Grey’s Recap: Running on M.D. — Plus, Oh Meredith! What Are You Up to Now?

Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy found Meredith doing what she does best: breaking rules for the greater good. Back in Seattle, she worked with Amelia to secure funding for their hush-hush Alzheimer’s research. In other developments, a new face started making rounds at Grey Sloan, and Levi came face to familiar face with a blast from his past. Keep reading, and we’ll go over all of the major twists of plot in “Walk On the Ocean”…

‘NO TRADING UNLESS ONE OF YOU PICKED UP A VANILLA LATTE’ | As the episode began, Meredith and Amelia were offered the money that they wanted virtually without question. But the donors, aware of Mer’s affiliation with Catherine, wanted to know if they should get in touch with the Fox Foundation. Er, no. While Lucas took out his upset over his split from Simone on Mika, of all people, Amelia stole a parking space from new peds surgeon Dr. Monica Beltran (guest star Natalie Morales). Winston declined to criticize Bailey’s handling of the residency program this particular day because he was taking off on vacation to Chicago. “Say hi to Maggie,” Richard said. Levi spotted his ex Nico (Alex Landi, back in action) talking to Jo in the waiting room. And who should be teamed up on the case of a sick little girl named Mulan but Amelia and… Monica!

Just then, a major trauma rolled up: a guy trapped in a self-propelled floating bubble. Yeah, looked like Winston might not make his flight after all. Instead, he got busy helping Owen, Link, Simone and Jules in trying to, ahem, burst the patient’s bubble and not his artery. Gathering supplies with Jules, Simone admitted that she wasn’t seeing Lucas anymore because apparently, she was selfish. Simone, in turn, surprised Jules by asking what had happened with her and Blue. When the patient worried aloud that he wouldn’t see his wife again, Simone mentally recorded his message to her for him. Sadly, that turned out to be prescient: The patient didn’t make it.

‘AH, SO IMPATIENCE IS YOUR THING’ | As soon as scans were done on Mulan, Amelia and Monica clashed about an approach to her treatment. Monica even suggested that Amelia was in too big a hurry to bother considering all the options. She also fussed at Blue for telling Mulan’s mom that radiation wouldn’t possibly lend them noise-cancelling headphones. Make it happen, Beltran said. When Richard ran into a frustrated Amelia, who knew Monica’s idea would work but wasn’t comfortable with the associated risks, he said that his new hire had a rep as a boundary pusher. (She oughta fit right in, then.) Ultimately, Amelia came up with a way to take a safer but equally creative approach. “You’re much more effective when you take your time,” Monica observed. Indeed, she was. The procedure worked. “You two are a wonderful team,” Mulan’s mom said.

Shadowing Bailey as she treated Dorian (remember him from last week?) were Mika and Lucas, who was “a smartass to the person holding all the cards,” Yasuda noted. Rather than let Blue get back in the O.R. before him, Lucas ditched Mika with Dorian. (Is there any order Adams is willing to follow? Seriously.) Needless to say, all of the patient’s alarms starting going off while Yasuda was alone with him. Finally, Lucas answered Mika’s page — and took credit for her diligence in front of Bailey. So uncool. She even let Adams perform an emergency procedure on Dorian with her!

‘WHY DOES NICO NEED AN OBGYN?!?’ | When Levi asked Jo about Nico, she refused to tell him why his ex was there. HIPAA, she explained. (So they have heard of it at Grey Sloan!) Later, all became clear when Schmitt ran into Nico… and his partner, Jason. Turned out, they were at Grey Sloan with their surrogate, Erin: They were having a kid! When next Levi spoke with Jo, he expressed his shock that Jason didn’t even know who he was. Schmitt had had no idea that Nico even wanted kids. “You’re just upset that his life has moved farther along than yours,” Wilson suggested. “You want to win? Get in the game.” Seeking out Levi alone, Nico explained that he and Jason had been together for nine months. Nico had never wanted kids, but the idea of not being with Jason was scarier to him than starting a family.

‘YOU ARE LIVING IN A MEDICAL THRILLER BOOK’ | To avoid running into Catherine, Mer went to PT with Teddy. And it was a good thing that she did, too: Mid-conversation, Altman fell on her treadmill and got a sprain. Taking Teddy for an X-ray, Mer was busted by Catherine. Luckily, Teddy covered for her and said that she’d asked Grey to Seattle for a consult. Once Mer blabbed everything about her secret research to Teddy, the chief offered to fork over Grey Sloan’s discretionary fund. As the hour drew to a close, it appeared that Blue had made a positive-ish impression on Monica. Enough, anyway, for her to put him on her service again the next day.

Winston told Owen that Maggie had cancelled on him — and they’d been supposed to decide what was next for them. Again. “At what point do I stop trying?” Ndugu wondered. Maybe, Owen suggested, the better question was, why was he trying? Apparently, Winston’s answer wasn’t very good; he removed his wedding band. In the locker room, Mika ripped into Lucas for his backstabbing d-baggery. Simone refused to let her blame her now-ex for the lousy situation that they were in. But Mika was done. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore,” she told Adams. Can’t say I blame her! Off Jo’s advice, Levi pursued his interest in peds by approaching Monica to pick her brain. And at the intern house, Simone knocked on Lucas’ door asking if they could talk… but when she went in, she found that he’d packed up and moved out.

So, what did you think of Thursday’s episode? Natalie Morales’ debut? Lucas’ backstab? That “Schmico” twist? Drop your thoughts in a comment below.