Grey’s Anatomy 12×09, “The Sound of Silence,” returned with a very dark attack by a patient that ended up bringing everyone together again.
The episode starts off pretty lightly, with friendly banter between Meredith, Maggie and Alex on the way to work. It doesn’t last, however, as they rush off to help with an accident and ride with the ambulances to work. Meredith stays with her patient Lou, who suffered a head injury leading to seizures. Meredith asks for a neuro consult, but Amelia decides to ignore it and help Hunt instead.
Left alone with Lou while Penny goes to find help, Meredith ends up being brutally attacked by him after one of his seizures. It’s pretty hard to watch as Lou throws Meredith around like a rag doll and chokes her. It’s even more troubling knowing how much Meredith has gone through already and now this is happening to her, especially when she was being so kind with Lou before the attack.
Somehow, Meredith manages to survive the attack even though it takes Penny some time before she finds her. Still, the injuries sustained are heartbreaking given what they mean. With broken bones in her arm and leg, Meredith is stuck in bed. Meredith’s also lost her hearing and has had her jaw wired shut so she can’t or talk.
The doom and gloom is broken up with a sweet moment where Alex finds Meredith crying and climbs into bed with her. As he’s whispering in her ear, she suddenly starts to hear again and laughs. It’s the first time she’s looked happy since the attack, and he laughs along with her. The cute moment is quickly overshadowed when her kids come to visit but don’t actually want to step in the room. It leaves Meredith feeling even worse and having a panic attack.
A bit ironically, Penny seems to be the one most helpful while Meredith is down. She finds Meredith in a panic and cuts the wires in her jaw so Meredith can catch her breath. Jackson is not pleased at all to find that his work is ruined and needs to be redone. Penny doesn’t let him bulldoze her, though, and says that it’s what Meredith needs in that moment after everything she’s going through.
Up until now Amelia still hasn’t talked to Meredith, but when Meredith sees her lurking outside the hospital room, she throws her smoothie at her. Amelia has no choice to go in, but nothing gets resolved. Later, Weber tells Meredith that Amelia relapsed and she needs to be forgiven. Weber says that Meredith also needs to forgive Derek for dying and Penny for being there when it happened.
Despite the talk from Weber, Meredith isn’t ready to forgive Amelia. Does that mean she doesn’t forgive Derek either? We’re not sure that Meredith and Amelia can get back to where they once were, especially not when they both have so many demons to fight.
One person Meredith clearly does forgive is Lou, he comes to visit and says that he never would have attacked if he had been in his right mind. Although she can’t talk, Meredith takes his hand in what seems to be a peace offering. Still, when Meredith goes to the room where she was attacked it all comes rushing back to her.
Meredith seems to want to pay Alex back for all his help so she tells him that he needs to after Jo. She even compares their love to what her and Derek had. With her blessing, Alex doesn’t hesitate and goes to see Jo. A flash forward at the end of the episode shows Meredith teaching at the hospital and she seems proud of Penny.
“The Sound of Silence” is packed with drama and even though it seems like a lot happens, not much really changes. It looks like the next episode is going to be a big one to set the tone for the rest of the season. Is Meredith going to be traumatized and have trouble getting back to normal? We’ve seen her survive things she shouldn’t have and it usually just leads her to have more emotional problems. Anyone remember the time she let herself drown?
I hope she doesn’t end up going into a depression, but I don’t expect her not to have any problems. If nothing else, she could have anxiety working with patients, which would explain her teaching at the hospital. Maybe she decides to take on another role while she heals? We’re also anxious to see what will happen with Alex and Jo, because honestly that could go either way.