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Break Down the House

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“ The painful irony for doctors is that we often have to make you sicker in order to heal you. If a bone is healed unevenly, we have to re-break it. If a scar is too thick, we have to scrape it off and create a new wound. We break you down to rebuild you. We go to medical school because we want to learn how to fix what's broken, but we quickly learn that we often have to make things worse before we can make them better. It's risky, and it's frightening for surgeons and for patients, but usually, it's worth it. You get a second chance at life, and we get to be the architects of your second chance. It's win-win, when it works. ”

Break Down the House is the first episode of the fourteenth season and the 294th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

Meredith and the team are focused on helping Owen's sister after her shocking return, and Amelia faces a conflict over a patient. Meanwhile, Bailey is forced to give Grey Sloan a facelift after the fire and the doctors are introduced to a few new faces that spice things up around the hospital.

Full Summary[]

Owen walks toward the gurney holding Megan. She looks up at him and asks who he is, but then smiles and says she just had to. She asks him to unstrap her so they can hug.

Meredith looks out over the water.

Megan tells them she wasn't kept in the hole the whole time. She was put there when the bombing started to protect her. They actually treated her well for the last ten years, despite not letting her go home. Nathan comes to the door and starts crying when he sees her. He leans on her and hugs her, but she stops him and has him get up. She has an abdominal wound that never healed properly after a bombing six months ago.

Bailey tells the staff which areas of the hospital are off limits because of fire damage.

Arizona and April talk about Eliza. Arizona's not sure how much room to give her.

Jo tells Alex that Stephanie was taken to a burn center in Texas.

Owen tells Richard about Megan and says he and Nathan will need to take some leave. Meredith watches as Amelia walks away.

Bailey is stil talking as part of the nurses' station falls. She says to avoid that area as well.

Meredith and Maggie are surprised to see Amelia getting dressed to work. She says the crisis has passed, so she's going to work.

Nathan talks to Megan about him being in Seattle and she asks if he's met anyone significant. He turns away to talk to Meredith for a moment before admitting to Megan that he did meet someone, but she's not Megan.

April directs traffic in the ER. Amelia comes up to tend to Beau Martinez, who's in serious pain in his jaw. Amelia orders a CT.

Richard, Bailey, and Meredith look at Megan's scans. She wants the colostomy reversed and Meredith has an idea on how to do it.

Meredith explains her plan to Megan. Bailey and Richard instead encourage the conservative approach, but Megan says she needs the more radical approach. It's hard to live in Iraq with an open abdomen. They're surprised, but she explains that she has to go back because her child is there.

Megan tells the others about Farouk, whose parents were Syrian insurgent fighters. They both died in combat, so Megan took him in when he was four. He's ten now. She's the only parent he has, but she wasn't allowed to bring in the US because of immigration.

Nathan follows Meredith out of the room and asks if her working on Megan is the best idea. She assures Nathan that it's fine and she can do it.

Ben and Jo stare at the nearly empty surgical board. Jo asks if Ben saw Stephanie after the fire. He says yes and it was kind of thrilling, a rush to save her. Jo wonders who she's going to talk to now and who's going to tell her she stinks and needs a shower. Ben says she's making Stephanie's life-changing injuries about her and then tells her she does stink. She sniffs herself when Alex comes up and tells her to come with him.

Jo reads the chart of Max Spencer, with malrotated intestines. Max is playing with cars on his bed, but he turns to look at Jo and is surprised that she looks like Allora the Warrior Queen from his comic. He asks if that's her, but Alex tells him not to blow her cover.

Outside the room, Jo asks Alex if he's really going to let her do the surgery. He asks if she can handle it and she says she's a warrior queen.

Richard and Bailey look into the room, where a group of "sub-interns" are all using their electronics. Eliza set them up before she was fired. They're at the hospital for a six-week rotation as an extended interview for internships.

Meredith gets ready to do a fistulagram on Megan. Her mother doesn't want to see it, so she leaves and says she'll be back tomorrow. Megan tells Nathan he can't watch either, so he says he'll take Evelyn home. Megan asks how Meredith got on first-name basis with Evelyn. Meredith says she was in Owen's wedding, but declines to answer which of his wives she preferred. Owen comes in and Megan wants Meredith to tell her who Nathan is dating and for how long. Meredith just continues her work.

Richard gives the sub-interns a tour. He's annoyed by Candace Warner using a voice-to-notes app to record a tour. A trauma comes in and Richard asks April if they can observe. They watch her work, but when she does the thoracotomy, Buck faints and Candace starts screaming, so he tells everyone else to get out.

Owen tells Megan about John Finch dating Evelyn. He says he doesn't really like it, but it makes Evelyn happy. Then he expresses his regret that they stopped looking for her. She says she's okay. She was beaten at the beginning, but after a while, she made a life there. She used to pray that he'd gone home and married anyone but Beth. The guilt is useless. She asks him to go get her a coffee drink and quickly because when she eats, it comes out of the fistula immediately, so she needs to drink it before Nathan gets back.

Arizona knocks on Eliza's door, saying she has to let Arizona help her lick her wounds. Then she realizes how dirty that sounds. She opens the door and finds the apartment empty except for some packed boxes.

Owen waits at the coffee cart when Teddy comes up behind him. She came to see him because of Megan. They hug happily.

Bailey and Ben watch the construction. She talks about it using surgical terms.

While Jackson injects botox into her belly, Megan talks to Teddy about a guy she's seeing. It's only need a few dates. Nathan is standing away from the bed, turned around. Megan's upset that Owen is so worried and not entertaining her. Amelia comes in and asks Jackson when he's free for her tumor board. Owen introduces her to Teddy, but she quickly excuses herself, saying she has a patient. Jackson says he's done with Megan and goes with Amelia.

Megan asks Owen about his marriage. He asks her about her colostomy.

Amelia presents Beau's case. She wants to remove the tumor, but Jackson says it's inoperable. He and Alex suggest alternate treatment, but Amelia doesn't want that.

Jo is practicing for her surgery and talking to Ben about it. She wonders if getting a surgery is a bad reason to fall back into love with someone. She starts talking to him about it, but Ben leaves, saying he won't be her new Stephanie. After he's gone, Richard brings in the sub-interns and she tries to show them what she's doing, but they are all looking down at their phones. Richard tells them to look up from their notes.

Arizona and April talk about how Arizona was ghosted. Arizona didn't know that was a thing. April says it's cruel, but at least Eliza made her intentions clear, unlike Jackson with Montana. Arizona says she feels old. Teddy surprises them and Arizona hugs her and tells her all the things that happened with Callie and Sofia and apologizes for not calling and says she hopes she didn't ghost her.

Jackson sits down with Maggie and they have some awkward conversation before Maggie suddenly leaves.

Nathan comes into the gallery to see Megan's surgery. She tells him he shouldn't watch. Megan and Nathan call out to get ready and Megan tells Meredith she's ready.

Teddy finds Owen waiting and panicking. She orders him to sit down and tries to reassure him. He's worried about losing Megan again. Amelia sees the two of them huddled together through the window.

Ben and Bailey are still watching the construction.

Meredith inserts saline to expand the saline implants. Teddy tells Meredith she heard about Derek and is sorry. Megan asks who Derek is, but Meredith says it's a long story. Owen gets a picture and shows it to Megan. It's Farouk, a selfie master. He's with US military in Baghdad. She hasn't been able to adopt him legally and he's a Syrian refugee, so it'll be years before she can bring him to the US, if ever. She can't wait to get back to him. Teddy starts to asks Nathan about Meredith, but Owen interrupts and gets Megan thinking about going outside, which she wants.

Megan walks around outside carefully. She says she feels like a robot.

Teddy and Owen talk about Nathan and Meredith. They don't want Megan to know about Meredith. Teddy says Megan needs to know.

Jo talks to Max before his surgery, saying when he wakes up, he'll be a warrior king. Richard brings the sub-interns in and asks Jo if they can observe, which she says is fine.

Teddy tells Meredith it's not appropriate for her to be Megan's surgeon. Amelia tries to stand up for Meredith, but Meredith says she can handle it. Teddy then goes after Amelia for not being there for Owen. Teddy still wants Meredith to tell Megan the whole story. Meredith tries to explain to Maggie who Teddy is.

Jo is working on Max and Richard lets the sub-interns look closer. When Levi Schmitt leans over, his glasses fall off his face into the body cavity. Jo quickly steps in to get them out and clean the cavity. She also asks Richard to remove the sub-interns.

Amelia is looking at Beau's scans and waiting for Jackson to arrive. Andrew asks if she's slept or eaten. She says she promised Beau and his father. Also, her husband's sister came back from the dead and her brother didn't. Jackson comes in and shows her a case he worked on with the same kind of tumor. After multiple surgeries, she's left without a lower jaw. He says he won't take Beau's jaw apart.

Richard watches the sub-interns work on their phones. Alex and April approach him and want to complain about the sub-is. They think they're useless and can't be taught. Richard reminds them that they had their own faults, but he raised them and now they're good surgeons. Once they leave, Bailey comes up and thanks him for what he said, but he tells her the sub-is aren't meant to be surgeons and might not even be meant to be doctors.

Nathan, Teddy, and Owen argue about whether or not to tell Meredith. Maggie comes into the room and tells him Megan deserves the facts.

Meredith and Alex talk about Megan's surgery at Kerry Park. Meredith tells Alex he needs to tell Jo about finding her husband if he wants to build a future with her. She deserves the whole story.

Maggie tells Jackson she was avoiding him because of what April said to her about him liking her and her liking him. Jackson's confused and Maggie walks away.

Nathan and Owen prepare to tell Megan, but Nathan enters the room to find that Meredith has already told her. Megan asks him to wait outside. Meredith tells Megan she had one great love in her life and he died. Then Megan says she needs to get back to her son, which Meredith wants to help her with. Megan says Nathan has excellent taste in women, which Meredith agrees with.

Ben and Bailey say the plastics posse is now working on the hospital.

Owen, Nathan, and Teddy see Megan off for surgery.

Amelia talks to Beau and his father about his surgery. She believes she can do it.

Meredith talks through the surgery one more time with Richard and Bailey as they scrub in. She's nervous.

Nathan watches from the gallery. April brings him coffee and sits with him.

They start her surgery.

Arizona's drinking at the bar when an Italian woman sits next to her and asks if she's drinking alone. Arizona says she's been ghosted by her girlfriend and asks if the woman knows what that is. She does and says she thinks it's because of the internet that people do it.

The surgery continues for several hours and Nathan watches the whole things as others come in and out of the gallery.

Jo watches Alex play darts at the bar. Andrew comes in and wants to talk to Jo. She tells him not to because they can't date because she's still in love with Alex. He says he actually wanted to talk to her about his worry over Amelia. Then he leaves. Levi sits next to Jo and offers to buy her a drink as a way of apologizing. She tells him about Stephanie leaving. Jo says Stephanie would have talked her out of doing something stupid. She looks over at Alex as she says that.

Owen and Teddy wait for Megan's surgery to be over. Teddy asks where Amelia is. Nathan comes out and says the surgery is done and Meredith's getting ready to close.

Andrew comes home to find Arizona with the woman. He apologizes as he gets ready to go upstairs, but stops when the woman calls his given name "Andrea." They start arguing in Italian. Arizona looks between the two of them, surprised.

Jo and Levi are having sex when his glasses fall on her face. She tells him just to take them off.

Teddy, Owen, and Nathan see from the gallery that Meredith has stopped and is looking into the abdominal cavity. There's not enough tissue to close, which angers Meredith.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Megan Hunt[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Frozen abdomen
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery

Despite being held captive, Megan told the doctors she'd been treated well and her only complaint was an open abdomen after a bombing six months before she was rescued. She had a massive hernia and a giant fistula, as well as her abdominal organs being fused together by adhesions. Megan wanted the colostomy reversed and Meredith believed she had a way to do that by expanding her abdominal skin. Jackson injected botox in her abdomen to loosen the skin and then Meredith put in saline implants to stretch the skin. Then Meredith, Bailey, and Richard worked together to remove the implants and tried to use the skin to close her abdomen. However, there wasn't enough skin to cover the defect.

Stephanie Edwards[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Severe burns
  • Doctors:
  • Treatment:
    • Burn care

Stephanie was mentioned as being airlifted to a burn center in Texas.

Beau Martinez[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Osteoblastoma
  • Treatment:

Beau, 14, came into the ER with intense jaw pain and left side headaches. He'd had the pain for a few months. After an MRI, he was diagnosed with an osteoblastoma. Jackson said the tumor was inoperable, but Amelia decided to proceed anyway.

Max Spencer[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Intestinal malrotation
  • Treatment:
    • Ladd's procedure

Max, 7, had been having upper abdominal pain and vomiting for months. Upper GI revealed malrotation of his intestines due to bands. Jo did a Ladd's procedure to correct the defect. Despite a medical student's glasses falling in his body cavity, the surgery went well.

April's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Open fractures
  • Treatment:
    • Thoracotomy

April treated a patient in the ER who'd been hit by an SUV. He had multiple open fractures. April did a thoracotomy in the ER.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"Feel It Still" Portugal. The Man
  • Richard tells off the sub-interns.
  • April tells Arizona she's been ghosted by Eliza.
  • April says at least Eliza made her intentions clear unlike Jackson.
  • Teddy surprises them and Arizona confesses all the things she hasn't told Teddy.
  • Jackson sits down with Maggie and they have an awkward conversation.
  • Megan tries to get Nathan to leave the OR gallery before her surgery.
"War Face" Lowell
  • Meredith starts operating on Megan.
  • Arizona is drinking at the bar when a woman approaches her and they flirt.
  • Meredith continues her work for several hours. Nathan stays in the gallery the whole time.
  • Jo watches Alex play darts. Andrew comes in and asks to talk to Andrew.
  • Jo tells Andrew she's still in love with Alex and she can't be with him.
  • He says he wanted to talk about Dr. Shepherd.
  • A sub-intern sits down and offers to pay for her drink.
  • She tells him about Stephanie and not wanting to make a bad decision.

Notes and Trivia[]

Grey's_Anatomy_Season_14_"Love_Triangle"_Promo_(HD)

Grey's Anatomy Season 14 "Love Triangle" Promo (HD)

  • This episode's title originated from the song Break Down the House, originally sung by Laidback Luke.
  • This episode scored 8.07 million viewers.[1]
  • The table read for this episode took place on July 21, 2017.[source?]
  • Prep dates for the episode were from July 20 to July 28, 2017.[source?]
  • Filming was scheduled from July 31, 2017 to August 10, 2017.[source?]
  • This episode's voice over is the 250th in the entire series to be narrated solely by Meredith Grey.
  • The episode picks up minutes after Ring of Fire.
  • This episode marks the first appearance of Teddy Altman since Flight.
  • Owen tells Teddy that Megan doesn't look like he remembered. This is a nod to the character being recast with Abigail Spencer replacing Bridget Regan, or an explanation as to why she looks different now since her previous appearance was based on Owen's memory.
  • It's the first time since season 10 that a season premieres with a two-hour episode.
  • The comic book superhero is called Allora, an intended reference to Aziz Ansari's Netflix show Master of None. Allora is a catchphrase of Ansari's character and the Grey's writers loved the show's second season.[source?]
  • The line where Meredith asks Alex why he didn't get his own lunch was ad-libbed by Ellen Pompeo.[source?]
  • When Meredith is holding Cristina's Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion article, it can be seen that one of the authors is Zoanne Clack, M.D., who is a writer and producer on the show as well as a former E.R. physician.
  • Goof: Nathan tells Megan that he's been here for a couple of years now, while in-universe it has been even less than a year. He arrived months after Andrew started his one-year internship, while Andrew is still an intern in this episode.
    • It might be possible that he was telling Megan that he's been back in the city for a couple of years now, though his introduction with Kamal Aboud heavily implied that he came straight from the Middle East.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Quotes[]

Owen: Megan.
Megan: Who... Who are you? Sorry, I had to do it. Will you unstrap me from this thing so I can hug your ridiculously pale body?
Arizona: She fired Eliza.
April: Oh, yeah. I heard. Just give her some room. Getting fired is humiliating.
Arizona: How much room? Like, hours or days? I've never been fired.
Ben: She was hurt, but we got to her in time. It was kind of unbelievable. I mean, it was thrilling, actually. You know? It was a rush.
Jo: Who am I gonna talk to now? Who am I gonna compete against? Who's gonna tell me when I'm being ridiculous or when I stink and need a shower?
Ben: Way to make Stephanie's life-changing injuries about you.
Jo: You called it a rush.
Arizona: Eliza? Hey, come on. Come on. I've given you all the time that I can. Now you have to let me help you lick your wounds. Wow. That sounded dirtier than I meant it to.
Owen: Teddy! What are you doing here?
Teddy: Well, Megan's home. You didn't think I'd come and see how you're doing?
Jackson: That tumor's inoperable.
Amelia: I'm not a big believer in inoperable. God, yes. Unicorns, possibly. Inoperable, no.
Jackson: Then start hunting unicorns. Your chances are better.
Amelia: You don't hunt unicorns, what's the matter with you?
April: She ghosted you.
Arizona: What? What's that?
April: No text? No note? Just disappeared? She ghosted you.
Arizona: People do that? Like, often enough that it has its own term?
April: It's cruel and awful, and no one should do it to anyone ever, and I am so sorry. Well, at least she was crystal clear about her intentions. She didn't confuse you with a whole Montana situation and then just linger.
Arizona: What's a Montana situation? Is that another term that I've never heard of? I feel so old.
Teddy: Surprise!
Arizona: Oh, my God! Oh my God! You're here! Callie left me, and she went to New York, and she took Sofia, and I managed to find love again, but then she got fired, and I've been meaning to call you forever, and I'm so sorry. Did I ghost you? 'Cause I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm a terrible friend, and I'm so glad you're here!
Teddy: Megan is Owen's sister, and you're Owen's wife, so I shouldn't have to advocate for Megan and Owen, who have been through hell and back, a hell which I've personally witnessed. I shouldn't have to show up here and advocate for them, because that's your job. But you're not doing it. I have barely seen you.
Amelia: Because I have a patient.
Teddy: You also have a husband.
Amelia: I'm sorry. Is it 1952? Should I put on my apron and mix him a gin and tonic?
April: We're here to talk about the sub-is, Dr. Webber.
Alex: The utterly inept, bottom-of-the-barrel med students you keep recklessly hauling around the hospital.
Richard: Oh, oh. So you two think you were any better than them? Karev, you scraped in by the skin of your teeth thanks to an essay you wrote on testicular cancer that I have since found was a lie! Kepner, you failed your boards and got fired twice! I raised you two. I grew you into the surgeons you are now. So you don't get to tell me who I will and won't teach and how I should or shouldn't do it! Now, I will thank you to walk away.
Maggie: I have been the person that found out too late that there was a thing with Meredith, and it just makes everything worse for everyone.
Nathan: Okay, we were just trying to protect you.
Maggie: Well, I didn't need your protection. I needed information.
Teddy: Thank you.
Maggie: I am Meredith's sister, so if there are sides to be taken here, I am on hers. Just tell your fiancée the truth, Nathan. 'Cause she doesn't want your pity or your protection. What she wants is your respect.
Teddy: Wait, you had a thing with Meredith's sister, too?
Meredith: No one asked me to do it. I did insert myself. Why did I do that?
Alex: Because you're trying to be the surgeon you wish Derek had had.
Megan: Are you in love with him?
Meredith: I had one great love in my life and he died.
Amelia: My husband's sister came back from the dead and my brother didn't. So, sleep is not really my thing now.
Andrew: Can I talk to you?
Jo: Please don't.
Andrew: Don't?
Jo: I'm still in love with Alex. And I know that he hurt you, and I know that he's volatile, and I know that I can't be with him, but I can't be with you, either. And we work together, so can we just... Can we please just not make it awkward?
Andrew: I wanted to talk about the fact that I'm worried about Dr. Shepherd. But yeah, let's not make it awkward.

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.


References[]

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