Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 6 Review: The Marathon Continues

Do you know who has the MAGYK?

Simone and Blue. Seriously, it’s taken quite some time to lean into it overtly. But Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 6 delivered on the intern friendships blossoming, giving us that nostalgic feel of OG MAGIC with a fresh perspective.

In general, the installment had those shades of how the series used to be, especially with its balance on medical cases and doctors actually practicing and personal interactions.

One theme that has consistently carried over is the focus on mental health and the attempts to prevent doctors from burning out.

It’s not just lip service, as it’s a genuine issue that came to the forefront, forcing everyone to pay attention where they previously ignored it during the COVID pandemic.

The tables have turned a bit, with many people not pursuing the field fervently or dropping out of it. It has also prompted people to reevaluate how to best meet the needs of those pursuing medicine.

The series has been particularly touching on that since the pandemic itself. It’s nice that it continues to be a fixture, especially since there aren’t any answers to how to address these issues.

We’ve acknowledged the problems but don’t have any fixes yet. And that’s where Bailey is struggling, as she’s witnessed how doctors have burned out and even saw how many they lost as a result.

She has to find a way to prevent this new batch of interns from falling into that pattern.

Are swag bags going to help? Maybe not entirely. They need actual resources and a psychologist on the books to indeed come close to addressing the problem.

But hey, a girl loves her swag; I would’ve happily snatched it up and enjoyed everything inside it.

Beltran: What the hell just happened?
Link: That’s what we call the Catherine Fox effect.

Will a fidget spinner help you through the loss of a patient? No, but it’s the thought that counts.

Bailey cares more about the mental health of her interns than they probably do about themselves, but it’s likely because when you’re in it, that’s how it is.

They don’t have time to be concerned about much else, and by now, they all have a disconnect with Bailey. It’s mainly because she seems like she needs to figure out what to do anymore or if this class has her out of her depth.

It’s puzzling as to why Bailey is so unsure. It feels random, but Hunt made a great point about looking after herself, and she deserved that hot bath with her handsome husband.

Regardless of what anyone says, this batch of interns is the best in seasons.

While Simone has had some growing pains, occasionally volleying between an endearing and annoying character, it makes her interesting and rife with potential.

However, one of the dynamics that has been simmering since their introduction is finally taking off, and it’s genuinely a relief to have the focus shift to developing friendships instead of all the relationship drama.

Simone and Blue always had the potential to be good friends, but it was as if they abandoned the idea or opted to shift focus toward the romantic tension between them and Jules and Lucas.

But now we’re back to the two of them spending time together, and through sharing time, we get bits and pieces about their lives and gain more insight into them as individuals.

It was frustrating that Blue jumped to the conclusion that Simone had mentioned something about his mental health to Bailey. He’s smart; after the last case, they worked together, and everything else happened. Had Simone said something, Bailey would’ve done more than pass out swag bags.

And she would’ve approached Blue directly about all of it.

But as Blue’s character fills out a bit more, it’s evident that he doesn’t trust people often, and he’s guarded. It isn’t that he believes Simone specifically would betray him, but instead, he doesn’t trust anyone or good things.

Yasuda, it’s good that you care. Not enough people do.

Teddy

However, once they got past that, he realized that Simone’s concern for him was genuine. You could almost see the exact moment when he realized she could be his friend, begrudgingly on his end.

We’ve been waiting for all the interns to end up under the same roof together, so it was such a blast when it concluded with Blue moving into the Grey house.

For the food alone, he’ll be a great roommate. He’s also a solid study buddy and great fun when in a subtle way.

What’s been fun about all of the interns is how often they shift, depending on which of the original interns they seem close to. One minute, Blue feels like Alex, and the next, Cristina.

As far as friendships go, he and Simone could very well have the potential to be a new rendition of Merlex.

Of course, if anyone is giving Alex these days, it’s Lucas. He’s even making the prodigal son move to return to the house. Of course, now he’ll feel bad about Blue taking over his room, but what did he expect?

Lucas has been horrible to the others, threw a tantrum, and left. He didn’t come back in all that time, so why now?

His connection with Dorian was weird because he showed little interest during the Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 5. Lucas has a decent bedside manner, but the switch-up didn’t transition well.

One could sympathize with Dorian, and once he expressed why he felt as he did to Lucas, you couldn’t deny him his feelings.

If Bailey is becoming the poster woman of “burnout” what is Webber?

He froze when Dorian was coding, but he snapped out of it quick enough and felt he got his groove back later. But it keeps feeling like they’re setting him up for retirement, but never pull the trigger on it.

Maybe they should just for the sake of not constantly teasing this storyline.

Catherine pressuring Link and Beltran was peak Catherine. In her defense, if GSM has become this award-worthy hospital with the best in the country, there is a certain expectation.

Fortunately, Link not only rose to the occasion of coming up with a better procedure, but he also took the risk, and it paid off.

It’s genuinely lovely when they remind us of how great Link is at his job since they too often reduced him to just whomever’s love interest more than anything else. Of course, that’s when he wasn’t losing patients and acting out.

Beltran has been a fun addition, and she has no qualms about saying things like they are and standing on her feelings and morals.

Just because the system failed him doesn’t mean that we should too.

Mika

Her back and forth with Amelia is always amusing, but this time, Amelia was very annoying about Scout and picking fights with Link. It gets so old, and she comes across as childish when she does all of that.

But she has an unspoken truce with Beltran, and now, might we be moving forward with a different stage of their relationship? The chemistry is there for something more; they need to pull the trigger on it.

One of the best professional moments for Beltran was not coddling Levi. He definitely sounded needy, and it’s ridiculous that he doesn’t understand why she doesn’t want to advocate for him to pursue Peds when he doesn’t express any passion for it.

His reasons for going into the field don’t inspire confidence.

If Blue and Simone’s friendship was a highlight, then so was Teddy and Mika’s mentor/mentee relationship.

The prisoner case was a tough one. Breaking Bad’s Raymond Cruz played Jimenez, and he’s such a great actor in everything he does.

It only took seconds to love Jimenez and want the best for him, which meant he wouldn’t be getting that.

Mika went from wary of working on a prisoner to genuinely connecting and caring for him.

I’m good at reading people, and I saw your face when you looked at my scan. How bad is it?

Patient

She’s a great patient advocate, a quality you hope she’ll never lose.

She was fighting a losing battle with wanting to find a way of helping Jimenez. Once they realized that he had lesions all over his body, there wasn’t much they could do, but he didn’t stand a chance at getting adequate help as a prisoner.

It was sad that the man spent his entire life in prison, going in as a teenager and spending four decades locked away. The kindness and compassion Mika showed him, from her advocating to the piece of cake, was more proof of why she’s the best intern.

Over to you, Grey’s Fanatics.

Did you enjoy this case-heavy episode? How do you feel about the Simone/Blue friendship? Sound off below.

Grey’s Anatomy airs on Thursdays on ABC. You can stream the following day on Hulu.