Grey’s Anatomy Season Finale Recap: One Wedding and Three Funerals?!?
Everybody who keeps saying that ABC ought to pull the plug on Grey’s Anatomy can go ahead and take all the seats. The resurgent drama’s Season 19 finale made a beyond-compelling case for the series’ long and healthy future with a double header that included enough relationship upheaval to fill a dozen episodes as well as twists that left three lives hanging by a thread. And if you read on, we’ll go over all the details.
‘I WISH I WOULD’VE TAKEN THE GIRLS ON ONE LAST RIDE’ | As “Wedding Bell Blues” began, Teddy, whose toothache would become a major plot point in two hours’ time, appointed Winston head of cardio. Simone made tracks to Grey Sloan to see Lucas — but not to say, “Yes, the entire audience is right, I’m being an idiot marrying Trey, whom no one likes.” She had promised Toby that she’d be there for her mastectomy and now couldn’t be, what with the wedding and all. Would Lucas look after her for Simone? “I’d do anything for you,” he replied. (Credit where it’s due: Niko Terho has that puppy-dog expression down pat.) In other developments, Jo and Sam’s flirtation continued to irk Link, and Blue helped prove that a single mom hadn’t given her 8-year-old Fentanyl.
Max — whose presence at the hospital might qualify as an actual painkiller, she’s such a delight — further bonded with Blue. “I can see why Jules is falling for you,” she remarked. But soon, as has been a lingering fear since Juliet Mills started her scene-stealing guest-starring run, Max coded. Rather than respect her DNR order, Blue acted fast and kept her alive… but in a way that she absolutely would not have wanted. En route to Simone’s wedding, Mika thanked Helm for standing up for her to Teddy. Now able to sleep eight hours a night, Yasuda felt like a superhero who’d had Kryptonite taken out of her shoe. “Can I kiss you at this red light?” she asked. “Totally,” Taryn replied. (Love for Helm… at last!)
‘THIS IS NOT HOW I’M SUPPOSED TO DIE!’ | Getting ready to tie the knot, Simone told Jules that red robins had been her mom’s favorite bird, and she’d seen one on her first date with Trey — a sure sign, Griffith thought, that her mom would want her to marry her fiancé. Cue a red robin fatally crashing into the window. And Simone’s wedding dress ripping. And Grandma coming in, speaking to Simone as if she was her late mom. “Denise” didn’t have to marry Keith if she really wanted Dwayne, Grandma said. After spotting the ill-fated robin on her way down the aisle, Simone asked her father if her mom had been engaged to someone else before him. (Yup.) Before you could say, “I don’t,” she’d left the ceremony, hightailed it to Grey Sloan and made love with Lucas in an on-call room.
Flying to Boston, Richard, Catherine, Bailey, Winston, Nick and Amelia experienced turbulence even before they took off. Winston went so far as to switch seats to get away from Amelia, who instead of bug him pushed Nick to give Meredith another chance. “You really enjoy interfering in other people’s relationships,” Ndugu observed. When actual turbulence hit, Richard reached for Catherine’s martini and would’ve drunk, had Bailey not swatted the glass from his hand. Once the plane had landed safely, Nick split from the group to pay Meredith a house call. To his — and our! — surprise, the door of her mammoth home was opened by Gilles Marini, who suggested that “it’s probably best if you text” rather than just show up. Snap!
‘THAT EXPLAINS WHY THE DOCTOR WHO SAVED MY LIFE NOW LOOKS LIKE HE WANTS TO KILL ME’ | “Happily Ever After?” began with Jules tearing into Blue for ignoring Max’s wishes. Since Millin is her roommate’s medical proxy, thanks to Kwan, “I might have to decide to unplug my favorite person in the world.” When Max awakened, intubated and terrified, Jules and Blue calmed her with promises to play Tom Jones. It looked like the patient was going to make it, but with Grey’s Anatomy, you can never be too sure, especially with guest stars. Jules’ feeling for Blue, as complicated as they already were, had become even trickier to navigate. “Now I don’t just get to hate you, I have to love you, too,” she said. “You saved my favorite person.”
At the same time, Sam deduced that Link’s more and more open hostility toward him stemmed from love for Jo. Pfft, no, she replied. In that case, as soon as Sam was sprung from his hospital bed, he was going to sweep her off her feet, he said. (Don’t count on it, buddy.) Next thing we knew, Lucas was checking on Sam, and, in a matter of seconds, he went from “I feel funny” to code blue. Where was his primary doctor? Outside, arguing with Jo about their relationship. “I’m so completely in love with you,” he finally declared. “How do you not see that?!?” He’d almost said it 100 times. And whether he’d ever managed to spit it out, “I love you, and I’m gonna love you forever.” Jo’s response? “You unbelievable dummy. I love you, too.”
‘MAINTAIN THE RESPECT YOU HAVE BUILT FOR YOURSELF’ | In Boston, Meredith summoned Nick as well as the rest of her Grey Sloan family to her lab. She had a radical new theory about curing Alzheimer’s. It might be correct, but in the years that it would take to prove it, Mer would be seen as crazy, Richard warned. She could destroy her whole career. Plus, Amelia noted, “What you are hypothesizing insults Derek’s work.” During a moment alone with Mer, Nick was cold. He didn’t mention Gilles Marini Michael and didn’t want to bother with small talk. Impractical but understandable.
At Grey Sloan, Trey was ambulanced in after crashing into a tree. While being treated, he surmised that Lucas was the reason he’d been jilted and slugged him. “I didn’t leave you for another man, I left because I’m not the person I was,” Simone tried to explain. Also, you always came off like a jerk, Trey. (That was me there, not Simone, obv.) Back in Boston, Maggie recruited Winston to zip her dress before the Catherine Fox Awards, and soon, both of them had ditched their clothes and hit the sheets. At the ceremony, Mer couldn’t keep her lips zipped about her Alzheimer’s theory; she blurted it out to Catherine’s table full of moneybags.
‘I CAN’T BELIEVE I UGLY-CRIED IN FRONT OF THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED SURGEONS IN THE WORLD’ | Just as Bailey was being passed over as presenter in favor of Meredith, Ben showed up. But Miranda wasn’t being dissed, it turned out. The Catherine Fox Award was going to someone who wasn’t even a nominee, Grey explained. For her tireless work in training the next generation of doctors to provide reproductive care in these impossible times, Bailey was being given the prize! After the ceremony, Maggie and Winston pondered divorce and… seemed not to really come to any conclusions. (Maybe next season, when someone new catches his eye?)
After Amelia invited Richard to a meeting, he stayed behind in the ballroom… and was served a vodka tonic. Meredith slipped a note under Nick’s hotel-room door. When he opened it, they finally talked. She’d been tired and scared and overwhelmed when she’d pretended not to hear his “I love you.” She was still all of those things… but she missed him. Um, and what about Michael? He’s Zola’s tutor, and he’s gay, Mer laughed. In that case, Nick said, he wanted a life full of “love and mess and pain and you.” With that, there was smiling, laughing, kissing…
In the season’s final moments, Teddy was just about to perform life-saving surgery on Sam when she collapsed without so much as a pulse. (Must’ve been some toothache!) Since when it rains in Seattle, it pours, Sam also went code blue. If the residents were going to save him, they had to act fast immediately — they couldn’t wait for an attending. (Do they ever wait anymore?) As Lucas and Simone began to tag-team the procedure, Owen arrived and started trying to shock Teddy back into consciousness. Hell of a way to wrap a season, no?
Grade the finale in the poll below, then hit the comments with your theories, hopes, worries about Season 20.
The newbie cast doesnt disappoint. I haven’t even missed Meredith and Maggie. But I will miss Maggie’s adorable husband if he leaves GA
Great finale. The interns have really become the highlight of the show. Each of them is great in their own way and add to the narrative in a way that past groups haven’t. I can’t imagine any of them not being there unlike past groups. Yes it plays on nostalgia but it does make it so much better. The Meredith plot is interesting. I hope we continue to see it and the tension with Amelia over Derek gets time to be explored. They proved this year the show doesn’t need Meredith to be good but it is nice to see her now and then. Does this mean Scott speedman is out now too?
Bailey winning the Catherine Fox award was extremely emotional to watch. The cryptic text was worth it. The fact that she couldn’t even compose herself for a congratulatory speech made it all the more emotional. Go go Bailey!
It really hurts to see Maggie and Winston talk about going separate ways. I expected the conversation though.
Nick and Meredith…Now that was some confession from both of them.
Will they really keep on teasing Millin and Blue? They put them through so much couple’s tiff than Owen and Teddy had last season.
And for the worries. Did they really have to do that to Jo and Link? Just when they’ve both confirmed their truth to each other and that kiss in the rain(Oh my God! That kiss was well done and well built-up to), Sam goes into a medical emergency that might spell an end to his life. Another Jermaine Talbott for Link and another possible wrench into Jo and Link’s loveline. Now I’m hoping they push through this one together instead of alone cause I see alone happening more likely than together happening.
The Catherine Fox award has always been a joke since she helped Harper Avery with the women he harassed and was rewarded for it, although it makes sense in a way since Jackson is actually Harper’s son. The people who were nominated must be thrilled.
Jackson was harper avery’s grandson. His father left the family behind and lives in the woods with a restaurant.
Can’t Jo just leave? This scene is basically opposite to everything he told Alex. You can fell in love with someone after years of knowing them and experience life and you needs, views change, they didn’t need to undo true friendship and every conversation happened about it to make their love convinces.
In the Grey’s Anatomy world men exist to be boyfriends. Boys and girls can’t be friends.
Dear god put this train wreck out of its misery it’s not even a funny joke anymore. It’s just pathetic.
Dear God make people realize they don’t have to watch a show they don’t like and try to ruin it for everyone who enjoys it. It’s really weird.
This die hard finally had enough of the show. It’s just too unbelievable and convoluted. I should have left once Lexi died, or Derek, or Alex coldly leaving, but like countless millions before me, audios Grey’s. Funny how it’s spinoff has a larger small audience.
Grey’s has a much larger audience with delayed viewing than Station 19. It does better live because it’s on at 8.
It took you 19 seasons to say this. 😂
Am I the only one that was expecting Alex to show in the last scene.
Yes.
He didn’t even film his last scene. He narrated a letter. He has said multiple times he is 100% done. Even when asked about a series finale. He loved his time on the show, forever grateful blah blah but it’s done.
Re: the toothache?
Yea, that infection can easily enter your bloodstream. It can lead to sepsis and is life threatening.
It’s wild how dangerous it can be and so many people don’t know it.
I had open heart surgery as an infant. Anytime my teeth need anything done, including cleaning, I have to take a prio dose antibiotic and after the appointment dose.
Thanks! I was trying to figure out how a toothache could result in cardiac arrest.
Heart issues, especially heart attacks can refer pain to the lower left side of the jaw that can mimic tooth aches. That’s probably what it was and not an actual tooth issue. ITS kind of ironic that it happened to a cardiothoracic surgeon though.
All truth I haven’t actually seen the episode, but infection from the tooth which can effect the heart I.e infective endocarditis is usually a consequence of dental treatment in a patient who’s heart is already compromised by very specific conditions, so I’m pretty sure it’s not that.
An interview with Krista Vernoff for her last hurrah would have been nice… the ups and the downs of her GA era
https://tvline.com/2023/04/16/greys-anatomy-showrunner-krista-vernoff-exit-interview/
I’ve read the article multiple times and I can’t figure out who the 3rd person is that the headline is referring to.
I’m guessing the hot guy with the broken bones all over his body, the 81-year-old lady, and Teddy.
The old lady was no longer critical by the end of the episode.
Yeah, her numbers were improving but she wasn’t out of the woods.
It was a really satisfying season for me. I love the new actors/characters and the vets never disappoint. I hope Grey’s continues on and on and on.
This season has been an improvement over like the previous 3 or 4. Most of the new cast is a breath of fresh air. I am hoping with the absence of Krista Vernoff, we’ll get some better writing that does a better job of balancing the case of the week, character development, and can be a little more nuanced with their issues.
P.S.
Did Elen Pompeo get work done? Maybe filler? Her face looks different from the last time we saw her.
People might enjoy the new interns and their stories. Personally I don’t really. I’m invested however in the hospital and the characters that have been with us longer.
The most annoying thing is that the pace of the slow is just abnormally slow.. compared to other shows and also compared to the first 8 seasons of Grey’s.
Not to say that the editing has been lacking, with less songs and bad acting. So yea, I’d like season 20 to be the last without me having to give up on it after 20 years of watching.
I love the Grey’s Anatomy. I love watching Grey’s Anatomy every Thursday night. I’ll sit and watch it. I just love watching it. I love all the actresses, including where is Meredith Grey it’s so is the other actresses of as well as the guys to
I’m so excited for the Helm & Yasuda romance!
And woah, can’t wait to hear more about this research of Meredith’s. Congrats to Bailey… I wish Addison had been there too. All the episodes involving the state of reproductive care post overturn of RvW has got me big in the feels… So glad they brought up the huge discrepancies in resident wages that haven’t gotten anywhere close to a CoL increase. Teddy and Owen are confirmed back for next season, so I really hope that means she didn’t die and things are about the past or Owen losing it and talking to his dead wife in his mind. I wish they had continued with the arc of their child, but the state of things today they couldn’t handle the heat of all the Magas trying to cancel them for letting their trans kid be. And Richard better not be drinking again… Also, Station 19 season finale was really good too. I hope Tasha and Jack are okay… and the mean cheating woman. And sooo glad that Andy is finally Captain… Ruiz was getting super annoying. And I hope Ruiz and Vic break up, she deserves better… maybe revisiting the time her and Jack got together… dating Jack is kind of a right of passage lol. Anyway, even though there has been a lot of change over the seasons… change is the only constant and inevitable thing in our world. Of course I love the characters I’ve been watching for 20yrs, but the new ones are cool too and are just starting to get to have a story. Let’s give them a chance. Except for Eli, he needs a new story arc ASAP because he is super burnt out and annoying since he came back and became senior resident… so much change, but all that change makes way for some new stories and some possible stability on the horizon for the older guard so the new folks can have the messy sexy drama for awhile ;) All the best to everyone. Grateful for these shows and all the stories that could take me out of my life and bring me back to it thru it all. Continued fan.
Happy that Meredith and Nick got their happy ending…that is all I cared about tbh now I can stop watching Grey’s.
Why did I start watching this show! I’m a late comer. Started watching in 2017. Love Teddy, and I have to wait til Sept. to know what happens to her!!! So Frustrating! But, I have come to enjoy the story’s. Wasn’t sure I was gonna like the nee interns, but love them. They made a twist, and I enjoy them!
I have watched this show from day one and will continue to watch it until is stops! Yes to season 20. It is still a good show!
love it
Wow, what a thrilling season finale of Grey’s Anatomy! I loved the relationship upheavals and twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. The wedding drama was intense, and I was surprised by the proposal scene between Jo and Sam. My logical question is, what can we expect from the next season, and do you think Teddy will survive her collapsed state? Great job on the blog post!
Ann
http://www.bestdogsstuff.com/
Now THAT is a Greys Anatomy finale. Still unpacking it and you know this show never fails to disappoint. The ending had me sobbing. I really don’t like Owen Hunt but i LOVE Teddy Altman. If she dies, gosh. But the whole 2 hours it was so good. Jules and Kwan, Simone and Lucas and Helm and Yasuda. The last one i kind of freaking LOVE the most. Its the couple you didn’t really see coming at first but i love them all. Helm being back makes me smile. And you know what i love them all. Jolink, well, i’ve always said keep them as friends but you know what, it is what it is. However is their love going to cost a patient his life? That will be an interesting conclusion come season 20. But this is a pretty great finale. 19 seasons in and still doing it. I really do hope one thing though, we see Ellen Pompeo back in season 20 and not just a one or two episode update. You cannot leave us there with Meredith and give us that. I want more. Then Bailey winning over everyone…kind of saw it coming but good on her. Anyway bring on season 20. Can you believe it? How much this show has accomplished? To think when i first started watching back when it all began and its still going strong. I honestly love this show so much.