Grey’s Anatomy recap: Do Jackson and Maggie call it quits?

On Grey’s Anatomy, episode 7, Anybody Have a Map?, Catherine calls on Meredith and Koracick for a consult, the loss of a special patient sends Richard into a tailspin, and Maggie and Jackson hit another roadblock in their romance.

Beauty and the Beast

Koracick and Meredith are summoned to Los Angeles by Catherine for a mystery consult. The patient turns out to be Catherine who has a spinal tumor. Catherine needs a biopsy right away to determine if the tumor is cancerous.

Catherine refuses to tell Jackson and Webber until she knows for sure. As they wait for the biopsy results, Catherine, Koracick and Meredith belly up to a local bar for some tequila shots. Koracick and Meredith try to remain optimistic, but Catherine is trying to prepare for the worst.

Catherine is at risk for two possible types of cancer. One is treatable while the other, according to Koracick, is a “beast.” It doesn’t respond to chemo, so if Catherine is lucky (and that’s a big if), they can’t try cutting it out without turning her into a quadriplegic.

More from ABC

• Dancing with the Stars season 32 week 9 scorecard: Who went home on DWTS?
• Roger Howarth is leaving General Hospital (Cast exit explained)
• Taylor Swift won’t appear in special Dancing with the Stars episode
• ABC will start rolling out its midseason schedule January 2024 (Release dates and airtimes)
• Grey’s Anatomy season 20 officially has a premiere date (Everything to know)

Koracick is obviously in awe of Catherine (he doesn’t normally traffic in sentimentality), and Meredith questions what his feeling are for her. Koracick explains that after his son died, it was Catherine who brought him back to the land of the living. She’s his friend.

Catherine’s diagnosis turns out to be the worst case scenario. Koracick has no idea if he can remove the tumor without killing or paralyzing her.

Catherine isn’t ready to give up without a fight. After all, Koracick is a self-proclaimed “neuro god,” and he did save Amelia.

Catherine didn’t call Meredith just because she’s a great surgeon, Catherine’s worried about Webber. She knows Richard hasn’t been the same since Ollie’s death, and she can’t fathom what this might do to him.

Meredith doesn’t know if Richard can handle his wife having cancer, but she tells Catherine it’s Webber’s life too, and Catherine can’t make the choice for him.

And the Hits Keep Coming

Webber attends to a beloved nurse, Frankie, who experiences pregnancy complications — she’s got a wandering spleen. Webber wants to perform surgery, but Frankie, worried about her unborn baby, urges him to wait to see if the problem resolves itself.

Frankie begins to show signs of improvement, but a burst artery means emergency surgery. Even though Alex wants to take the baby out, Richard knows that at only 28 weeks, the baby could be in the NICU for months and face a lifetime of possible deficits.

Frankie begins to crash, and the baby goes into distress. Alex is able to save Frankie’s baby, but Frankie dies on the table. Richard breaks the news to Frankie’s friends and co-workers who are all as devastated as Richard.

https://twitter.com/GreysABC/status/1060707189713645568

Richard heads to an AA meeting where he hears a woman  talk about a bar where the owner trades sobriety chips for shots — one for every year of sobriety.

Richard heads to the bar and hands over his chip. The bartender adds them to a pile and pours Richard eight shots. Instead of knocking them back, Richard takes a baseball bat and demolishes the bar. He’s enraged that the owner would capitalize off other people’s sorrows and struggles.

Catherine tries to call Richard to give him the news but gets his voicemail. Webber is indisposed to put it mildly. He reaches out to Meredith to inform her he’s been arrested. He also makes her promise not to tell Catherine.

Five Steps Behind

Jackson and Maggie are finally getting their groove back after their bumpy reunion. But things take a turn for the worse. Maggie accidentally sees a text on Jackson’s phone from another woman named Kate who writes she misses Jackson and includes a few heart emojis.

https://twitter.com/GreysABC/status/1060702539732070401

Maggie assumes the worst (as any woman would). Jackson reveals he met Kate while on his search for the meaning of life, and they became friends. Jackson doesn’t deny he and Kate connected. She recently lost her brother and was searching just like Jackson.

So, Jackson didn’t physically cheat on Maggie, but it’s hard to dismiss there’s been some emotional infidelity. And it’s not just Kate Jackson’s been talking to, he’s also been in contact with April.

Maggie has been convinced her relationship with Jackson wouldn’t work out since the jump which Jackson finds incredibly frustrating. She can’t help but be shocked and hurt that Jackson is confiding in other women instead of her.

Jackson accuses Maggie of refusing to connect with him about the things he’s going through. She’ll chatter on about day-to-day stuff, but she’s out when it comes to the big issues. Not only is Maggie clueless when it comes to what’s going on in his head, but Jackson never knows how Maggie is feeling.

Jackson won’t apologize for opening up to people who open up to him in return.

Maggie eventually admits that being a prodigy has a huge downside. When it comes to emotional maturity, she’s way behind the curve. She decides to try to actually put her own stuff aside and urges Jackson to open up to her.

Jackson drops quite the bombshell. Now that he believes in God, he’s full of regrets about how things turned out with April. He’s mourning their marriage, and the life Harriet could have had if he’d just had this epiphany earlier. He wants April to be happy, and he loves Maggie but the whole situation is just “messy.”

https://twitter.com/GreysABC/status/1060710697175138304

This is too much for Maggie to handle, and she takes off. Nice move, Maggie. Encourage the guy to share, and then you bolt when you don’t like what he has to say. No wonder nobody is a fan of this sinking ship.

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC. Tune in to see what happens on the big fall finale.

Is this definitely the end for Maggie and Jackson? Should it be? Will Catherine’s illness push Richard even further over the edge? Can their marriage survive? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.