Grey’s Anatomy season 13 episode 18 review: For Maggie, time and life moves

There is a signature moment within the world of Grey’s Anatomy that you can often see coming. It’s a moment of great joy, followed almost immediately after by tremendous, painful heartbreak. We saw the joy at the dinner table, which you can see in part in the photo above.

Then, mere moments later, Maggie’s mother started to cough up blood. Minutes later, she was gone and Maggie was preparing to get used to a life without her. She had these precious few minutes, hours, and days, but was filled with regret over the notion that she, because of her difficult handling the relationship, pushed her mother away at a time when she needed her the most. She was broken losing her — you know she will move forward, but it’s difficult. This is a seminal role in the life of any personal, and this led to emotional moments for Richard Webber, Meredith, and others. These were people connected in one way or another to her, and that sense of loss and pain was inevitable.

Beyond just the story of the episode, we have to also give a tremendous amount of credit to Kelly McCreary for the performance tonight — simply phenomenal, soft-spoken when she needed to be, but also emotional, angry, and wrecked in others. This was also the first time for Ellen Pompeo as director, and she managed to find the right way to cultivate certain moments. Specifically, the still quietness of the closing scene with Maggie, Meredith, and Amelia showed further that sometimes, closeness means just as much as words.

Aside from the Maggie story, the events of the episode were small. Meredith and Riggs realized that the timing just wasn’t right for the two of them, as they both realized that she would need to be there for her sister. Meanwhile, Webber and Bailey addressed and handled some of their tension while looking over everything happened with Maggie. Life’s too short. Sometimes, there are things far more important than pride, job titles, or roles. They are longtime friends, and tonight, they made a decision to act more like it.

This was a haunting episode. Maybe it’s not one that will be remembered for progressing several different stories further, but it was by far the strongest hour for McCreary to date. This was a challenge for Pompeo to take on, but she proved to be prepared and ready to take on such difficult subject matter with such a deft touch.

Maybe you can argue that the whole story with Maggie’s mother went from start to finish rather quickly. However, this is life sometimes. You learn the truth, and then they’re gone. Grade: B+.

Where will the story go from here?

You can head over here to get a promo for what’s coming up next on Grey’s Anatomy. Be prepared to see Maggie continue to struggle with the aftermath of what happened.

What is your personal Grey’s Anatomy season 3 episode 18 review? Share some of your thoughts with a comment below! (Photo: ABC.)