Grey’s Anatomy 14×08 – Out of Nowhere

14 seasons in and Grey’s is still as fresh as ever.

I thought the show had tackled every crisis imaginable, but Out of Nowhere brilliantly introduces a brand new complication: our favorite hospital getting hacked! It’s a timely and clever obstacle, and it injects this winter finale with a great deal of urgency as the entire establishment is sent into chaos.

I loved everything about the hack. From the Chief and Bailey’s naivety about bitcoin’s worth, to the hack being a direct result of the contest, to everyone having to revert to the “stone age” with pens and papers. Moreover, I genuinely felt worried for the safety of all the patients (particularly with Meredith in the middle of surgery) and that made for a really riveting hour of television.

And then there’s that absolutely brilliant cliffhanger. Although the Jo storyline hasn’t always moved at the most exciting pace, the whole domestic abuse angle finally reached a climax with their arrival of her creepy husband played by Glee‘s Matthew Morrison (last seen in season 13). Shonda outdid herself with the timing on this one as Jo is right in the middle of rushing towards Alex to stop that heparin shot. Yup, it’s brilliant and completely nerve-wracking. Is it January yet?

Bits & Scalpels

– Mer’s doing TV interviews now! Awesome!

– Loved Bailey’s “Aretha Franklin” joke.

– I kind of love Schmidt being Meredith’s intern. He’s just so awkward, and the blood donation mid-surgery was perfect.

– Hilarious bit: the patient’s mom putting on makeup for Alex.

– Epic moment with Dr. Bello electrocuting the poor patient who was just napping.

– We all know that I’m a big fan of the show playing around with its title card. This week it flatlines – perfection!

– Carina’s patient screaming “I’M YOUR FIRST PATIENT” killed me!

– How good does Carina look in scrubs?

– Arizona delivering her patent’s baby in the middle of the hallway was badass.

– Oh God, Maggie and Jackson is going to happen isn’t it?

– So much blood in that helicopter scene! Damn!

Grey Banter

Bailey: You owe me! You let my husband call his stupid fireman fantasy a fellowship.
Chief: He made an excellent case for it. The Medic One program is-
Bailey: You aided and abetted an imbecile!

Bailey: DeLuca’s an OB, right?
Arizona: Yeah, but she doesn’t have privileges.
Bailey: Uh, by the power vested in me, blah, blah, blah. Now go find her and tell her she has temporary privileges to stop watching ladies masturbate and to help pull babies out of people.

Arizona: We’ve been hacked.
Carina: Oh! I thought my last patient had the saddest climax I’ve ever seen, but it’s just the screen was frozen.

Patient: I want an epidural. Okay? And I want monitoring and painkillers.
And I want all your drugs. And machines and robots.

Owen: My guy’s an MVC, and he has two kids.
Alex: My guy’s in kindergarten. So, if you want to play human poker, my hand beats yours.

Detective: It’s not that simple.
Bailey: Oh, but it is that simple. It’s the simplest math there is. You look at the value of money, and you compare that to the value of a human life, and unless you are a soulless monster who lives in a cave and eats children, you would see that there’s no amount of money that should stand in the way of saving that life. Now, um, how do I get some of that, uh, chipcoin?
Tim: Bitcoin.

Bailey: (to a technician) Uh, I don’t know what it is that you’re doing, but I bet you could do it faster.

Conclusion
One of the finest hours of the year. What a superb season thus far!

Nad Rating
A