Grey's Anatomy recap: Say hello to new surgeon Dr. Belgran

It’s not the first time we’ve seen a poor soul stuck in some sort of apparatus where doctors are hesitant to move a strategically placed steel bar for fear that the person will bleed out. After 20 seasons, I applaud Grey’s Anatomy writers for lowballing this storyline with a guy who simply tried to travel to Hong Kong using a floating paddle boat of his own design. It’s mediocre wackiness at its finest. 

Our guy Nate just wants to impress his wife. And what better way to do that than building a buoyant hamster wheel and pedaling to China? Owen (Kevin McKidd), Winston (Anthony Hill), Griffith (Alexis Floyd), and Millin (Adelaide Kane) rally together to try and figure out how to disentangle Nate and save his life. But all he wants is for someone to call his wife and tell her how much he loves her, just in case he doesn’t make it. 

Winston and Griffith have zero poker faces, and it’s evident that they, too, would prefer for someone in their lives to have undying love and devotion in what could be their final hours. Unfortunately, Maggie is too busy for Winston and suggests he cancel his trip to visit her in Chicago. Griffith is a huge question mark with Adams (Niko Terho) and has no idea where she stands other than being fabulous in her new haircut. Griffith’s mood is further clouded when Nate dies on the OR table, and she has to profess his love to his grieving wife.

Speaking of grieving, Yasuda (Midori Francis) is officially Team Griffith and has severed her friendship with Adams, thanks to his completely uncool behavior with a patient. After Bailey (Chandra Wilson) commands Yasuda and Adams to watch last week’s gunshot victim, Dorian, for post-op trauma, Adams ditches Yasuda to hunt for procedurals. 

While he’s gone, Dorian begins to code, and Yasuda pages Adams to help. Yasuda quickly figures out the problem and rushes off to get the materials she needs to save Dorian’s life. Naturally, Bailey walks in to find Adams alone, mumbling something about Yasuda’s diagnosis. Instead of telling him to pull his bangs out of his face, Bailey praises Adams, reprimands Yasuda, and saves Dorian’s life. To say Yasuda was angry is an understatement. No wonder Adams moved out of the house in the middle of the night. Ten bucks says he’s sleeping in the on-call room.

Adams is dead to Yasuda, just like Schmidt’s (Jake Borelli) ex Nico (Alex Landi) is dead to him. Okay, maybe that’s a little aggressive, but how horrified would you be to find out that your ex-boyfriend is having a baby with someone else? Poor Schmidt. Also, does Schmidt miss Nico as much as I do?  And is Nico’s partner Jason the cutest thing ever? Whose side am I on, and why is it weird that pediatric scrubs are black? Shouldn’t they be a pastel color? 

Perhaps I’m so enamored by peds because we have a new pediatric surgeon named Monica Beltran (Natalie Morales), who is just as feisty as Amelia (Caterina Scorsone). Together, they “take a minute” to figure out how to do something very technologically advanced without removing a shunt from a little girl’s brain. Beltran spends her day pushing Amelia to think outside the surgical box and instructing Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) to be at the beck and call of the girl’s mother. 

Once the girl’s brain is successfully operated on, her mother praises Beltran and Amelia for being such a good team. Could this be a slow burn for another love interest for Amelia? Or will she be caught up in her sister’s research for curing Alzheimer’s?

How long can Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) extend her research without Catherine’s knowledge? Did Teddy’s (Kim Raver) fall on the treadmill result in a slight concussion that prompted her to agree to fund Meredith’s efforts? Or is Teddy desperate to work in any capacity? Something tells me this is a very bad idea. I’m so on board. 

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