Fourteen seasons and nearly 300 (!) episodes into the journey that is Grey’s Anatomy, it would be easy to take the show for granted, but that would be a mistake. A bottle episode which toggles between past and present, “Danger Zone” is already one of my all-time favorites, despite a final twist that broke my heart a bit. Focusing entirely on Owen, Megan, Nathan, and Teddy, this hour reveals the truth of how Megan came to be kidnapped while also exploring Owen and Megan’s relationship in all its complexity.
2007 The Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq
As the episode opens, Major Owen “Major Diamond” Hunt is doing the voice over, talking about how life runs on cycles and when a cycle is broken, it’s our duty to fix it. Owen is the Commanding Officer of his unit, which also counts Teddy Altman, Megan Hunt, and Nathan Riggs among it’s members. There’s a fun shout-out to Owen’s engagement to Beth (both Megan and Teddy disapprove) before we learn that the team is headed to Fallujah. Before they head out, Megan pays Nathan a visit in his quarters. She stumbles upon a necklace which Nathan says she wasn’t supposed to find. As he drops down on one knee to propose, Megan accepts before he can even get the words out. In the transport helicopter, they share the happy news with Owen and Teddy, who seems perplexed about something.
2017 Seattle
Owen is reminiscing about the time spent in Iraq and is pulled back into the present by Amelia. Things are clearly awkward between the two of them and Amelia offers to make dinner later. We find out quickly that a recovered Megan is packing her car to drive to Los Angeles, where she plans to relocate. Nathan and Farouk are already there preparing their house while Nathan searches for a job. Owen is visibly disappointed that Megan is leaving Seattle. He can’t understand why she can’t just settle nearby with her family and decides, on impulse, to drive with her down the coast. Road trip!
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2007 Iraq
The team arrives in Fallujah and we learn that this day is significant because Megan will learn if she is number one in her stratification (strat) which will apparently help her to achieve her dream of becoming a flight surgeon. Megan’s colleagues assume she’s got this in the bag (not only because of her skills, but also because the CO is her brother), but another officer is announced instead. Megan is disappointed and angry, which makes her prickly. But there’s little time to be preoccupied with personal matters. Two Iraqi allies went rogue and opened fire into group of people. The unit is about to be flooded with patients. Owen and Megan work on a soldier named Tyler who was a hero in the incident. Megan also tends to a Muslim woman, Sana, who stopped the second shooter. Sana only wants to be tended to by females, so Megan takes charge of her case.
Meanwhile, while Teddy and Nathan operate on the second shooter, Teddy confronts Nathan with the truth. The necklace he gave Megan actually belongs to a Sergeant Felicia Phillips, with whom Nathan had a one-night stand. Nathan admits that when Megan came to his quarters and found the necklace, he panicked and proposed. But he does love her and would have proposed anyway. Teddy advises Nathan to tell Megan the truth and then they might have a chance. She reminds him and people mess up and that people forgive. Nathan goes off to find Megan
2017 Road Trip
Traveling with his sister brings out a side of Owen Hunt we’ve never seen before. The sight of them singing and bopping to “Push It” is one I won’t soon forget. Megan brings out a playfulness in Owen that we rarely see but their relationship is, like many sibling relationships, complicated. Owen makes a detour and takes Megan to an abandoned carnival that they visited as children. As they toss rings around bottles, he jokes that if he makes the shot, she has to stay in Seattle. Megan knows he’s serious, and this infuriates her. They drive in stoney silence for awhile and then fight some more as she accuses him of sandbagging her career back in Iraq. He doesn’t deny it, saying that she’s always been childish and impulsive. Megan says the strat was her first step to Special Forces and becoming a general. Owen retorts that she would have been dead within a month.
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2017 Malibu
Nathan and Farouk unpack belongings and work on their house. Megan has told Nathan that Farouk can’t sleep without a fan running. Farouk, overwhelmed by everything, panics when he can’t find a screwdriver to assemble the fan. Nathan, who’s on the phone with a headhunter trying to place him in a job, tells Farouk to wait just a moment, but when Nathan’s off the phone, Farouk is nowhere to be found. Terrified, Nathan searches the area near the house and finally finds Farouk sitting on the ground by a food truck. Farouk explains that he went to get them food but there were too many choices! Nathan is too relieved to see him to be too angry. Later, back at the house, they bond. Nathan promises to teach Farouk baseball after he’s learned himself!
2007 Iraq
Nathan finds Megan and asks for the necklace back. She assumes it’s because Nathan found out that she cheated on him in a “drunken mistake” when they were fighting! He’s hurt by this but tells Megan he needs the necklace back because it’s not his to give. That doesn’t go over well as Megan figures out that Nathan also cheated on her. Tyler, Owen and Megan’s patient, is doing well because Megan was able to save his arm along with his life. Sana is not doing so well and needs to be transferred to get the care she needs, so Megan agrees to transport her. Before she leaves, a teary Megan calls Owen and tells him what happened. As all of this is happening Teddy discovers that Sana is actually the second shooter! Teddy tries to stop Megan, but it’s too late. Megan is on the helicopter with Sana and Teddy can only watch helplessly as it flies away. The helicopter is called back to base but doesn’t return. Megan is gone.
2017 Road Trip
Megan and Owen continue to fight. At one point Megan threatens to kick Owen out of the car! Megan asks Owen if he knows why his nickname was Major Diamond. He thinks it’s because he was sharp, clear, and focused. But the nickname, which Megan started, was because the soldiers thought he was high-strung and retentive. Owen apologizes for interfering with her career years ago. He admits it was out of line. He still can’t understand why she wants to leave, saying “I’m not leaving you again!” He doesn’t understand why she can’t just stay near him and raise their families together, near their parents. Megan gently reminds him that their dad has died and that Owen has no children. Megan wants to live in California on the ocean because it reminds her of a childhood trip they took. That memory sustained her during her captivity in Iraq. She promised herself that if she ever got out, she’d live on the water.
2017 Malibu
Megan arrives at the home she will share will Nathan and Farouk. She dropped Owen off at the airport. Later as the family frolics on the beach, the truth suddenly hits me: Nathan’s building a new life with Megan and Farouk. Martin Henderson is leaving the show! Full discloure, I loved Nathan with Meredith and Ive loved Martin’s work, so this makes me sad. My clue should have been when Nathan and Meredith texted each other two simple words: thank you.
2017 Seattle
Owen returns home and breaks a cycle by breaking up with Amelia. She understands because he “married a tumor” and feels like he doesn’t even know her now.
So that’s it! Were you surprised that Megan cheated, too? Did you see Nathan’s exit coming? It’s the end of MerThan but it Omelia really over or just beginning? Hits the comments!
Grey’s Anatomy Season 14 continues on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC. Remember to “like” our Grey’s Anatomy Facebook page for more Grey’s updates!
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
