SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 20 finale of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
Over the past two decades, Grey’s Anatomy has turned season finale cliffhangers into an art form and, closing out its milestone 20th season, the venerable medical drama did not disappoint.
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The last episode — aptly double entendre-titled “Burn It Down” as it takes place during a massive wildfire — served a couple of bombshells.
After the pregnancy false alarm in Episode 5, Jo (Camilla Luddington) and Link (Chris Carmack) agreed that they would want to have a baby one day. That day came far quicker than any of them hoped for: tests done after Jo fainted revealed she was pregnant, a fact she chose not to share with the expectant father, punting that conversation to Season 21.
Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) also left us hanging with a bomb he casually dropped, revealing to Adams (Niko Terho) that a wildfire victim with amnesia was his ex-fiancee. With him having only mentioned in passing an ex-girlfriend for the first time in the last episode, the existence of an ex-fiancee is certainly a development that needs serious elaborating next season.
By the end of the episode, nobody’s life was hanging in the balance like in previous Grey’s Anatomy season enders but most doctors — including all interns — found themselves at career crossroads, with their jobs at Grey Sloan in limbo, raising questions about the actors’ future on the show. (More on that later.)
The list includes Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) co-conspirators on her secret Alzheimer’s research Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Teddy (Kim Raver), who both were fired by Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) after Meredith defied her boss at the Catherine Fox foundation by refusing to give up the project and hand all her notes to Koracick. Instead, she published an abstract for the study online.
Owen (Kevin McKidd) also found his badge deactivated after standing up to Catherine and refusing to dismiss Teddy from the team trying to save the life –and the leg — of Station 19‘s Theo Ruiz. (It was a good call as they successfully did so, with Teddy as the team’s MVP.)
For a moment, the Season 20 finale felt like a repeat of the Season 19 closer, with two interns tending to a patient in an OR who subsequently died. This time, it was Millin (Adelaide Kane) and Yasuda (Midori Francis) under the supervision of Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.).
The death rattled Richard, whose confidence already had been shaken by his near sobriety lapse in the Season 19 finale, which he has been working on rebuilding all season.
“I think my time may be up,” he told Meredith. “I know I’ve said it before, I know I’ve taken breaks from the OR in the past but this time it feels different. Feels like I need to think about putting the scalpel down.”
Fortunately, Richard eventually realized that the patient’s death was not a result of the interns’ actions, making him feel better about his judgement and possibly rethink his retirement plans.
Having dismissed Meredith, Amelia, Teddy and Owen, Catherine was not done. She was about to uphold the GME recommendation to make Adams repeat as a first-year intern when the rest of the interns (and some random people in scrubs behind them) walked into the room to defend him.
“We don’t want to leave anyone behind or lose anyone, said Griffith (Alexis Floyd), who recently rekindled her romance with Adams. She had been sounding the alarm all episode that Adams, who got the highest score on the big test, may leave after he was offered a job at the Chicago Heart Center where Maggie works.
Griffith’s threat attempt, “If Adams goes…” was quickly shut down by Catherine who bluntly told the interns that she can replace them by the next day.
That led to the ultimate power move by Bailey (Chandra Wilson) who had an emotional rollercoaster of an episode, fighting to save Theo while worrying sick for her husband Ben while he battled the wildfire on the frontlines. (Who can blame her for having a pit in her stomach after those ominous parting words from Ben, “I love you Miranda Bailey, always have, always will”.) Capping an episode of power moves, she delivered the biggest one by waltzing in and confronting Catherine: “What about me? Can you replace me?” in the finale’s last cliffhanger.
We will have to wait until the fall for Catherine’s answer. As for the future of the cast, as Deadline reported exclusively, Jake Borelli and Midori Francis are set to depart. All other series regulars have signed on to return next season though the veteran cast members likely won’t appear in every single episode, with each potentially skipping a couple.
As expected, Borelli and Francis have closed deals to return in the fall and wrap their characters’ stories over multi-episode arcs. Indeed, the Season 20 finale did not provide closure for neither Levi nor Yasuda.
There was an inkling about Borelli’s Levi who finally secured Beltran’s (Natalie Morales) recommendation for the peds fellowship he had been pursing but it was contingent on his scoring well on the test and he landed in the so-so 62nd percentile.
“I want to rethink my entire life,” he told Helm (Jaicy Elliot) upon seeing his result.
Nothing stood out about Yasuda who found herself in the same boat with the other interns who spoke up on Adams’ behalf. Moments before the four stormed Catherine’s office, she shared an intimate moment with Millin where the two almost kissed.
A couple who did kiss in the closing minutes of the finale were Meredith and Nick (Scott Speedman) who flew in from Boston to again profess his love despite Meredith making it very hard for him to be part of her life, something he acknowledged.
“I’m in, I’ve been in, I can’t seem to get out,” he said, telling Meredith that he would follow her anywhere she decides to move after the secret research debacle though he would like for them to be partners going forward.
She responded with a grand gesture of her own, revealing that she had just put in an offer on the Chestnut Hill house he had mentioned in the last episode as a place they could make into a home together.
In other romantic developments, Beltran and Ndugu (Anthony Hill) are now officially a Grey’s couple after they opened the finale by waking up together and closed it out by making arrangements for a second hookup.
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