Grey's Anatomy delivered a surprise event episode to conclude Season 21, leaving multiple doctors' lives in jeopardy as the medical drama heads into the summer hiatus. Of course, the ABC medical drama didn't hire Piper Perabo just to play a grieving mother. When Perabo's character Jenna's daughter went into locked-in syndrome after Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) performed a risky brain surgery on the little girl, Jenna decided to take matters into her own hands.
She grabbed a lighter and a tank of explosive gas from her husband's construction truck. She then coerced Amelia and Lucas (Niko Terho) to perform the surgery while holding Simone (Alexis Floyd) by the flammable gas tank. The rest of the hospital eventually became aware of the hostage situation, but they couldn't intervene until Amelia operated. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) interceded to deliver the necessary drugs for Amelia to make it through the surgery. When she was finally able to close, Jenna dropped the tank of gas on the floor and confessed that it had been empty the entire time – she just wanted to save her daughter. She collapsed into sobs as a SWAT team put her in handcuffs.
The momentary relief allowed complications to grow between multiple couples on the show. Lucas and Simone made up after the stressful situation, but she still carries the guilt for hooking up with a stranger during their 24-hour breakup. To make matters worse, that stranger (Trevor Jackson) just arrived at Grey Sloane as part of the new intern class. Meanwhile, Jules (Adelaide Kane) confronted Winston (Anthony Bell) about dumping her from his service because feelings between them became blurry. And Teddy (Kim Raver) told Owen (Kevin McKidd) that she was finally done changing her life for him after she performed a daredevil heart surgery on the woman he slept with during their brief experiment with an open marriage.
Relationship statuses for all three pairs will have to wait when Season 22 returns, though. Lucas and Alexis filled Jenna's husband in on how she held them hostage, and he revealed that he had no empty gas canisters on his truck. She must have turned the valve and released the gas in the hospital, meaning the flammable vapor was still swirling around the operating floor. Lucas ran to give the warning, but not before Link (Chris Carmack) lit up a bone fusing tool in the operating room Jenna had held Lucas, Amelia, and Simone in earlier that day. Meredith watched in horror from outside as a massive explosion erupted on an upper floor of the hospital, and Ben (Jason George) went running into the burning building.
Parade caught up with Grey's Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis to talk about that big explosion, who is in danger, and what all of this will mean for the next season.
Can you walk me through the calculus of having Link in the room where we think the explosion happened? Of all the doctors that could have had surgery in that OR, why Link?
There are other doctors on that floor. We say that Bailey, Monica, and Jules are by the board. But with Link, we’re Grey’s Anatomy, and we always like to twist our happiness. We just told this beautiful wedding story in Episode 17. Link and Jo are married. They have this blissful, oblivious, beautiful storyline in the supply closet. They find out they’re having girls. Then, of course, you can’t just be this happy.
The song in the Episode 17 promo was so sad, and that felt confusing at the time, but now it makes sense. But it also begs the question: Why are you doing this to Jo?
One, we don’t know what happens. We don’t actually know where that explosive gas is. Everything is up for grabs. Why do this to Jo? We didn’t want to do anything to Jo, but I think that we’ve seen them come through such a happy season, and the iconic Grey’s way is always to throw another obstacle at them. We’ll see if she has the strength to get through it. Obviously, again, we don’t know what happens. We don’t know where that tank was. But Link wasn’t the only one. Nurse Linda was right next to him! And Teddy is missing. The only two people that weren’t in that hospital that we know are Meredith and Ben.
I know you can’t tell me, but have you already decided who is in that explosion?
Oh, yes. Definitely.
What can you say about Ben’s place at the hospital after he learned he wasn’t being brought back as a resident?
Obviously, it was a huge blow. His life may not be the one in danger right now, but his career is certainly in danger. How heartbreaking that is for Bailey! He wanted to do this on his own. He didn’t want to be seen as Bailey’s husband. But the way he operates, the way that he functions in his career, is that he puts lives first. It doesn’t matter about the rules. He puts lives first. Sometimes that works out well for him. Sometimes that does not work out well for him. Based on what happens at the end of the finale, he has a skill set that other surgeons don’t, and we will see if that is a way for him to appeal the decision that was made.
We also find that Meredith has signed up for more time at Grey Sloan. Can you talk about what that looks like for next season?
We always love showing Meredith in Boston. We love the Alzheimer’s research, and we’ll continue to show that because it is so topical and relevant, especially with the storyline where they discovered they are only using male mice. We’ll definitely continue that. But I miss seeing her in the OR. I miss seeing her teaching. I miss seeing her in her element. There’s also a world where, while she’s operating, she’s able to take her research even further because she’s interacting with patients and their family members more. That taps into a resource.
Do you guys have a list of traumas that you have yet to put these doctors through after 21 seasons?
There’s definitely a list somewhere. The list of what we haven’t done is much shorter than what we have done. We have never done a gas tank, right? We’ve obviously done a bomb in a body cavity. We’ve done fires, but we’ve done it quite like this before. I also love the way we did it because we find out that she’s not 100 percent evil. She’s doing this because she’s a destroyed mother. She thought that tank was empty. That moment where it falls and all of our doctors react is so heartbreaking because it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Of course, because it’s Grey’s, we had to give it a twist.
Prior to the explosion, Teddy told Owen that she was done. How was this different than the other times these two have been on the outs?
It’s all about hr speech. She names what I don’t think has been named before. She has changed her life over and over again for him. Does anyone remember how amazing her German apartment was? She finally has the ability to walk away. I think she’s been scared to walk away before. It’s even more complicated with two kids, and she’s actually his boss, but Teddy has an evolution through this episode where she was so scared to perform this crazy, insane surgery that seems like science fiction. Then she’s able to pull it off, even with such an emotional component to it. I think there is this moment of, “I am strong. I can do this. I can pick myself. I can walk away and I’ll be fine.”
And where is Owen’s head at? He is adamant throughout the episode that he has feelings for this other woman, but he chooses Teddy.
It’s complicated. Is he saying that because it’s true, or is he saying that because he doesn’t want to completely decimate his life? I think he’s blindsided. I don’t think he thought Teddy would say this to him at the end of the episode. They’ve known each other for decades. They’ve been through war together. This is just a battle, and he was not expecting this.
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Another pair in a complicated situation is Winston and Jules. She stands up to him in the elevator, and the language she used felt like a very valid HR complaint. What is that dynamic going to be moving forward?
It’s more complicated if people have been carefully watching, right? She’s done a couple of things that suggest maybe it wasn’t one-sided. She took him to the roof that time, and I don’t know if I would have taken my boss to the roof to cure his fear of heights. If you’ve been watching the evolution of those two working together, it seemed like maybe they would get together. We were really interested in seeing what happens 20 years after the Mer and Derek relationship. We’re in today’s world where this is very frowned upon. It is not okay for a teacher and a student to have a romantic relationship. What does it look like when someone tries to follow the rules? Winston tried to follow the rules. He tried to stay behind the line, but the way that he did it was just so wrong. We wanted her to call him out on that, but she does before she says, “The lines were very clear for me.” We’ll have to see moving forward, was it as clear as what we saw on screen? Does she have any feelings for him? What is that working relationship going to be like moving forward?
Does that mean anyone shipping them should be forwarded? To your point, it’s not as simple as Meredith and Derek.
I think anyone shipping anyone on Grey’s Anatomy should never think it’s going to be simple. Nothing is going to be simple based on the fact that there’s an explosion at the end of the episode. She’s no longer an intern, but she is still a resident. She’s got four more years to graduate. There is still a very clear line that needs to be made between teacher and student.
Simone is someone else who is going to have a complicated situation when you return for Season 22. That also felt like a throwback to Meredith and Derek, when her hookup showed up at work. That trope still hits so well.
That “Oh sh–t" moment that she has at the end of the episode. Alexis plays that great, and Trevor Jackson is so amazing. He only had a few lines, and he delivered them in a way that signals trouble for Lucas and Simone. We’re really excited to pick that story back up.
What can you say about how he’s going to spice things up next season?
We’ve only seen a little bit. But he definitely has an arrogance and an attitude that is a little bit too arrogant for a first-year surgical student, right? We’re going to see a little bit of how that fits into our hospital, especially when Bailey is leading the residency program. To me, he’s someone who doesn’t care. He’s here to be a surgeon. He doesn’t care about the emotional mess over there.
Do you have any advice or emotional support as they go into this summer hiatus after this cliffhanger?
It’s going to be okay. That’s my advice. We’re good. We’re going to have another amazing ride.
