Grey's Anatomy Recap: Who Died? And Who Wasn't Bothered By It?

"It's kinda hilarious. I'm a brain surgeon and I got a brain tumor."

Amelia Shepherd (Catarina Scorsone) certainly has a twisted sense of humor, but that's kind of the point, then, isn't it? The good news is, her tumor is benign and operable by her old pal Dr. Koracick (Greg Germann). The bad news is, it's been occupying her frontal lobe and affecting her personality, decisions, and potentially even her skills as a surgeon for the better part of a decade. That means she's been compromised during care of a lot of her patients, up to and including the esteemed Dr. Hermann. It could also explain why she flipped the script so significantly on Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), and worst of all? It means Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) was right about her the whole time.

As she braces to deal with what's shaking out to be the hardest part of all of this -- telling her sisters, whose life losses are already staggering enough as it is -- she has to take care of business first and tell her boss(es) what's going on.

Luckily, Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is pre-occupied dealing with a VIP visitor -- more on that later -- so her news falls on the ears of the ever-sympathetic Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.).

It's a helluva throwback to go all the way back to when he, too, suffered a brain tumor which was operated on by the late, great Derek Shepherd. But, whether it's the tumor talking or not, Amelia's always ready to make light of a heavy situation here and points out that her whopper of a tumor makes his tumor look tiny. She could've done that surgery with Hermann's eyes if she had to.

Her confession is drawn out and methodical. DeLuca (Giancomo Gianniotti) tries to clue Maggie (Kelly McCreary) in by using a cleverly worded apology -- he'd like to "ameliorate" things between them and "shepherd" in a new era -- but, smart as she is, she's not able to read between the lines on that one.

It takes her being told, without wordplay, by Amelia directly before the news sinks in, and of course Maggie's exhausting the tissue supply by the end of the first sentence. Crying is what she does now, okay? Meanwhile, Amelia asks Maggie to tell Meredith because she just can't handle that conversation for some strange reason; Meredith, too, takes it well and responds by playing big spoon to her in the hospital bed rather than dancing it out. As for how Owen takes it, well, maybe this is the absolution he needed after so many months (years?) of insisting there was a reason for her constant dismissal of him and his feelings.

Where do they all go from here? Well, to hear Amelia talk, this surgery's gonna be a piece of cake for Koracick, and the worst part of it all is that she has to admit he's the best of the best to talk him into it. But this is Grey's Anatomy, ya'll, which means good news is always just a thin sheet lying on top of a heap of bad news. Stay tuned.

Speaking of bad news, Miranda Bailey gets her walking papers today ... but only briefly.

As thorough and thoughtful as she's been about her new position as Chief of Surgery, Dr. Harper Avery (yes THE Harper Avery) is not impressed. Jackson tries to warn Bailey that he's not a man for crowds, but Bailey opts to gather all the department heads for his arrival anyway. After all, this is still the man who's bankrolling this whole operation. But all he sees are slugabouts who aren't doing their jobs, and when he looks at all the accomplishments this hospital has put to paper, he sees they are red dollar signs -- including Megan's surgery, which Bailey is supposedly seeking compensation from the Army from, but which is for now pro bono. He's ready to pull the plug on the whole thing, and makes Katherine, Bailey, and Jackson (Jesse Williams) -- whom he deridingly calls Jackie just for spite -- suffer through hours of his lectures before he'll say as much.

But Bailey manages to talk him down from that proverbial ledge to keep the hospital afloat ... but it'll cost her job. However, miracles and terrible things do seem to happen in quick succession at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital, so before her walking papers can be drawn up, Dr. Avery drops dead, all alone in his board room. And exactly no people, even his daughter-in-law and grandson, are upset about it. As far as anyone in the hospital knows, all Dr. Avery said before he died was how great of a job they did and how splendid he thinks the redecoration-post-explosion project has turned out. There've been a lot of people to croak around here, but this has to be the least sad death ever.

This Is Proof that Owen and Cristina Were Grey's Anatomy's Best Love Story

In other news, Meredith is over Nathan Riggs (Martin Henderson). It was always hard to believe that these two were anything resembling soul mates, but you might think she'd at least be a little bummed out about Riggs' long-lost wife coming back into the picture right when they were getting somewhere good. Not so much.

Thanks to Dr. Carr, her shrink who finds himself in the surgical unit thanks to a nasty clot, she is able to tap into her exact emotion, and it ain't sadness. Nope. She's furious. Not about the fact that Riggs proposed to Megan without at least talking to her first or the fact that she's been unwittingly thrust into another love triangle that she doesn't want to be a part of; no, she's pissed that he's not seizing his opportunity to rekindle things with Megan quick enough.

See, in her mind, their bond was entirely informed by their lost significant others. Derek's never coming back, but Megan has.

"Nathan life is complicated and Megan gets that," she tells him. "You don't have to lie; you have to fight. Show her that you love her. Remind her of why she fell in love with you. Make her see that she is your first and only choice. Please don't blow this." That might not have been the reaction fans expected from Meredith after so many sticky situations in the romance department, and yet it makes perfect sense. She's a mom of three, she's sharing a home with her half-sister and new "person" Alex, and she's supposedly getting into the Ellis Grey zone of surgical fastidiousness. She doesn't have time to fret over guys, even ones as handsome as Riggs.

But Riggs has admitted that he fell in love with Meredith somewhere along the way of all that parking lot time together, so we can probably count on this one to be a less clean break than she's fighting for right now. Especially when Megan's only focus is getting herself well enough to travel back to her, for all intents and purposes, son.

The saving grace of this episode, relationship-wise, is the fact that Jo (Camille Luddington) and Alex (Justin Chambers) are moving back in together now at long last. That and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) is finally in a relationship that makes her toes curl (along with other bodily reactions). The new Dr. DeLuca wins out for quote of the night by informing everyone of the labor benefits of orgasms, saying, "It's no mistake that God put the G-spot in the birth canal ... what gets the baby in also gets the baby out."

And they say this isn't an educational show.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursday nights at 8/7c on ABC.