Grey's Anatomy (Ep. 21x2) ⁞⁞ Episode Spotlight

The long-running ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy recently returned for Season 21. Episode 2 of the new season put some focus on gay doctor Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli), who developed a new attitude of emotional distance from his patients and his job. He began the episode a bit unhappy, knowing he was not going to secure a prime pediatrics fellowship at the hospital, a decision he knew was in the hands of Dr. Beltran (Natalie Morales). She apologized to him, but he resigned himself to figuring out some other medical path for his future. They then went to check on his patient Cal (Joziah Lagonoy), a teen hospitalized for spinal pain and dealing with a long-standing medical struggle due to his predisposition for cancer. Levi also met new hospital chaplain James (Michael Thomas Grant) who was counseling the teen. Levi assured Cal that they would find out the source of his pain and that he should not jump to the conclusion that he had cancer. Later, James asked Schmitt if he could pass along a casket brochure to the teen, causing Schmitt's annoyance with him to grow. He reminded James that he wasn't there to help Cal think about death. He was there to help him live. James questioned Levi's relationship to death, causing him to brush the chaplain off. Instead, Levi joined Beltran and intern Yasuda (Midori Francis) in discussing Cal's case with tenured doctor Amelia (Caterina Scorsone), who helped them realize the teen had a non-cancerous mass pushing against his spine. They made the decision to race him into surgery with an experimental process that would require Levi to assist Beltran & Amelia as they performed the surgery from both sides of Cal's spine to ensure they could safely remove the tumor. Schmitt wanted to tell Cal the plan only for Yasuda to reveal that he was gone from his room, taken out of the hospital by James. 

Schmitt confronted James for talking to Cal about planning a funeral. James worked to convince Levi that he couldn't control Cal's destiny or how he chooses to deal with it. Levi's annoyance grew as he told James that Cal didn't have cancer and he was doing everything in his power to make sure he remained healthy. After the surgery, Levi was happy to report to Cal's father (Leonard Wu) that everything went smoothly and that the mass had been removed from Cal's spine. Unfortunately, as they talked, Cal experienced a seizure in his hospital room. Schmitt called upon Beltran & Amelia once again. They ran some tests only to discover a brain tumor that had gone unnoticed, due to the focus on Cal's back pain. The inoperable tumor meant that Cal had only weeks to months to live. Schmitt left the doctors behind, telling them that he would give Cal and his father the news. Schmitt found James with them and he revealed Cal's cancer diagnosis, apologizing to the teen, who was left crushed and distraught. With James watching, Levi tried to help Cal realize that he may not have time left, but it didn't mean his time was up. He encouraged him to make a list of things he wanted to do with the time he has left, getting the boy to focus on that, while he also poured out his emotions, clearly getting to Levi. Later, James found Schmitt in tears outside the hospital. He wondered how he was doing. Levi told him that he had been trying so hard to keep his distance from patients, to wall off the pain so these things wouldn't hurt so much, but he was wrong. James sat down with him as Levi cried.