Tonight on ABC their hit drama Grey’s Anatomy returns with all-new Thursday, April 11, 2019, season 15 episode 21 and we have your Grey’s Anatomy recap below. On tonight’s Grey’s Anatomy season 15 episode 21 called “The Whole Package,” as per the ABC synopsis, “Amelia and Link travel to New York to operate on a patient with a severe spinal deformity, but they’re in for more than they bargained for when Nancy Shepherd invites them to dinner at her home.”
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Grey’s Anatomy begins tonight with Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) in bed with Dr. Atticus Lincoln (Chris Carmack); she begins to get dressed, reminding him they are on New York time and have a complicated surgery in the morning. He suggests they have room service in bed, but she tells him they agreed to just sex and no sleepovers. Link shouts that he feels used, objectified and hungry; she agrees to have pizza for breakfast.
In the morning, Amelia thoroughly enjoys the pizza, learning he found out about the restaurant as part of his wish when he was a very sick cancer patient as a kid. He continues to explain how the city reminds him of better times; which is the complete opposite of Amelia, who grew up in Westchester and it definitely wasn’t good times. They head off to the Catherine Fox Medical Center, where “Amy” is greeted by her sister Dr. Nancy Shepherd (Embeth Davidtz) who thinks Link is Amelia’s husband, Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and they don’t correct her. Nancy welcomes to their deep seeded dysfunctional family bugging Amelia about never seeing her and reminds her the kind thing to do would call their mom every once in a while.
Amelia and Link are introduced to their patient, Jonah Mays (Taj Speights) and his brother Brady (Michael Evans Behling). Jonah is 18, who has had 15 surgeries in 12 years as his brother talks about the metal rods busting out of his back. Amelia explains to Jonah what they plan on doing which will allow for fewer surgeries. His brother Brady doesn’t want him to plan his future out so much, advising him to take it one step at a time. They discuss how long the surgery will take and leaving them another 24 hours alone before they head back to Seattle; something Nancy overhears and reinvites them for dinner and Amelia reluctantly agrees.
Link says dinner is a terrible idea but when Amelia begs him, he smirks at her. They return to Jonah’s room and begin to prep him for surgery when they learn it is only him and his brother, Brady after their parents died in a car accident 6 years earlier. Jonah wants to study at Berkley but has no idea what yet, with Amelia revealing she has four older siblings that were all doctors so it never occurred to her to study anything else.
In the OR, Amelia asks Link if he has any food allergies, but he still refuses to go, no matter how cute the begging is. He doesn’t think she should go either, but she says one dinner with Nancy voids her of family drama for the next 6 months. She explains how she didn’t even tell her family that her and Owen got divorced. He learns she invited her entire family, but none of them showed up. She has serious sibling rivalry and feels that if he goes with her, she will make it worthwhile in very creative ways; she simply wants to gain the upper hand with her family and be the best.
Next thing you know, Link and Amelia are in a car on their way to Nancy’s place for dinner. They are working on their story as she needs him to keep their stories straight. Link wants to use his own hobbies but Amelia feels she only knows all about Owen’s life; Link suggests she learn his likes. She orders him not to drink anything so he doesn’t screw up. He likes the house and rings the bell as Amelia whispers that this is a bad idea!
Once inside, Dr Kathleen Shepherd (Amy Acker) greets them but puts the wine away when she sees Amelia; causing Link to simply wave at her without introductions. Nancy feels she wouldn’t just spring their mom on her, but she did invite their sister, Liz who is out of town. Kathleen tries to talk to Link about when he was in the military and stationed in Iraq; her husband is a Diplomat and traveling there, so she wants some recommendations but he excuses himself to use the restroom.
Link tells Amelia it is going to take them seconds to figure out he isn’t Owen and she agrees that they need to get out of there. She is okay with keeping the nickname “Black Sheep”, both agreeing they will return to them and then excuse themselves as an emergency from the hospital. Amelia is stuck with Nancy in the kitchen while Kathleen babbles on about Amelia and how she has a history of false starts to weddings; congratulating him on actually getting married before she abandoned him at the altar. She talks about Amelia’s drug habits and knows with his military training he wouldn’t have a problem helping her in her time of need.
Amelia walks in, using the excuse for the hospital but Link sends her a message for her to trust him and they end up staying for dinner. They learn that Amelia runs into Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and she is doing well for herself. Link informs her sisters that Amelia is doing groundbreaking work on finding alternatives for pain pills. Kathleen wants to get the wine, which Amelia says is fine, but Nancy gives her an odd look saying she didn’t want to make her uncomfortable; Amelia says she should have hidden the pills in the bathroom then. Owen suddenly calls Amelia, because he can’t find Leo’s stuffed animal, finding it shoved in the couch. She asks him about Baghdad and begins her walk back to the table, spotting family photos and none of them are of her.
Link impresses the sisters by deboning a fish in one swoop. They tell Amelia they love him as Link puts his arm around Amelia and says he loves her. Kathleen wants to know how Amelia was the one who ended up with the hottest husband? Amelia laughs as they begin to enjoy the pie; suddenly Carolyn Shepherd (Tyne Daly) walks in. Nancy swears she didn’t invite her but Kathleen says she might have mentioned the dinner. She hugs Amelia over and over, then asks who the handsome fellow is; but when she is told it is Owen, she reveals when she went to visit Derek, she met Owen Hunt and this is not him!
Amelia is forced to admit that this is her colleague Atticus Lincoln; now forced to admit that she did marry Owen and are now divorced. Amelia is furious to find out they bet on her marriage even after they didn’t show up to the wedding. Nancy reminds her that she didn’t come to her wedding because she was in jail. Kathleen said she was definitely at hers because their Uncle Ron caught her in the coatroom with an usher. Carolyn says she would have come if she was given proper notice. Amelia informs them all that she didn’t tell them about her brain tumor.
They all keep bringing up all the bad things she has done as Amelia admits she had a few bad years and they don’t need to bring up every transgression. Nancy says all that crazy happened before the brain tumor as she has always been impulsive and doesn’t think things through. Their mother tells them to stop but Nancy says bringing fake Owen to dinner might be the most demented thing she has done so far.
Amelia angrily gets up, saying they don’t know her. She is trapped in their minds as the 14-year-old photo on her stairs. She is now sober, responsible and a neurosurgeon at the top of her field. They say the only reason she is chief of neurosurgeon is that Derek was moving and gave her the job. Link defends her, saying she is authentic and a great mom to Betty and now baby Leo. Suddenly Link apologizes as its clear none of her family knew about this. Carolyn shouts that she never tells her anything and Amelia’s response was to leave.
In the car, Amelia is angry with Link because she didn’t want to stay. He calls her sisters terrorists and can’t understand how he is the problem. She is upset that a lifetime of dirty laundry was on displace, but Link tries to tell her he doesn’t care about that. She feels he knows too much now and she can’t; both get messages that Jonah is in respiratory distress and rush off to the hospital.
They learn his lungs are compressed and need to remove the rods so he can breathe. He insists that he has plans and wants to tether again, but they said they have to put in the rods; his brother tries to explain to him there is no other way. Jonah doesn’t want to find another way so Amelia makes a risky decision, as Link says it is very complicated and dangerous but if he decides to go with it, his spine would be fixed forever. Jonah doesn’t want Brady to give up his life anymore, saying he is the world’s best brother and his personal hero. He is 18 years old and having the surgery but he’d prefer Brady would be on his side. He tells Brady to look in Amelia’s eyes as she said she can do it. They do their ritual shake before he is taken back to the OR.
Link feels Amelia is doing this because she feels she has something to prove and this is not about what is best for their patient. Link knows she is not the person her family thinks she is. He wants to know if she is okay and if she is doing this surgery to prove something to people who clearly have no understanding of her at all. Amelia feels Jonah deserves a life more than a cycle of surgery after surgery; this is what he wants and she knows she can do it. Link scrubs in to help her.
Partway through the surgery the alarms sound, showing he is paralyzed but Amelia is sure she’s got it and is able to bring back the signal announcing he is not paralyzed. After surgery, Link and Amelia stay constantly with Brady and Jonah until he wakes up. He turns his head and smiles at Amelia. Brady learns he needs to stay off his feet for a day or two, but it is good for him to walk. Jonah is sad that they changed his entire life and now leave. Amelia says when he moves to California he should come to see them.
Amelia thanks Link, who says she was brave and it paid off; although he declines her offer to get something to eat and needs to walk. He says he will see her on the plane. She spots Brady in the lobby, he doesn’t know what he is going to do now that Jonah will be fine. Amelia understands, saying she misses her brother every day and suggest he give Jonah some breathing room, so he can become whomever he is outside Brady’s shadow and then visit. He thanks her for the advice.
Amelia messages Nancy, who isn’t at the hospital, but her mother, Carolyn wants to talk to her. They go to a park, where she wants to know if her mom thinks she sabotages relationships and doesn’t know how to love. Carolyn talks about when Amelia learned how to ride a bike and had to do it all on her own. She talks about how her other kids didn’t like to fail but Amelia would fall down and come back stronger; not that she didn’t care about falling, she was never afraid of it. That is what makes her the most like her father out of all the kids.
Carolyn talks how hard it was after he died to be near anything that reminded her of him. Derek did his best to care for her but she regrets letting him do it as she needed a mother. Amelia shares about Betty, admitting that parenting her was the hardest thing she ever did. She knows she put her mom through a lot and knows it wasn’t easy. Carolyn is sorry she missed her wedding and her brain tumor. Her mother tells her she is wrong if she thinks her love is not valued because it’s on her. She wasn’t there for her and wants Amelia to put that on her and move forward. Amelia asks what if she can’t and her mom says then that is on her. Amelia hugs her mom tightly.
Amelia arrives on the plane where Link is listening to the baseball game. She places a box of Gotham donuts beside him. She tells him he was kind and brave with her family and he didn’t have to do that nor the surgery with her. She admits he is surprising her and deserves more than what she said to him. She apologizes, hoping to make it up to him if he will let her. He puts the donuts on his lap and offers her a seat beside him, shoving an entire donut into his mouth; Amelia copying him; both burst out laughing as they fly back to Seattle.
Amelia walks into the house, welcomed by Meredith and Dr. Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary). She tells them the case went fine until they ran into Nancy, explaining how she went to her house and got ambushed; Meredith knows all about the snarky family.
THE END!