Grey's Anatomy Season 20 wrapped with several members of the Grey-Sloan Memorial team losing their jobs — Teddy Altman because she secretly funded Alzheimer's research that Meredith Grey and Amelia Shepherd were conducting against the explicit instructions of Catherine Fox, Meredith and Amelia for conducting said research, and Owen Hunt because he came to Teddy's defense in an argument with Catherine.
But that wasn't the end of the damage. In the season's final moments, the intern class and Miranda Bailey likewise came to the defense of Derek's nephew Lucas Adams, who was meeting with Catherine about his future in the program, and the cliffhanger was Bailey asking Catherine if she would be willing to lose her. The Grey's Anatomy Season 21 premiere "If Walls Could Talk," reveals that Catherine considers Bailey to be replaceable — and that's just the beginning of the roller coaster.
The Season 21 Premiere Resolves Some Issues From Season 20
Yet There Are Few Surprises in Those Resolutions
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Since Grey-Sloan Memorial basically fell apart at the seams in Season 20, Episode 10, "Burn It Down," things at the hospital are quickly going awry when "If Walls Could Talk" begins. A large portion of the episode relies on this chaos. Winston Ndugu is trying to manage his patients, Teddy's patients and Owen's service, while Richard Webber seems to be avoiding the OR after he made a mistake in "Burn It Down." The interns and several doctors are nearly late thanks to a climate protest in the city, which ends up bringing several patients into Grey-Sloan, and then there's the big change that ABC teased in several promos.
Sydney Heron, who was last seen in Season 4, Episode 8, "Forever Young," has returned to take over the residency program now that Bailey is gone. Bailey and her husband Ben Warren are working in the Elena Bailey Clinic across the ambulance bay, which gives Bailey plenty of opportunity to sneak over to Grey-Sloan and check on her interns. Ben resigned from the Seattle Fire Department in the final episode of Station 19 and is now trying to figure out which hospital will allow him to complete his surgical residency. That's a lot of moving parts for a premiere, and some of them work better than others.
Meredith's Research Lands Somewhere in Limbo
The Premiere's Medical Stories Aren't That Interesting
The return of Jackson Avery is a boon for longtime fans of Grey's Anatomy, but he spends most of the episode angry with Meredith — which makes it less entertaining. Meredith and Amelia are packing up Meredith's offices in Boston when they get served with an injunction related to their research. Jackson arrives to try and talk some sense into Meredith, and ends up telling her that the only way to move forward without the Fox Foundation's continued disruption is to apologize to Catherine. When Meredith finally goes to speak with Catherine, she walks into Catherine's office just as the older woman and collapses.
Meredith discovers that Catherine's cancer has gotten much worse, and tries to talk her into doing a procedure on her liver, but Catherine refuses. When Meredith threatens to call Jackson and Richard, Catherine dangles the jobs of Owen, Teddy, and Amelia in front of Meredith in exchange for her silence. What isn't totally clear is what is happening to Meredith's work. The last scene of the episode has Meredith telling Jackson and Amelia that the Fox Foundation will stop the cease and desist letters and that everyone will get their jobs back. Yet when Jackson asks about Meredith's research, she tells him that it will continue, but not with the Fox Foundation. She makes a comment about it "going in a different direction" that is vague, though probably intentionally so.
The other medical cases in "If Walls Could Talk" aren't overly unusual. A 15-year-old kid drives his car into the ambulance bay with a bungee jumper from the protest embedded in the windshield. A protester named Wanda, who came into contact with a police baton, arrives with her pregnant daughter so she can have her bruises looked at, as the daughter's on blood thinners. Wanda's case does get slightly more interesting when she runs from the police using an air duct in the bathroom and ends up getting stuck in the wall. But the most important components of the episode are the rollover issues from Season 20 that get resolved — or maybe don't.
Love Stories Are the Highlight of Grey's Anatomy's Season Premiere
Season 21 Offers New Relationship Developments
At the end of "Burn It Down," each of the interns was dealing with some kind of romantic turmoil. Simone Griffith and Lucas were trying to figure out what they wanted their relationship to be, especially once he got the offer to move to Chicago and learn from Maggie Pierce. Jules Millin and Mika Yasuda nearly kissed after they fell asleep studying, and Benson Kwan encountered his ex-fiancé when she came into the emergency room. Griffith and Adams finally get together at the end of the Grey's Anatomy Season 21 premiere, when Adams showed up at the intern house to tell Griffith that he wouldn't be going to Chicago. It was a sweet moment several seasons in the making.
Millin and Yasuda spend most of the premiere avoiding each other. Yasuda initially suggested that they just be friends, but Millin had other ideas and pulled Yasuda around the back side of the lockers for a searing kiss. Their relationship is likely short-lived given that Midori Francis is leaving the show in Season 21, but that scene is a pretty thrilling look at what could be. But the most interesting intern subplot is what happens with Kwan, who finally tells Adams about Molly, his ex-fiancé. Harry Shum, Jr.'s performance beautifully reflects a young man who fell madly in love — and then panicked when Molly lost her memory in a car accident and forgot who he was. Grey's Anatomy will never miss an opportunity for angst, though, so Molly shows up outside the emergency room, with a picture of her and Kwan and a host of questions.
The final love story that gets a nice boost in the premiere is that of Link and Jo, who got together at the end of Season 19. After collapsing in "Burn It Down," Jo discovers that she is pregnant. Jo spends most of the episode stressed out about telling Link and experiencing morning sickness, but when it comes down to actually telling him, she doesn't have to. Link buys Jo fries and a glass of wine at the bar, and when she doesn't eat or drink, he puts the pieces together. It's obvious that he's thrilled, so Jo never had anything to worry about, and it was nice for viewers to see Jo and Link celebrate her pregnancy. That will give the characters plenty of material to work with in Season 21.
Grey's Anatomy Season 21, Episode 1 Doesn't Change Enough
Episode 1 Plays Things Too Safe for Everyone Involved
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The Grey's Anatomy Season 21 premiere wraps up loose ends from Season 20 pretty well — though it does seem like Grey's Anatomy is trying to maintain a status quo instead of thinking outside the box. The show has built some really beautiful relationships, but there's some unnecessary backtracking in the episode. Doctors are no longer fired, there's no potential of Adams leaving, Ben is a surgeon again, and Meredith appears to be halting her research. So now what?
While "If Walls Could Talk" could pack a bigger punch and left characters still fumbling to resolve job loss and relationship issues, what is in the episode is executed well and opens the season nicely. There is a lot of room to play with the characters in the coming season, and the episode's quick resolutions allow for just about anything to happen next. Perhaps the reason for tying everything off so neatly is because there are other plot twists in store. if there's one thing Grey's Anatomy fans know, it's that they should always expect the unexpected at Grey-Sloan Memorial.
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. on ABC.
