Meredith Grey is officially a harbinger of doom. As she and Alex wait in traffic discussing Alex's imminent trial, a building crumbles to the ground in front of them. They seriously need to stay in a bunker.
As the other docs scramble to help survivors of the building collapse, Jo is freaking out about being called as a witness in Alex's trial. She's afraid she'll have to enter her real name, and her abusive husband will find her.
When one of the victims calls for a priest, the doctors seem to think it's a good idea for Ben to pretend to be a man of the cloth. The patient, who turns out to be the landlord, reveals that he knew the foundation had earthquake damage for over a year. When a victim's terrified parents overhear the docs discussing it, they tell their other loved ones in the waiting room, who channel all their fear into righteous anger. And when their little girl dies, the mother very calmly tries to cut off the landlord's oxygen. Never a dull day at Grey-Sloan Memorial.
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To add some drama to the docs lives, Minnick lets it slip to Weber that they won't be working together, but rather, there will be "a transition." Maggie gets super defensive of her biological dad, and it's cute. When Bailey finally confesses that yes, Richard is becoming a kind of figurehead rather than director, Maggie goes straight to an important board member, Avery, for help. Weber is ready to give up, but looks heartened when he sees his former students outraged that he could be replaced.
Jo tearfully confesses to Alex that she's married and that, ironically, she felt she couldn't confess when he proposed for fear he'd go after her abusive husband and beat him up, landing him in jail. When she says she might run after giving her testimony so her not-quite-ex won't find her, you can see Alex's wheels start turning.
Alex tells Bailey to send his pension to his mom (sweet, but if a pension is what you get when you're nowhere near retirement and you leave to go to jail, I really don't understand finance). Then he goes to tell Mer he's taking the plea deal — two years in jail, and Jo doesn't have to testify. Meredith is having none of it. As he's waiting to enter his plea, he gets a voicemail from Mer which says, among other inspirational platitudes, that they're the only two of the five original interns left, and he can't leave her to be the last one standing. Oddly enough, that's also totally what the audience is thinking.
So, we leave the midseason finale with a cliffhanger. Will Alex enter the plea, or will he fight? Find out in 2017!