“Grey’s Anatomy” added a storyline about voter responsibility into its latest episode, highlighting the importance of participating in democracy less than two weeks before the 2024 presidential election.
Episode 5 of the ABC medical drama, titled “You Make My Heart Explode,” saw as the latest class of interns debated the topic as they juggled a complicated case involving a hospital employee. Though the show is no stranger to addressing hot-button issues in its storylines, “Grey’s” pulled off the voting message for its viewers without going full PSA — and without getting into details about this year’s race.
The episode kicked off with the interns commiserating about long work hours, as they have all been filling in for Mika (Midori Francis) while she tends to her sick sister. As they made it to the hospital entrance, they walked by a voter registration drive and most of them said they were already registered to vote. However, Blue (Harry Shum Jr.) passed on the opportunity to register, claiming voting is “not my thing” and leaving his colleagues bewildered.
Later in the hour, Simone (Alexis Floyd) brought up the topic again while she and Blue waited for scans from a hospital janitor they were treating after he collapsed during his shift. She asked if he also ignored local and state elections, and even public interest surveys. He responded simply that he typically throws those into the spam folder.
The janitor was diagnosed with an infection that made him feel terrible pain, which the doctors identified as a symptom of sickle-cell anemia. He complained how insurance would pay to cover his hip replacement, but not for the experimental procedure that could heal him. Blue then made an impassioned speech about how much the system “sucks.”
“I know the frustration of trying to fight a system that doesn’t care if you suffer, if you live or die. They only see you as a code or a cost or some number in a sea of numbers,” Blue told the patient, before encouraging him to care about himself and do the surgery his insurance will pay for.
Determined to help the patient, Blue and Simone helped convince some hospital partners to finance the experimental procedure. But even then, the janitor had to refuse the opportunity because the treatment would take eight months to a year and he couldn’t leave his special needs son without care for that long.
Feeling defeated, Blue simply told Simone that “the system still sucks.”
“Yeah, if only there was something we could do about it,” Simone responded, in another subtle dig at Blue’s inaction.
Civic message aside, “Grey’s” packed plenty of drama into Episode 5. After learning that she was pregnant with twins, Jo (Camilla Luddington) lashed out at Link (Chris Carmack) for not supporting her the right way as she processed the news. Levi (Jake Borelli) and Lucas (Niko Terho) took a helicopter ride to pick up an injured 10-year-old for treatment and nearly crashed on their way back to Grey Sloan Memorial — but made it back in time and saved her. Teddy (Kim Raver) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) collaborated on a difficult case while navigating a rough patch in their marriage; and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Monica (Natalie Morales) figured out how to move past their romantic chemistry now that Monica is seeing Winston (Anthony Hill).
The end of the episode also offered a potential path for Levi’s upcoming exit from the hospital. After Monica became convinced that Levi belongs in pediatric surgery, she recommended he go into research while he waits for another opportunity to do a fellowship as the next step in his education.
She set up an interview for him with the lead of a clinical trial in Texas, which would be a surefire opportunity if it wasn’t for Levi’s new relationship with hospital chaplain James (Michael Thomas Grant).
“Grey’s Anatomy” airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu. The show will return with a new episode Thursday, Nov. 7.
