Happy endings are so rare on Grey's Anatomy, so let us savor this moment.
Tonight's episode went back in time to 2007, when Owen, Riggs, Teddy, and Megan were all in the army, when Megan was waiting to find out if she ranked high enough to get promoted and Riggs had just cheated on her. When she found a fancy necklace on his floor, he took the opportunity to propose with a joke about how she loses all her rings.
In fact, Riggs had panicked, and it wasn't a necklace for Megan. It was actually the engraved necklace of the girl he was cheating on her with, and sooner or later she was going to figure it out.
When he went to confess, she confessed at the same time that she had also slept with someone else, but she was so angry that when her patient—a woman who she believed was the victim of an attack—needed to be airlifted, Megan asked to go with her. Owen, as the CO, approved. And of course, as it turned out, the woman was actually one of the attackers, and that was the last time anyone saw Megan for the next 10 years.
In present day, Riggs had taken Farouk to LA to get started on Megan's house by the beach, and Megan and Owen took a little road trip from Seattle to meet them. While Owen tried to convince her to stay in Seattle, they hashed out issues like why Owen prevented Megan from getting that promotion 10 years ago, and why he was trying to control her life now.
Once she admitted to him that she had cheated on Riggs too, Owen let up a bit, and the big revelation of the episode was that sometimes you have to let go of your ideals in order to be happy.
That left us with Riggs, Megan, and Farouk happy as could be on the beach, where the show is apparently leaving them for good, since Shonda Rhimes released a statement on Twitter announcing Martin Henderson's exit from the show.
"I love that we were able to give Riggs a happy ending worthy of his character and talent," she wrote. "As for Martin, this is not an ending for our relationship. He has been a part of the Shondaland family since the pilot of Inside the Box and he will always be family. I can't wait to find a new project to work with him on in the future."
#GreysAnatomy @martinhenderson pic.twitter.com/yOutb6Sbla
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) October 27, 2017
Back in Seattle, Owen went home to Amelia to tell her it was over. She completely understood, since he married a brain tumor, and now they barely know each other.
They handed each other their rings and hugged, both looking strangely happier than either has looked in a long time.
So while we'll miss Riggs and particularly Abigail Spencer as Megan, perhaps their happy ending is exactly what we all needed.
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.