The chaos of Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s finale set up various storylines for season 22, including a major cliffhanger endangering one beloved character. Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 17 created the perfect setting for the finale’s events to shine, focusing just as much on the main medical cases that were at the heart of Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s second half as on the interpersonal relationships of Grey Sloan Memorial’s interns and attendings. Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 18 also brought back Meredith for an exciting development ahead of Grey’s Anatomy season 22, directly affecting the titular character’s role in it.
With Simone, Jules, Lucas and Blue all part of the surgeries happening in Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s finale, their last day as interns also counted as the first time they were personally in danger in typical Grey’s Anatomy fashion. Indeed, while Jenna Gatlin only took Amelia, Lucas and Simone as hostages to get them to operate on Dylan, Teddy, Winston, Jules and Blue’s situation was just as precarious, as they were operating on Nora next to OR 2. The hostage situation ending happily nevertheless hid a troubling development, as the explosion in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 18’s ending proved.
Who Is Affected By The Grey Sloan Memorial OR Floor Explosion
Link Was Shown Operating In OR 2, While Bailey, Millin & Beltran Were On The Floor
Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 18’s promo singled out Amelia and Simone as the ones most in danger after Jenna Gatlin came into their OR with a tank full of a highly flammable gas, ready to cause an explosion that would have killed everyone if they didn’t operate on her daughter, Dylan. Amelia successfully stopping Dylan’s bleed led Jenna to reveal that the acetylene tank she had been threatening them with had always been empty, concluding the ordeal in her arrest, with Amelia, Lucas, Simone and Meredith unharmed.
Jenna’s revelation that the tank was empty after Dylan’s surgery suggested desperation brought her to force Amelia’s hand to operate on her daughter. However, her sleep deprivation – already highlighted in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 17 – also evidently influenced her actions, as Aaron immediately denied Jenna’s claims. Link operating in OR 2, where the acetylene tank valve was opened, placed him in immediate danger, along with Bailey, Millin and Beltran, who were all on the OR floor moments before the explosion at Grey Sloan Memorial, making them the characters more in danger when Grey’s Anatomy season 22 premieres.
How Jenna’s Threats Prompted Amelia To Put Into Action Derek’s Teachings
Amelia Successfully Operated On Dylan By Remembering Derek’s Words
Amelia’s impossible cases in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 were feasible only thanks to Grey Sloan Memorial’s high-end equipment and Amelia’s willingness to try everything for her patients, whether her plan followed already-done operations or not. Jenna trapping her with Simone, Lucas, nurses and an anesthesiologist, but no fancy equipment, meant Amelia couldn’t rely on her mapping system, forcing her to approach Dylan’s surgery in a different way, one that would have been used years before.
Dylan’s surgery was done in the worst circumstances possible, and yet Amelia succeeded because she operated and faced the problem like Derek would have 15 years before.
Despite the highly volatile situation, made worse by Lucas’s attempts to stop Jenna and Jenna’s agitation, Amelia managed to stop Dylan’s bleeding by putting into action Derek’s teachings. Dylan’s surgery was done in the worst circumstances possible, and yet Amelia succeeded because she operated and faced the problem like Derek would have 15 years before. While the majority of the events in OR 2 could have been avoided, Amelia using Derek’s approach was the best possible callback to Grey’s Anatomy’s early days and the perfect homage to her brother’s career, more than her and Meredith’s Alzheimer’s research could ever be.
What Meredith’s New Season 22 Role Means For Grey’s Anatomy
Meredith Chooses To Spend Her Time Evenly Between Boston & Seattle
Amidst all the chaos of the hostage situation, Meredith’s visit ahead of schedule to discuss selling Grey Sloan Memorial’s shares to the Fox Foundation rattled Richard, continuing Meredith and Richard’s problems in a different way. Indeed, Richard perceived Meredith’s focus on the future as leaving their history and relationship behind, while Meredith saw herself and her potential future achievements being kept back by the past version of herself that had only Seattle as her home. Both their points were reasonable, but it couldn’t be denied how Meredith’s career in Grey’s Anatomy had changed greatly.
Jumping into the OR to help Amelia and Lucas nevertheless reminded Meredith of two things: how Seattle still meant family, making her living in Boston effectively mean being far from her loved ones, and how she never realized how much she missed the OR, even if her Alzheimer’s research was noble and worth pursuing. Meredith deciding to split her year between Seattle and Boston thus establishes a stable reason for her to reappear on Grey’s Anatomy, going past flimsy ones like Catherine’s patients, her fight with Catherine or other bureaucratic reasons that forced Meredith in Seattle.
Owen & Teddy’s Marriage Ends (Finally)
Teddy Leaves Owen After Saving Nora Opens Her Eyes On Her Options
Teddy seeing Owen and Nora comfortable in each other’s arms after Owen had declared multiple times only wanting to be with her perturbed her, but that wasn’t what finally motivated her to leave Owen. Teddy and Owen’s breakup felt inevitable in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, as they spent all their moments together fighting and even tried opening up their relationship to find a way to move past their problems, something that Owen strongly opposed as an idea. However, something else brought Teddy to finally break off her marriage to Owen.
Succeeding with such a dangerous, never-done-before operation on Nora made Teddy realize there were other options, not only those in front of her.
Teddy never stopped treating Nora as a patient, even after she learned about Owen sleeping with her. In an unexpected turn of events, it wasn’t Owen’s bond with Nora that convinced her to leave him, but what Teddy understood through operating on Nora. Succeeding with such a dangerous, never-done-before operation on Nora made Teddy realize there were other options, not only those in front of her. This, coupled with Owen’s refusal to answer her question about his true feelings, brought Teddy to finally choose herself instead of Owen, after their history repeatedly showed she was his second choice.
Teddy and Owen’s problems, which were there before they got together, but persisted even after, always revolved around his treating her as a second choice, only wanting her when he faced problems with his romantic partners, or when Teddy was happy with Koracick. Even in his answer to Teddy in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 18, Owen put the emphasis on his choosing Teddy and their family instead of simply admitting his feelings for Nora from the beginning. Owen’s behavior wasn’t new, but Teddy considering the new possibility of putting herself first was, and saving Nora helped her see it.
What Season 21’s Ending Means For Grey’s Anatomy Season 22
A New Grey Sloan Disaster & Relationship Chaos Await Grey’s Anatomy Season 22
Aside from the big disaster, Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s ending advanced multiple storylines, setting them up to have more space in season 22. Among them, the revelation of Simone’s one-night stand having been with a new Grey Sloan Memorial intern promised future drama with Lucas, even as their near-death experience had Lucas and Simone both admit they only wanted to be with one another. Ben’s possible last day as a resident at Grey Sloan also hinted at his future in Grey’s Anatomy season 22, where he can find his place on his merits instead of Miranda’s machinations.
The explosion in Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s very ending directly endangers Link above all, but also Bailey, Millin and Beltran, making it imperative for season 22’s premiere to reveal what happened to them. On lighter notes, Ndugu finally admitting the reason why he didn’t want Millin on his service didn’t entirely close the door on their possible relationship, even with Jules rightfully angry at him. Finally, Meredith’s decision to be more present in Seattle gives a stronger direction for Grey’s Anatomy season 22 and Meredith’s involvement, making her storyline more interesting as a result.