‘Emily Owens, M.D.’ Review: Tensions build and relationships change in the Perfect Storm

I think I’ve run out of ways to say that Emily Owens, M.D. is a flawless show, one of my favorites that I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching and that I’m going to be forever sad when it ends next week. But I’m not above repeating myself. This show is perfection and I feel sorry for people who never gave it a chance because they missed out, but I feel even worse for those of us who love it because we’re losing it because we can’t have nice things.

Now that my weekly therapy is out of the way, let’s talk about “Emily and the Perfect Storm.” This episode was so good for so many different reasons that I could probably write five separate reviews and still have things left to say. Starting with the storm itself, a bad snowstorm hit Denver (I hate snow and everything it stands for) and there was a bus crash so all the victims were being brought to Denver Memorial since the roads were closed to the other hospital. The chief told everyone that no matter what their specialty, if they saw someone who needed help, help them. Then he put Emily in charge of triage.

This episode really showed how much Emily has grown as a doctor. She always had the skills or she wouldn’t be there in the first place, but her confidence has improved so much. Can you imagine Emily from the pilot trying to run triage? Character development is just one more thing this show does beautifully. Anyway, Emily took control of the situation and her super organization skills came in handy when she developed a system using the colors of the rainbow to set the order in which people needed to be treated.

One of the patients was a pregnant woman who needed emergency surgery. The chief was operating on her and Tyra was assisting. Things were tense between them because he was mad at her for letting her car run out of gas and she was tired of him treating her like a child. He pointed out that as long as she lived at home, she was a child (ouch). But Tyra called him out on not taking her seriously as a doctor and treating her like a kid instead of a professional and the chief realized that she had a point. I really enjoy their relationship. It’s very realistic with the ups and downs and seeing it change and grow is one more thing I’m going to miss about this show (I’m sorry. I can’t help it).

Unfortunately, the woman didn’t make it even though they managed to save the baby (sometimes the show is depressing, but still realistic). The baby’s father decided he wanted to give the baby up for adoption and the chief and Tyra had a talk with him about how parents never stop seeing their kids as babies even when they’re fully grown and it was a nice father-daughter bonding moment. But Tyra still decided that it was time to strike out on her own or sort of on her own. She asked Emily if she could crash on her couch for a while until she found a place.

Dads were a common theme in the episode. A conversation with another patient who ended up having part of her arm amputated in surgery led to Emily revealing that she’d only met her dad once. Her mother had had an affair with a musician and she took Emily to one of his shows when she was five. The other patient, a Marine who was planning on reenlisting, had kept that a secret from his dad, who was not happy to hear about his plans, but ultimately ended up supporting his son, which was really nice to see. That’s another great thing about this show. Even when it’s depressing, the writers always find a way to leave it on a hopeful note so I never feel completely gutted after watching it and that’s appreciated it.

There was more drama between Dr. Bandari and Dr. Aquino in this episode as well. Have I mentioned how hot these two are and how this is one more reason I’m forever sad/angry/bitter that the show was canceled? I probably have, but like I said, I don’t mind repeating myself. The two had another moment during surgery where all they had to do was exchange a few looks to know what the other was thinking, but things really got interesting when everyone was in the bar afterward. Micah spotted them together and immediately picked up on the fact that things were way more than just friendly between them. He called out AJ for the affair and he was not happy that he went to bat for him at risk to his own reputation when he didn’t have all the facts.

Was it just me or was AJ kind of a jackass here? (A hot jackass, but still a jackass). He basically told Micah that Dr. Bandari was still wrong and she was letting personal feelings get in the way. Micah was not amused and their bromance might have hit a snag, which is too bad because I’m very much enjoying it. Bromance is always one of my favorite things on a show and since we’re clearly never going to get one between Will and Micah, I was happy that we had this one for a few episodes. AJ teasing Micah about his slowly developing relationship with Emily (more on that soon) was hilarious and Micah’s defensive responses about the poster were too cute.

Speaking of, I saved my favorite part for last. There were some major developments in the love triangle (square?). You guys, Team Will took a major hit in this episode or several of them, depending on where you fall on the Will/Cassandra relationship. As the episode opened, Cassandra was still upset about Emily getting the research job over her, but more than that, she was upset by Will being close to Emily since Emily is in love with him. Will insisted there was nothing going on between them and then went to have a talk with Emily (Will, honey, sometimes you make it hard to love you). Emily quickly pointed out that she was over him and Will was surprised by that and seemingly a little put off (okay, I love you again because Justin Hartley has the best facial expressions).

Will told Cassandra that Emily was over him and she still seemed doubtful, but she tried to go about her life. However, when it came time to drill the marine’s skull open (go ahead and shudder, it was horrifying), Cassandra asked Emily to do it, which was very unlike her, something even Emily commented on. Cassandra tried to blow it off, but it was obvious her confidence was shaken (Again, wonderful character development showing us how her insecurities developed over the course of the show).

Micah was also taking an active interest in whether or not Emily was truly over Will (can we take a minute to talk about how seriously adorable Michael Rady is? All his scenes make me smile). But once again, each time he tried to make a move on Emily, someone or something interrupted him and it was usually Will. The two were helping Emily move into her new office/storage closet and there was some lingering tension between them, which was fun to watch. Micah gave Emily the aforementioned poster to brighten things up and Emily told Micah how much she likes having him around and how much better he makes her life, which feels strange since she hasn’t known him that long (aw, you guys!).

One of the accident victims was a blind man with a seeing-eye dog and the dog was sick. He asked Emily to take a look at him and she tried to resist, but couldn’t. Then she got Will to help her treat the dog in her office/storage closet. Afterward, she thanked him and he told her that it wasn’t the dog’s sad eyes that made him want to help, it was hers (aw, you guys!). But then Cassandra saw Will coming out of the office and she was not happy again (I’m not a fan of Cassandra in general, but I get where she’s coming from here. Will’s not doing a good job hiding his feelings for Emily and he’s supposed to be in a relationship with Cassandra).

The final straw came for Cassandra when the doctors were passing around Emily’s phone at the bar to see pictures of the dog and Cassandra discovered the picture of Will sleeping on Emily’s couch, complete with the date stamp so she knows he lied to her about what he was doing that night. She took him aside and called him out on it and Will explained and then said he didn’t want to upset her. She told him that he was ruining her confidence and making her second guess herself and he needed to choose between him and Emily. He hesitated and that was enough for her to end their relationship.

Meanwhile, Micah caught up with Emily outside and the two continued to flirt and be adorable and then Micah finally went for it and kissed her! Look how adorable these two are (and thank goodness for Tumblr since the CW only provided one still for this episode):

But of course their moment was interrupted, first by Will, who wanted to complain about Cassandra dumping him. Emily was still trying to process the kiss and she might have been attempting to tell Will that she was busy, but then Tyra came out and wanted to go home with her new roommate. As Tyra led Emily away, she glanced back and saw Will and Micah standing there, watching her go and it was pretty much the perfect ending to lead into the finale (cries) next week. Again, I wish I had a still, but I couldn’t find anything on Tumblr. I do want to add this one though and point out that you should never count that smile out of the game:

So what do you guys think? Does Will still have a shot with Emily? Will he realize that he actually wants one? Is anyone still on Team Will with me? Hit the comments below and feel free to leave plenty of Team Micah gushing because I loved their scenes too. Ultimately, I am Team Emily and happy with whatever makes her happy. In the meantime, I will let Rebekah speak for me as to how I’m feeling right now knowing there is only one episode left. See you next week!