I enjoyed this episode apart from Meredith and Nick’s storyline, but I have to say it got a bit boring at times. Episodes like this one where they slow things down and focus on a few characters outside the hospital are hit or miss for me. It all depends on the characters. If they're focusing on characters I love or find super interesting, then I'm all for it. If they focus on characters I don't care for or storylines I don't find interesting then I find these kinds of episodes boring. This episode was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the dual storylines of Maggie reading the letter Zola found from Ellis and Winston looking after the kids and talking to Zola about her birth mother.

I didn't hate Amelia and Kai's storyline, but I didn't find it particularly compelling either. I hated Meredith and Nick's storyline because their scenes always feel forced to me and it made both of them come off as irresponsible and bad parents. I thought Maggie's fever dream and time with Ellis after reading her letter was interesting. Maggie being sick and having a fever dream was a useful framing device to explore her complicated relationship with her birth mother. I was reminded of all of the temper tantrums Maggie threw when she first showed up in Seattle and was mad that Meredith didn't want her around and that she wasn't responding the way Maggie wanted her to because she and Meredith had very different upbringings.

She's come a long way since then and this episode makes clear just how much Meredith shielded her from about Ellis. I think there was a part of Maggie that didn't want believe Meredith about how awful Ellis really was and naively thought that Meredith was over exaggerating, but as she says to Winston in this episode Meredith was right. Ellis was every bit as cold as Meredith always said she was. I'm glad she got closure with that part of herself. I would have like more explanation and follow up on where Ellis' letter came from and why Meredith didn't give it to Maggie sooner.

I kept expecting more follow up at the end of the episode from all of the storylines and they just didn't deliver which was disappointing. I feel like the writing so far this season has been very lazy and haphazard, and it would be nice if they would course correct on that. As for Amelia’s romantic storyline with Kai I didn't hate it but I didn't find it particularly compelling either. While I enjoyed the scenes at the bar and I thought the scene where Amelia introduced herself to Kai's plants was funny, I don't find their relationship particularly engaging.

I also really hate the TV trope of 'I don't want children or want to be a parent, but I am knowingly dating someone who has kids' that we saw with the two of them. I just find it so nonsensical and ridiculous. I smart person does not get involved with someone if they know they have kids and they don't want any. I think Kai being adamant that they don’t want children and the fact that Amelia is a Mom is going to cause conflict in their relationship but honestly, I can't bring myself to care either way. This relationship isn't really grabbing me, so I don't really care how it plays out.

I didn’t enjoy learning more about Nick or his backstory at all. I've disliked Nick since his re-introduction this season and that's not going to change. Nick came off as controlling and cruel in this episode. While I agree with his concerns about Charlotte wanting to drop out of school, he went about talking to her about the completely wrong way. He blew things way out of proportion and came off as a total control freak. He was way out of line with his comment to Meredith about how she didn't understand because her mother was a famous surgeon. He clearly doesn't know her well at all.

Nick confessing that he loves Meredith at the end of the weekend? Barf. They've only known each other for a few weeks and he's already dropping the L word? If I was Meredith, I'd run for the hills! He's getting way too clingy, way too fast. About the only thing I enjoyed about cabin storyline was Charlotte's boyfriend's Silver. His comments throughout the episode were hilarious! His one liners cracked me up!