Grey’s Anatomy fans are no strangers to deaths and departures, but that doesn’t make the likelihood of another happening any easier.
In Thursday’s episode of the ABC hit drama, it was revealed that Catherine Avery (Debbie Allen) has a complicated spinal tumor. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Tom Koracick (Greg Germann) are flown out to examine the tumor. By the end of the episode, it’s clear that she has a tumor that has to be surgically removed because chemotherapy or radiation won’t shrink it.
The news comes as a major blow. Though two people left the show at the end of last season, they didn’t die. It has been a while since Grey’s Anatomy has had a death that shook up the whole hospital. Though it would be hard to see, a death might be in the near future for the show. The saddest part will be how Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), Catherine’s husband and one of the original characters, reacts to it.
“Meredith, I don’t know if (Richard) can handle this,” Catherine said.
While all of that is happening, Richard struggles with his sobriety. His sponsor recently died, and he has had troubles with maintaining his eight years of sobriety. When Richard operates on a person he hired and she dies, he goes to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He leaves early and finds a bar that exchanges sobriety chips for shots. He sees all of the vodka shots he ordered in front of him and leaves them at the bar. He takes a baseball bat and smashes all of the alcohol in bar.
At the end of the episode, Richard calls Meredith from an unknown number and says, “I’ve been arrested. I need your help.”
For all that Richard has been through in Grey’s Anatomy’s previous 14 seasons, the incident goes to show he can handle anything. Regardless of what happens to Catherine in the mid-season finale, we can all be sure that Richard will be OK.
Here’s how fans reacted to the emotional episode on Twitter:
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
