After that death in the season 22 premiere, Grey’s Anatomy continued with someone revealing a surprise pregnancy — while another character chose to take a sabbatical.
During the Thursday, October 16, episode of the hit ABC series, the employees at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital were grieving Monica Beltran’s (Natalie Morales) death with Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) taking it the worst. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) was joined by Maggie (Kelly McCreary), who came back to help look after Amelia.
Their day together led to some surprise revelations when Maggie confirmed she was expecting a baby via sperm donor. Maggie noted that she hadn’t told Winston (Anthony Hill) yet. Later in the episode, Amelia made the decision to take a sabbatical so she could focus on her mental health and her friends.
Meanwhile at the hospital, the second-year residents balanced moving up the medical food chain while helping ease the new interns into the day-to-day life at the hospital. Some interns — such as Wes (Trevor Jackson) — succeeded but that led to residents like Blue (Harry Shum) failing under the pressure of trying to learn and be a teacher.
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Link (Chris Carmack) was another character who was struggling. After a near-death, Link wanted to heal as quickly as possible, which stressed out his wife, Jo (Camilla Luddington). They ultimately got into a big fight but with Owen’s (Kevin McKidd) help they were able to work out their issues.
Speaking of Owen, he was adjusting to moving out of his and Teddy’s (Kim Raver) house by initially sleeping in an on-call room. By the end of the episode, he had moved into an airstream while adjusting to his new normal.
The episode also followed Jules’ (Adelaide Kane) grief journey after witnessing Monica’s death. She initially avoided facing it but thanks to some meaningful advice from Winston, Jules was able to find a way to honor her former boss.
Before Thursday’s episode, Hill, 37, teased what viewers could expect from the rest of the season.
“There’s a lot of challenges for the people who survived the blast for lots of different reasons,” he exclusively told Us Weekly. “Everybody has their own traumas from that experience in that blast, and then, picking up the pieces and trying to literally put the hospital back together and figure out how to move forward is going to be a tough dynamic to navigate for everybody and health physically, mentally and emotionally.”
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Hill promised “big curve balls” for the surviving doctors.
“A lot of us are looking at each other in these scenes just like, ‘This is crazy,’ but I think that’s a testament to the writers,” he teased to Us. “They figured out how to do this show in a way that’s so effective for people, and that’s why people keep coming back and watching it. They just really enjoy what ride they’re gonna go on [each] week. And so, I think we’re doing a pretty good job. I think people will like it.”
Hill concluded: “This is Grey’s Anatomy, so we know that nobody’s all good ever. Shonda [Rhimes] set that tone early. I think there’s plenty of room for complications to happen with any of these characters that could end in a demise. It’s just how the show is, and it’s built-in. … We’re shooting some things that may play into that. We’re about halfway through right now, so it’s getting a little spicy.”
Grey’s Anatomy airs on ABC Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET.
