| “ | The vagus nerve is longest and most complex of the cranial nerves. It transmits information to or from the surface of the brain to tissues and organs elsewhere in the body. When a body sustains an extended period of stress or trauma, the vagus nerve becomes hyperactive. We think of stress and trauma as primarily emotional, but the real impact is on the body. When the vagus nerve is triggered, it fights to slow the heart, blood pressure drops, and you can experience nausea, tunnel vision, ringing in the ears, low blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat. And when the mind suffers, the body suffers. And it can be difficult to undo the damage. Recent studies suggest that when we experience physical sensations related to intense emotions, it comes back to the vagus nerve. We think of the pain of a broken heart as being outside of our control. But science suggests that if we laugh instead of cry, if we sing instead of ache, we might just heal faster. Of course, when we're hurting, sometimes it's just easier to keep hurting than to try to heal. | ” |
No Time to Die is the ninth episode and mid-season premiere of the eighteenth season and the 389th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.
Short Summary[]
The Grey Sloan Memorial doctors grapple with the aftermath of the car crash that involved some of their own, while Meredith works to save Dr. Hamilton's life. After Levi is severely impacted from his latest loss, Bailey is forced to once again rethink the Webber Method. Later, Link confronts Amelia after witnessing her move on with someone new.
Full Summary[]
Three weeks ago, Owen gives Noah the drugs to die before discharging him. Noah has never been more sure of anything. Heather knows and they have made a plan. Noah doesn't want to abandon the guys in his unit. He asks Owen to help them, too.
Owen wakes up in the car wreck, the crash flashing before his eyes.
Cormac rushes from the edge of the cliff to the road, just in time to stop the civilian's car taking off with Teddy. Teddy is shocked to see him.
Winston and Reza wait in their OR over Farouk's open chest.
In the other OR, Taryn explains to Richard what happened. He yells that this isn't the Webber Method. Levi retreats to the scrub room and starts scrubbing his bloody hands. He goes numb.
Meredith rushes while working David's abdomen.
Cormac arrives in Winston's OR with the heart and shortly informs him about the accident. Winston inspects the heart and finds a bruise. He's not sure if they can still use it. He has Maggie paged.
Owen wakes up in a trauma room with Amelia and Link working on him. He can wiggle his toes and his feeling appears intact. Owen asks about Teddy and Farouk's heart. She updates him. Owen requests they not inform Megan until after Farouk's okay.
Amelia and Link find Teddy and tell her Owen's left leg is shattered but his neuro exam appears favorable. They'll know more after a scan. Amelia says she can go in and see Owen. Teddy insists that she is fine but she needs a minute. Link walks off. Teddy says Owen got her out first. She heard the car fall. She rode here with Farouk's heart and she thought Owen was dead. Her insides have gone ice cold. Amelia says her nervous system is protecting her but Owen needs to see her.
Teddy heads into the trauma room. Keeping some distance at first, she says she thought he was gone. He did, too. He asks her to come over. She breaks down crying and goes to kiss him.
Amelia finds Link and says she wants a pan scan so they won't be blindsided. Link agrees since no one likes being blindsided. Picking up on his being short wit her, Amelia wants to know what's going on with him. He says he'll meets her in radiology and leaves.
As Levi continues to scrub, Richard and Bailey are yelling about the Webber Method out in the hall. He says it's on Levi who overstepped while Bailey thinks this was a preventable mistake. Levi watches as Devon's body is covered up and taken to the morgue. Bailey decides to suspend the method immediately and indefinitely but Richard refuses to accept it, even pulling rank on Bailey as Chief of Chiefs. Bailey threatens to report Richard to the medical board. There should have been an attending present. She's done arguing. Richard then comes in to yell at Levi to stop scrubbing.
Maggie thinks they can't use the heart. Winston doubts Farouk can survive on ECMO until another heart becomes available. Maggie points out he could go into immediate cardiac arrest if the heart is too severely damaged. Winston decides to go ahead with the transplant. It is a miracle that everyone made it back here with the heart so he's going to take the miracle. He asks Maggie to help him pull this off quickly and well. She agrees. Cormac leaves the room.
Meredith is on the phone with Nick to inform him she almost lost a septic David on the table. Nick offers to board a critical care transport to Seattle to spend time with her. She loves the idea. After hanging up, Meredith runs into Cormac and notices the wound on his forehead. He informs her about the accident. His whole life flashed before his eyes. It was a lot. Meredith decides to check him out.
She performs a short exam in the ER. As she takes his blood pressure, he asks her opinion on mercy killing. She believes in dying with dignity but he was talking about a doctor actively killing terminal patients at their requests. She's thinking do no harm. Cormac then says Owen was hurt badly so he might need a great general surgeon.
Meredith and Richard join Link, Nico, and Amelia in the radiology suite. The scans have revealed an L1 burst fracture, an open femural fracture and tibial plateau fracture. Meredith sees a splenic lac, which can be monitored with labs. Amelia says they need to get in quick and be perfect to prevent paralysis. Link requests Levi but Richard says he is unavailable. Meredith offers to scrub in but Amelia says they are fine for now. Meredith leaves to go yell at David.
While the OR is being disinfected, Levi is still scrubbing. Bailey comes in and tells him to go write the operative report. When he doesn't reply, she softens and tells him even the best surgeons lose patients. She tells him to take the time to feel his feelings and then write the report.
Link, Nico, and Amelia are with Owen to explain their operative plan to Owen and Teddy. Amelia and Link disagree on which fracture to tackle first. Nico says they can position Owen on his side and work simultaneously. Instead of deciding, Owen says he needs to talk to Hayes immediately. Amelia will send Hayes to see him in pre-op and decides to go with Nico's suggestion.
Cormac checks on Farouk's surgery so he can update Megan but it's too early to tell. Winston has a good feeling.
Cormac meets Owen in pre-op. He thanks him for saving him. Owen says he wants him to forget about what he told him in the car. Cormac says that would make him an accessory. Owen says Noah qualified for physician-assisted death but his friends don't come from states that would allow that. Owen made Noah a promise and Noah made his friends a promise. Owen intends to keep it. Cormac doesn't want to spend his recently-saved life in prison. Owen is planning to give life-ending drugs to men who do not qualify so Cormac advises him to come forward so Cormac won't have to. Owen reminds him he saved his life but Cormac won't budge. If not prison, he'll lose his license if he doesn't report this. Cormac needs time to think this through. Teddy arrives and asks Cormac about Farouk. Cormac tells him it's too early.
Meredith checks on David and wakes him up. She is not interested in his apology and neither is Kai. David nearly ruined the protocol that Kai worked on for two years. There is not another patient who was approved by the FDA, so David is all they got. Meredith is missing days with her children so if he pulls something like this again, she'll quit and the project will die. David understands. Kai and Meredith leave the room.
Jo finds Levi in the scrub room, still going it. Bailey sent her to take him home. She notices his hands are burning red. He pushes her aside when she tries to guide him away from the sink.
Megan is lighting a candle in the chapel when Cormac walks in. She came to pray since no one will give her an update. She knows it's bad since she hasn't heard or seen anyone from her family in hours. Cormac needs to know her plan to not kill herself before telling her anything. He tells her his wife died. He couldn't move on, tried to blame it on his son's panic attacks, but he just can't get over her. He's desperate to see her again. He knows how it feels to not want to live, the impulse to leave the planet. Megan took a sedative, which helped. He can watch her call her therapist and she'll e-mail her psychiatrist with him in CC. Cormac then tells her about the accident and Owen's injuries. She then takes out her phone to call her therapist.
Meredith joins Richard in the OR gallery. The surgery is going slow. Richard tells her about Levi's loss. He can't bring himself to comfort Levi because he didn't wait for the attending as planned. Meredith points out neither she nor Alex nor Cristina would have waited for the attending in that situation. Her comment upsets him.
Down in the OR, Nico checks the anastomosis. It looks good.
Kai joins in the gallery. Link notices how Amelia's eyes light up and then asks to clear the gallery so he can focus. The confused spectators leave. It then dawns on Amelia what is going on.
Jo finds Taryn and says Levi needs their help. Jordan overhears and tags along.
They return to the scrub room. Levi's hands are bleeding now. Taryn can't get him to stop. Jordan says he went running for hours until he collapsed after he first lost a patient. Levi still won't stop or step back. Jordan then physically pulls him away. Levi breaks down completely. They carry him out of the room while he cries hysterically.
Owen is moved to the ICU. Amelia blocks Link and brings up that he spent the day punishing her because he saw her kissing someone else. She hates that he brought all of that into Owen's surgery. Link can't believe she thinks she has the right to be upset. He is pining after her because she told him she loved him and they were building a life together. He spent all this time convincing himself that he doesn't need marriage, just her. He came to tell her that but found her kissing someone else. She just moved on like the last year and a half didn't matter. Amelia says she didn't. She went through every scenario in her head, moved through every emotion. It was exhausting. She spent a year in AA meetings trying to figure out what she needed. He didn't want to hear that she was losing herself in something she did not and could not want. He demanded that she marry him and now he wants to gaslight her into thinking she played him. Link says she keeps using that word and points out she is the one pretending that they didn't make an amazing baby together, raised four kids, and loved each other really well. She's pretending that they didn't love each other since she's apparently ready to move on with some random woman. Amelia corrects him. Link hopes she's really happy.
Winston removes the clamp. He and Maggie wait for the first sign of cardiac activity.
Jo, Taryn, and Jordan have bandaged up Levi's hands. Jo tells Levi to go home and cry. She is paged away. A worried Nico comes up and asks what happened. Levi doesn't answer him. Taryn takes him for a walk.
Maggie and Winston arrive in the PICU. They find Megan and tell her that Farouk's heart is beating well. Cormac is delighted. Megan hugs Winston and thanks him. They promise to get her an update on Owen as soon as they can but she should take in the miracle that is Farouk. Megan hugs Cormac. Farouk is brought in.
Cormac drops by Bailey's office. She asks about the Hunt family. He updates her on Farouk but he hasn't heard about Owen. Bailey needs him to be okay. The Hunt family has been through enough. Owen is one of the best men she knows. Cormac says he has to give her his notice. His kids are not thriving here so he needs to go back to Ireland. His decision has been made. Since the hospital is hemorrhaging surgeons her head of Trauma is looking at months of recovery, she asks him to stay on a little longer. He can't and he's truly sorry about that, but he has to do what's best for his family. He leaves the room and lingers for a moment, ultimately deciding to leave it at that.
As they prepare to leave for the night, Maggie says she didn't know Winston is a person who takes in miracles. She prefers to lean on science and data. Winston points out she had his back nonetheless. They were a team and everyone survived. Whether you call it a miracle or skill, Farouk's heart is beating in his chest.
Nick runs into Meredith in the ambulance bay. He's right on time. She tells him about her terrible day. Nick got them a hotel with amazing room service.
Amelia meets Kai at Joe's. They offer her some of their fries. Amelia says the surgery went well. She then divulges her personal connection to the people in that OR. Kai then understands why Link cleared the gallery out of nowhere. Amelia says her life is messy and she would understand if Kai doesn't want anything to do with it. Kai asks if square-jawed men are Amelia's type. Amelia says lately her type is square-jawed Kai. Kai doesn't have a type but they are sharing their fries, which is no small thing. Amelia then receives her daily goodnight photo of Scout from Link. Kai says Link is a good man. Amelia hates that she broke his heart. Kai offers to grab her a drink. Amelia shares that she doesn't drink. Kai then offers more fries.
Jo and Link get comfortable with drinks on the living room carpet. Link doesn't want to feel all this again. Jo says life is hard enough so he shouldn't suffer more than he has to. Link doubts it's that easy. Jo says Amelia is a decent human being but she doesn't want what he wants. Jo says Link is amazing and he's also really hot. There are other women who would love to love him. Link already mourned Amelia so he shouldn't suffer anymore. They then lean in and share a kiss. Link state this is a bad idea. She disagrees. They proceed to take off their clothes.
Bailey ends up riding an elevator with Richard. They don't talk.
Nico finds Levi sitting on the ground in the ambulance bay in a near-catatonic state. He sits down next to him. He doesn't know what to say.
Owen wakes up in the ICU with Teddy by his side. He's in pain. She hands him the pain pump controller. Teddy tells him he'll walk again. Bailey came by to check on him. She told him Cormac quit to move back to Ireland. Teddy asks what happened in that car. Owen stays mum.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
- Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
- James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
- Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
- Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd
- Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson
- Kelly McCreary as Dr. Maggie Pierce
- Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman
- Jake Borelli as Dr. Levi Schmitt
- Chris Carmack as Dr. Atticus Lincoln
- Richard Flood as Dr. Cormac Hayes
- Anthony Hill as Dr. Winston Ndugu
- Scott Speedman as Dr. Nick Marsh
Guest Stars[]
- Jaicy Elliot as Dr. Taryn Helm
- Alex Landi as Dr. Nico Kim
- E.R. Fightmaster as Dr. Kai Bartley
- Greg Tarzan Davis as Dr. Jordan Wright
- Johnny Rey Diaz as Noah Young
- Nikhil Shukla as Dr. Reza Khan
- Octavio Rodriguez as Devon Gomez
- Abigail Spencer as Dr. Megan Hunt
- Peter Gallagher as Dr. David Hamilton
Co-Starring[]
Medical Notes[]
Noah Young[]
- Diagnosis:
- Pulmonary fibrosis
- Doctors:
- Owen Hunt (trauma surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Physician-assisted suicide
Noah had pulmonary fibrosis and was near death, so Owen gave him the medication he needed to end his life.
Owen Hunt[]
- Diagnosis:
- Open femoral fracture
- Tibial plateau fracture
- Facial laceration and contusions
- L1 burst fracture
- Grade I splenic laceration
- Doctors:
- Atticus Lincoln (orthopedic surgeon)
- Amelia Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
- Nico Kim (orthopedic surgeon)
- Richard Webber (general surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Surgery
Owen was injured in a car accident. After stations 19 and 23 extracted him from the car, he was taken to the ER, where he was able to feel and move his legs. Link determined that he had multiple fractures in his left leg. Amelia said his neuro exam was good, but Teddy was worried his back injury would leave him unable to walk again. They did a pan scan to determine the exact extent of his injuries, which showed an L1 burst fracture, an open femoral fracture, a tibial plateau fracture, and a splenic laceration. They planned to take him into surgery. The spinal fracture put him at risk of paralysis, while the femoral fracture put him at risk of losing his leg, so they made a surgical plan which allowed them to work on both areas simultaneously. They were able to repair his injuries and he was expected to make a full recovery. He woke up after his surgery.
Farouk Shami Hunt[]
- Diagnosis:
- Dilated cardiomyopathy
- Doctors:
- Winston Ndugu (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Cormac Hayes (pediatric surgeon)
- Maggie Pierce (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Heart transplant
Farouk was in surgery waiting for his donor heart. When the heart arrived, Winston examined it and saw that it was bruised. He consulted with Maggie, who suggested being cautious and waiting for the next heart. Despite this, Winston decided to attempt the transplant anyway. After the surgery was completed, the heart started beating despite its trauma.
David Hamilton[]
- Diagnosis:
- Perforated bowel
- Doctors:
- Meredith Grey (general surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Surgery
David had surgery to treat his bowel perforation. Afterward, he was stable and awake.
Cormac Hayes[]
- Diagnosis:
- Scalp laceration
- Doctors:
- Meredith Grey (general surgeon)
- Treatment:
Cormac reported no loss of consciousness when Meredith examined him in the ER. She did a quick neuro exam and took his blood pressure. She then cleaned the cut on his forehead.
Levi Schmitt[]
- Diagnosis:
- Degloving injury
- Doctors:
- Jordan Wright (surgical resident)
- Jo Wilson (OB/GYN resident)
- Treatment:
- Bandaging
Levi scrubbed his hands until they bled after losing a patient in surgery. The other residents took him to the ER, where they bandaged his hands.
Music[]
| Song | Performer | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| "Sirens" | Biz Colletti, Wendy Wang |
|
| "Sunsetz" | Cigarettes After Sex |
|
| "Nothing Left to Say" | Katie Garfield |
|
Notes and Trivia[]
- This episode's title originated from the song No Time to Die, originally sung by Billie Eilish.
- This episode scored 4.65 million viewers.[1]
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Quotes[]
See Also[]
|
A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here. |
| Grey's Anatomy Season 18 | ||||||
| #01 | "Here Comes the Sun" | #08 | "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" | #15 | "Put It to the Test" | |
| #02 | "Some Kind of Tomorrow" | #09 | "No Time to Die" | #16 | "Should I Stay or Should I Go" | |
| #03 | "Hotter Than Hell" | #10 | "Living In a House Divided" | #17 | "I'll Cover You" | |
| #04 | "With a Little Help From My Friends" | #11 | "Legacy" | #18 | "Stronger Than Hate" | |
| #05 | "Bottle Up and Explode!" | #12 | "The Makings of You" | #19 | "Out for Blood" | |
| #06 | "Everyday Is a Holiday (With You)" | #13 | "Put the Squeeze On Me" | #20 | "You Are the Blood" | |
| #07 | "Today Was a Fairytale" | #14 | "Road Trippin'" | |||
| << Season 17 | Season 19 >> | |||||