‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Derek Is Still Missing & A Plane Crash Rocks The Hospital

It’s a terrible time for Meredith’s PTSD to kick in, but that’s exactly what happens when a small plane crash shakes Grey-Sloane Memorial to it’s core — again.

On the April 16 episode of Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) is freaking out over the fact that Derek (Patrick Dempsey) has disappeared off the face of the earth. Before she can figure out how to handle it, dozens of patients flood in through the emergency room doors after a small plane crashes in the middle of Seattle, which takes her and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) back to the worst day of their lives.

‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Derek’s Missing & A Plane Crash

Here’s the most important thing you need to know: Derek is still missing.

But, aside from that, a small plane crash has rocked Grey-Sloane Memorial Hospital; specifically Meredith and Arizona, who were in a plane crash a year or so back. The same plane crash that killed Dr. Mark Sloane and Meredith’s sister, Lexie.

As Meredith walks through the emergency room, possibly looking for Derek who is still missing, she starts to have flashbacks from the crash. She sees a man with his leg severed, multiple other people injured, and in her head it all translates to Christina screaming in the woods, Derek bleeding until he passed out, and more.

She tries to help but she’s more or less useless, and eventually she searches the hospital for Arizona — the only other person who is left in the hospital that experienced the crash with her. Soon enough she finds Arizona sitting on the floor in a supply room, and she quickly joins her. “We’re okay,” the continuously tell each other. It’s clear they are not.

In another part of the hospital Alex tells Callie that they should watch Meredith and Arizona carefully, that maybe they shouldn’t be treating plane crash survivors. He’s right. However, they swap people, and Alex is assigned Arizona because Callie doesn’t think she can be that “person” for her ex-wife anymore.

Their are two people who were in the plane, a man and a woman who were on their first date. Something happened to the man while he was flying, and the girl was forced to land the plane in the middle of Seattle which left a number of people injured. They are totally into each other and so worried about each other as they are being treated, but they haven’t seen each other since the plane went down.

While this is going on, Amelia tells Hunt that she doesn’t think they are going to work. He has been persistent, but she wants no part of it. Instead of talking about it, they’ve been passive aggressive with each other while treating the plane crash victims. It’s definitely making things awkward for everyone else, and it’s certainly not servicing their patients.

Meredith Panics Over Derek’s Disappearance

When Bailey and Meredith head into surgery on the pilot, the man who was originally flying the plane, it’s clear that Meredith is a mess. She’s dealing with flashbacks, she’s worried about Derek, and she’s not in the right state of mind. Thankfully, Bailey is there to be her rock in that moment, and tells her that she has until 5pm to hear from Derek. If it gets to 5pm and she doesn’t hear from Derek, then she can start to panic. Meredith finds that acceptable, and she gets her head back in the game.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. While the woman from the crash goes through surgery and is fine, she suffers from what Amelia calls temporary memory loss afterwards. She doesn’t know she was on a plane, or a date, and she doesn’t know that the man she was on that date with is actually someone she was really into. It’s heartbreaking to watch her struggle to know what’s going on.

As for the pilot? Well, he starts to bleed out in surgery, and even Dr. Pierce can’t seem to fix him. She tries to sew him up but it doesn’t work. Then, when she thinks all hope is lost, she remembers a medical glue she can use to close the hole in his heart. It works!

Once he’s out of surgery, Stephanie wheels her patient, Kate, up to see him even though he isn’t awake yet. She thinks that if the girl sees the pilot she might remember him. And yes, it works! Somehow, the staff at Grey-Sloane Memorial got really, really lucky this time around.

Amelia & Owen End Things For Good

When things calm down with the patients, Amelia confronts Owen about his nasty attitude all day. She drags him into a break room to hash it out, and that’s when he confesses that his attitude really had nothing to do with her — it’s the plane crash. He tells her about how he was the one who sent everyone, including Christina, on the plane that nearly killed them all. Then, he tells her that he can’t survive another plane crash, and that that’s what they are. So, Amelia leaves the room, and that’s a wrap on those two. For now.

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At home, Meredith is sitting on the couch watching the clock. She has just a minute or so until it turns 5pm, and when it does she immediately gets up to grab a portable phone off of the dock near the window. When she does, you hear the sound of a car pulling up, and the blue and red lights of a police car reflect in the window that Meredith is staring through. The end.

Tell us, HollywoodLifers — Are you upset that Amelia and Owen won’t be a thing? Are you surprised they had another plane crash? Where do you think Derek is? Comment below with your thoughts!

— Lauren Cox
Follow @Iaurencox