Grey’s Anatomy season 15, episode 19 recap: Silent All These Years

Grey’s Anatomy gave us its most emotional, devastating episode to date this week, and it was not an easy watch.

Grey’s Anatomy took its platform to address a sensitive topic, one that is often difficult to talk about or address, especially on a television show. But before we proceed with our recap, please bear in mind that the episode has sensitive material. Do not read further if this could impact you in any way.

Last week’s episode left off with Jo curled up in bed, visibly upset after the visit with her mother. What occurred during this visit? And why is she so upset by it? Our first thoughts were that her mother simply did not want her around, but it was much bigger than that. And the promos leading up to the episode gave enough information away for us to assume what happened.

When Jo arrived at her mother, Vicki’s house, she was surprised to see how well she was doing for herself. In fact, she’s married and has kids. So, what happened with Jo? Vicki is beyond shocked to realize who Jo is and immediately refuses to give her the time of day. Before walking away, Jo asks Vicki to meet her at a diner to have just one conversation, that’s all.

Hours seem to pass by as Jo waits for Vicki at the diner, and just as she is about to give up, her mother walks in. It all feels so awkward and scary, and despite simply being a viewer, Grey’s Anatomy really pulls you into the center of this situation. At first, both mother and daughter have very superficial conversations, but they are not the ones they need to have. At some point, Vicki even asks Jo if she sought her out for money.

As Vicki’s story slowly began to unravel, Jo reveals to her that she did not have a good life, that leaving her did not provide a better future for her. She went from foster home to foster home and even lived in her car. Not to mention, she got married to an abusive husband who hit her when she was seven weeks pregnant, a secret she had never told anyone.

All Jo wants to know is who she is and where she comes from, and taking that to mean her heritage, Vicki starts talking about what countries her family comes from, etc. But that’s not what Jo wants to know! She wants to know who her mother is, what the story is, and just anything about herself that she can’t find out through DNA tests.

When Vicki starts to waver, Jo says she can just go ask her father then, but it turns out he’s dead. And that’s something Vicki seems to be happy with, because he was not a good person, in fact, he was a horrible person. Vicki first met him in college when he was a TA in one of her classes, and after badgering her to go out with him, she finally agreed.

He took her to a secret, cozy spot where the date turned into something horrifying and horrendous. This man proceeded to rape Vicki despite her pleas for him to stop. It’s so heartbreaking to watch Vicki tell Jo this story because suddenly everything comes together. After this incident, Vicki found out she was pregnant, hid it from everyone the best she could, and eventually gave up her baby girl because of what she reminded her of.

Grey’s Anatomy really broke us Thursday night, and this was just the beginning.

In the present, Jo gets a very difficult, emotional case to deal with. When a woman named Abby walks in bruised and beaten, it was highly suspicious of some sort of abuse. Everyone’s first thoughts are that perhaps it was her husband, but it wasn’t. A random stranger did this to Abby and beat her, bit her, and raped her.

It took so much for Abby to confess what had happened because the shame and guilt were eating away at her. It was Jo that took the extra step to make her feel safe and comfortable by sharing her own stories and by convincing Abby to do a rape kit. If she ever decided to take action against her attacker, there would be evidence.

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After much convincing, Abby allows them to do a rape kit her which is singlehandedly the most difficult scene I’ve seen on television in a long time. Each swab, each photograph, each measurement, each test was so hard to watch but Abby stayed strong the entire time. Whoever this actress is deserves recognition because she was unbelievable.

Abby eventually learns that she needs surgery but is too scared to leave the room and go anywhere. She doesn’t want to see any men and just about everything frightens her. To give her moral support, the hospital asks all the male doctors and nurses to leave the vicinity and have all the females line the halls to be there in solidarity. It’s such a beautiful Grey’s Anatomy moment and it is one we will never forget.

Kudos to Grey’s Anatomy for tackling such a difficult topic head on and bringing awareness to it in the way they did. It was a one-of-a-kind episode and will go down in history as one of the series’ strongest.

In other parts of the episode, Ben and Bailey were dealing with Tuck and his teenage growing pains. It turns out he has a girlfriend they didn’t know about, and Bailey is worried they haven’t given him the advice he needs. Fitting in perfectly with the plot of the episode, Ben sits down with Tuck and gives him a talk about how to treat women. When they say no, you stop, when they aren’t having fun, you stop. It’s such an important conversation in the midst of such a heartbreaking episode.

By the end of the episode, Jo is exhausted from the long day and still isn’t ready to face Alex who is asking about her visit with her mother. Something tells us things are about to get a lot worse for this couple, and it is going to take a long time before Jo can come to terms with where she comes from.

Grey’s Anatomy airs every Thursday on ABC at 8 PM EST!