievably powerful. Whether you can admit it or not bias is something that everyone is born with - it’s understandable - it stems from the concept of being comfortable with what you know and who looks like you. But as Jackson very elegantly put ‘Bias can be changed’; and that is so true, you make the choice every day to act on your bias or not and that is the important part.
I can’t deny there are many aspects of black culture that I don’t understand and have very little knowledge about and so many more that I am oblivious to; but just because I don’t understand them does not mean they different or wrong, or worse something to be feared. Bias is something that hit me like bus when I was working as a bartender at a private club and I was asked to train the new bartender, who was older than me, kinder than me - all in all she is a far better person than me, but every single time someone approached the bar, even if I was standing far away from them they would speak to me over her, they would thank me over her, they would call me by my name and not even bother to read her name tag. I know this is a very different story but the same principles apply, you should treat two people, any two people, the same - you have no justification whatsoever not to, especially based off something which as an individual you have no control over such as the colour of your skin.
The most powerful part of this theme in the episode was when Bailey and Ben agreed it was time to give Tuck the talk. To think a parent has to teach a child how to protect themselves from those who the taxpayers money funds to protect the population is soul-shattering.
I just want to say that I hope I did not tackle this topic in an insensitive manner, this is something I want to know more about so if anyone has anything they would like to say please don’t hold back.
I am not a religious person, never have been. But tonight even made me question what I believe in.
April has always been faithful in God, she has always trusted his plan and has never let that cloud her judgement when faced with the Science vs. Faith argument she most likely faces every single day she goes to work.
They repeatedly mentioned in the episode that ‘God never gives us more than we can handle’ but I think the main point they were trying to make tonight was what do you do when you are given more than you can handle?
As a doctor April did nothing wrong, she followed protocol, checked up on her patients and cared for them. So then if she was doing her job why wasn’t God?
It was crushing to watch April slowly loose her faith throughout the day. While watching her interaction with the young boy who was questioning the Bible the one thing that came to mind was Amelia saying ‘There is no God as no God would do this’ - that line played on repeat in my head as I watch April find out about Matthew’s wife, the young boy and Paul.
I liked the idea at the beginning of April washing off her bad day ready to start fresh but that entire concept was ruined when they revealed she hooked up with the intern (whose name I don’t know). That was an aspect of the episode that was entirely unnecessary. But i think the powerful subtlety to it was that April was someone who believed you must save yourself for marriage but she broke that with Jackson who was then her husband and until tonight was the only man she has ever been with. But now, now that she is questioning her faith in God, the things she used to hold so dear - those believes - appear to have lost some of their importance.
As I said earlier I am not religious so I apologise if my analogy and understanding of April’s storyline was dismissive in any way. I would however be interested in hearing other people’s opinions and views no matter of their stance regarding religion and God.
I though they were going to make a bigger deal out of Paul, I thought he was going to attack Amelia or Mere, or even try and attack Jo but no. They rushed through this storyline in my mind, they built it up so much and then it was almost brushed under the carpet. I would rather they spent more time developing this issue than worrying about brining Matthew and Teddy back. This was the big build-up we were waiting for and then it fizzled.
I am happy Jo and Jenny are now free, but one thing that caught my eye was Jo twisting and pinching the skin on her forearm - almost like a stress relief habit. I want to know what that is about as the camera picked up on it more than once but no one bothered mentioning it. Also this all seemed too easy, so I’m expecting Grey’s to carry on with this storyline and tackle the PTSD that can occur after being in such an abusive relationship.
(I will add gifs later once there are ones from tonight’s episode available)
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