Grey's Anatomy Recap: Does Meredith Have Feelings for Alex?

Is another line about to be drawn in the incestuous relationship tree on Grey's Anatomy? Are we heading for a romance between Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and - gulp - Alex (Justin Chambers)? Among the many revelations we got from Meredith's therapy sessions, that was the most interesting.

To recap - yes, Meredith is in hospital-mandated therapy after her attack, and is putting on quite a good show initially for the therapist (guest star Bill Smitrovich, who's great for this part). "I'm happy to be here," she says woodenly. Meredith knows the therapy drill and tells the therapist she's looking for "tape and glue guy" - someone who can "ask me a few questions, patch me up, and send me on my way." The guy's like, uhhh but you were violently attacked in your workplace and then went deaf for 30 minutes six weeks? And Meredith is like, obviously you haven't watched 12 seasons of Grey's Anatomy because that's basically the least of my problems. (She's got a point.) As she recounts her attack and its aftermath for the therapist, she says that she counts any day where somebody doesn't die as a good day - which, you know, isn't a terrible barometer if you're Meredith Grey, just saying.

Elsewhere, Alex is working with a precocious 15-year-old cancer patient/partial amputee who's looking for a miracle to fix a rare form of cancer in her chest. Owen (Kevin McKidd) refuses to work with Riggs (Martin Henderson), but Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is forcing April (Sarah Drew) to partner them up. It doesn't go well - they're fighting nonstop, even in front of patients, and even when an ambulance explodes behind them, it only causes a momentary pause in their argument.

Grey's Anatomy's Caterina Scorsone: Amelia is "really struggling" after her relapse

Also not getting along are Alex and Jo (Camilla Luddington). Alex - who previously told Meredith and Maggie (Kelly McCreary) that they're barely speaking - asks Jo if she wants to maybe have a date night, and she responds that she's already made plans with friends. Yikes. And that's not the only rejection he gets: After consulting with Callie (Sara Ramirez), Maggie and Jo, he decides to put a titanium plate in his teen patient's ribcage. But she's not satisfied with that solution, so she fires him. (Kids these days.) After firing Alex, the 15-year-old patient goes to Callie and Maggie, who recommend using a 3D-printed set of ribs. The girl is excited about this, but Alex is pissed that Callie and Maggie have taken over his case to basically run an experiment on a teenager. (Thankfully, it works.)

We learn through Meredith's therapy sessions that Jo rejected Alex's proposal, resulting in him leaving their loft and moved back in with Meredith. (We also learn that Meredith, hilariously, refers to Maggie as "the hoverer.") "Do you have feelings for Alex? Are you in love with Alex?" the therapist asks, and Meredith bursts out laughing at the absurdity of the thought. Hmmmm.

In the aftermath of the ambulance explosion, the hospital is overrun with patients, but in the midst of the chaos DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) keeps checking his phone. He's getting rapid-fire texts from Maggie, making sure he wasn't hurt, but also gets a talking-to from Webber (James Pickens Jr.).

Maggie the Hoverer, good sister that she is, has enlisted Alex, Callie and Bailey to throw Meredith a fun party - only no one, Meredith included, wants to be there (though Callie and Alex bond over their nonexistent sex lives at the moment). Meredith takes her therapist's advice and kicks them all out of the house, but realizes afterwards that maybe she isn't so good at being alone after all.

Grey's Anatomy: Just who is Nathan Riggs, anyway? Martin Henderson weighs in

Once the party (if you can call it that) breaks up, Maggie makes plans to meet up with DeLuca. Webber and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) are also getting ready for a night on the town, and while he's waiting for Arizona to finish get ready, Webber jokes around with DeLuca about the "hot date" a well-groomed DeLuca obviously has that night. DeLuca makes a veiled reference to the fact that he and his ladyfriend are keeping their romance on the DL in public, but that secrecy makes their sex life that much steamier. He's talking, of course, about Webber's daughter Maggie, and I'm guessing the thumbs-up Webber gives him before heading off with Arizona won't last long. And it doesn't -- at the end of the episode, upon seeing DeLuca and Maggie walking out of the elevator together, Richard puts two and two together from their earlier conversation and looks horrified.

Meanwhile, Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Owen make dinner plans, and April and Riggs are drinking and playing darts at a bar. Interestingly, April and Riggs are having a game of darts at the bar and April points out that she talked about Owen all the time when she was with Riggs overseas, and he never mentioned knowing him. We also learn that they didn't always hate each other. "There was no one I trusted more. We were like brothers," he tells April.

Later, Owen abruptly cancels his and Amelia's dinner date and after she calls him out on his moody BS, he finally opens up to her about his sister, Megan. We learn that she was two years his junior, that Megan, Owen and Riggs all went to med school together, and that Riggs and Megan dated. "He was with her the day that we lost her," Owen says. "I trusted him with her." Amelia tells Owen that if Megan loved Riggs, there obviously has to be something good about him. (This, she adds, is basically how she puts up with Meredith.) They decide to go for pizza after all.

A definitive ranking of Shondaland baes

Later, when one of Owen's patients starts bleeding out on the operating table and he has to perform an emergency bypass, April suggests paging Maggie, but Owen requests Riggs. Turns out that, when they're not fighting, these two actually work pretty well together. Looks like Grey Sloan may have a dream team on its hands! Or maybe not ... as they're scrubbing out, Riggs and Owen resume screaming at each other. Baby steps.

After some prodding from her therapist, Meredith realizes that she's in the midst of something of an identity crisis - and tells the therapist, who's ready to release her - that she feels more miserable now than she did when she started therapy. (Judging by Meredith's outfit changes and the amount of ground they've covered, it seems like several weeks have passed.) The therapist tells Meredith that she may be good at being alone, but she might not want to be.

As the episode ends, we have a couple of reconciliations on our hands: Callie tells Penny she misses her, and they make out in a stairwell. Alex and Jo, meanwhile, make out in the back of Meredith's car. But, staring at them in her rearview mirror, she looks less than pleased. And the plot thickens ...

What do you think, Grey's fans? Is the show trying to set up a Meredith/Alex romance? Do you think Owen and Riggs will ever get past their rivalry? And what's in store for April and Jackson next week - will they go through with their divorce? Sound off in the comments!

VIDEO: Grey's Anatomy plot or Florida news story? We quiz the cast!