Season 21 of Grey’s Anatomy got off to a promising start Thursday… even as it teased one character’s ending.
Picking up shortly after the events of the Season 20 finale (recapped here), “If Walls Could Talk” quickly resolved the issue of Catherine firing Meredith, Amelia, Owen, Teddy and, it turned out, Bailey, too. As soon as Jackson arrived in Seattle, he made it clear to Mer that “I’m not here to make things easier for you.” He wanted the conflict over her research settled, stat — and so should she, he argued. “Progress takes money, and we have it.”
Duly chastised, Mer was about to try to make nice with Catherine when Mommy Warbucks collapsed. It turned out that Catherine had a tumor on her spine about which neither her husband nor her son knew. And they weren’t going to know, either, she insisted. “You’re threatening me over your health?” Mer asked, incredulous. “I’ve blackmailed people over far less,” Catherine replied, adding that she had no interest in invasive treatments. She wanted to be remembered for the surgeries she’d performed, not the ones that she’d undergone.
When all was said and done, though we weren’t privy to the exact bargain that Mer and Catherine struck, we did know that the doctors who had been fired with Mer had been rehired. And what about that groundbreaking Alzheimer’s research? It “will go in a different direction,” she said rather ominously. Now keep scrolling, and we’ll go over everything else that happened in the Season 21 premiere — and at least one thing that didn’t happen.
No, Bailey Didn’t Really Slap Catherine
As satisfying as the smack might have been, for viewers as well as Bailey, it was only a dream. In reality, Miranda was working at the clinic while volunteer Ben made plans to continue his surgical residency at Seattle Pres. (Seattle Pres? Seriously?) But it would soon become damn near impossible for Bailey to stay away from Grey Sloan: Her replacement as residency director was none other than perky Sydney Heron, who wasted no time getting under her former co-chief resident’s skin. (The interns weren’t a fan, either; they preferred being yelled at.) By the end of the hour, Bailey told Ben that he should forget about Seattle Pres — whew! — and apply at Grey Sloan. “I’m getting my job back,” she declared. As if there had ever been any doubt!
Throughout “If Walls Could Talk,” one thing (climate-change protesters) after another (the mom-to-be’s fears) kept Jo from revealing to Link that Luna and Scout were getting a younger sibling. Finally, Link figured it out for himself at Joe’s. “You’re turning down fries?” he marveled to Jo. “And wine?” With that, the lightbulb went off over his head, he came up with three when he added one and one, and happily embraced both Jo and the idea of expanding their family.
Richard Schooled Winston
Treating a patient whose bungee cord had snapped at the climate-change protest, Winston encouraged Richard to get over his fear of surgery. The attempt didn’t quite work, but it did put Webber in the right place at the right time to help his former son-in-law see a life-or-death problem from a different perspective. After saving the patient, Winston asked Richard to walk him through what he’d caught and how he’d caught it. Perhaps teaching rather than operating is in Webber’s future?
Jules Kissed Mika — Big Time
After spending the day being awkward about their near-kiss, Jules and Mika decided that it had been nothing. They’d just lost a patient and had been trying not to feel terrible, that was all. Only when they went to shake on the fact that they were still friends, Jules pulled Mika into a steamy kiss. (Sorry, but how on earth can Grey’s Anatomy be letting Midori Francis scrub out when she’s right on the verge of starting such a promising new story arc?)
Blue’s Fiancée Remembered Him
It wasn’t happenstance that Blue confided in Lucas that, when his mom had been so sick, it was fiancée Molly who had saved him. No, we didn’t get the backstory that Molly had lost her memory in a car crash that immediately followed a fight with Blue for no reason. In the episode’s closing moments, Molly showed up at Grey Sloan again, this time having realized that one thing had been missing as she’d put together the pieces of her life: Blue.
Lucas Decided to Stay
Off a pep talk from Link, Levi was encouraged to think that just because peds might not work out for him, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t still have a terrific career in medicine. And at last, Lucas revealed that he’d chosen not to accept Maggie’s Chicago job offer. He was sticking around Grey Sloan — a decision that he celebrated by making love with Simone. So, your thoughts on “If Walls Could Talk”? Grade the premiere in the poll below, then hit the comments.
