Grey’s Anatomy season 13, episode 2, “Catastrophe and the Cure,” continued to show Alex’s downfall while managing to bring a lighter tone to the episode.

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 13, episode 2 recap:

The episode starts out by displaying just how strong of a bond Alex and Meredith have, as she helps him get ready for court. She’s clearly become his rock right now, despite the fact that she had to turn him in to Bailey. Even though Alex is still very worried about what’s going to happen, Meredith tries to keep things light.

Trying to keep Alex busy before the court appearance, they head to the hospital for some work. That also means that Meredith has to try and dodge Riggs because Maggie is just getting more infatuated with him. It’s pretty clear that Meredith isn’t going to be able to just ignore the situation. At this point she’s just letting her sister make a fool of herself instead of coming out with the truth. No good can come from this Meredith!

When it’s time for court Alex is blindsided with the news that he’s being charged with a felony assault. His lawyer tries to argue it, but the judge doesn’t want to hear it. So Alex is forced to plea not guilty while a still healing DeLuca looks on. He’s not the only one that there, Jo showed up and quietly stayed in the back.

Meredith tries to cheer up Alex afterwards but he’s in quite the dark place. Everyone he grew up with is in jail, he tells her. Alex is back to using the term trash to describe the way he was raised (remember that he also called Jo trash in the last episode). Still, Meredith says Alex isn’t going to jail.

Things get even worse for Alex when he goes to meet with Bailey. She already knows his charges and declares that he’s her number one problem right now. Bailey also lets Alex know that DeLuca is returning to work on that very day, and he says it won’t be a problem for him.

However, Meredith doesn’t get the memo and is surprised when she shares an elevator ride with DeLuca. She probably could have used a warning because she ends up telling him about her own attack and how she forgave him. Meredith also tells DeLuca that he should be focusing on surgeries right now and not a legal battle. It’s no surprise that he takes this all as a threat.

For a while the episode shifts to the lighter storyline of Meredith’s messy love triangle. Amelia takes it upon herself to try and push Riggs and Owen together, so she throws a dinner party. Owen invites his friends to create a buffer and this creates even more awkwardness.

Meredith warns Riggs that Maggie wants to ask him out, and he has to kindly turn her down. He’s all smiles thinking this means he does have a chance with Meredith after all. Next, Meredith gets another awkward moment when she tells Jo that Alex could use her support. But Jo says she only went to the court hearing because she cares about what Alex did to DeLuca.

Then Alex runs into Jo as he’s going in and she’s leaving. They didn’t realize that the other person would be there, but it’s not like they could avoid each other for long anyways. He tries to apologize but Jo isn’t having it. Alex is the type of person to lash out and that’s not what she wants to be around. He’d understand better if he knew the whole story.

Things get even worse for Alex when he’s kicked off one of his favorite patient’s cases. He was so worried about his court battle that he missed the signs for infection thinking the boy was just nervous about being back in the hospital. That means that his kidney transplant is in danger of needing to be removed.

After Bailey warns Meredith not to get dragged down by Alex, she’s surprised when Meredith invites DeLuca in on the surgery of Alex’s patient. Meredith may be in Alex’s side but that doesn’t mean that she has bad feelings towards DeLuca either. Luckily, Bailey and Meredith are able to save the patients kidney so Alex doesn’t get fired. He does, however, get banished to the clinic. Yeah, apparently the clinic still exists.

Back at the Grey household, Alex starts drinking to forget the day. Meredith decides to come clean about the drama in her life with Riggs. Before she can even explain the Maggie aspect of it, though, Maggie arrives. She’s upset that Riggs turned her down, but thinks he might just need time. The look on Meredith’s face is priceless.

She wouldn’t have bothered telling Alex if she intended on staying away from him. Which means that Riggs still has a chance with Meredith. With the way that Maggie has so quickly developed feelings for Riggs, though, means she will be very upset when the truth comes out. And the truth will come out.

Meanwhile, April has been dealing with the fact that her baby is getting discharged from the hospital but she’s not. Jackson is being amazing about the whole situation and just wants to support her, but April seems adamant that she needs to figure out everything on her own.

The subject of what will happen when April gets released, but is still healing. Jackson wants April and the baby to live with him. April doesn’t want him to act like her husband but seems to warm up the idea. Hopefully this means they will warm up to the idea of each other again.

Extras from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 13, episode 2:

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