Note: This story contains spoilers from the “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 19 finale
A lot happened in the “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 19 two-part finale Thursday night, including the return of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Maggie (Kelly McCreary), the Catherine Fox Awards in Boston, and Simone (Alexis Floyd) having second thoughts about marrying Trey (William Martinez)… as she was walking down the aisle.
Here’s a rundown of the most shocking moments from the ABC drama’s finale, which promised potential happy endings for some, and left us in suspense about the fates of more than a few characters.
9. Bailey won the Catherine Fox Award
Despite not even being a nominee, Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) was the surprise recipient of the Catherine Fox Award for her work in teaching doctors how to perform life-saving reproductive care, at a time when abortions have been declared illegal in many states. She “ugly cried” at the podium as everyone gave her a standing ovation.
8. Meredith and Nick got their “happily ever after”
More “finally” than “shocking,” Nick (Scott Speedman) and Meredith seemed to make their relationship official for good after he traveled to Boston for the awards. After a few awkward scenes in which he wrongly inferred that Meredith had a new boyfriend (he was actually Zola’s tutor — and gay), she finally explained her non-response to his earlier declaration of love. “I was tired, scared and overwhelmed.”
Emboldened by the realization she hadn’t moved on, he told her, “I want to live a life with love and mess and pain… and you.” She replied, “Well, okay, then,” leading to a kiss and a fadeout on the happy couple. Looks like there might be an open spot for another hunky doctor at Grey Sloan.
7. Winston and Maggie hooked up — but also talked divorce
Winston (Anthony Hill) had a pretty good day as Teddy (Kim Raver) told him he’d been promoted to Head of Cardio at Grey Sloan just as he was heading off to Boston for the Catherine Fox Awards. At the hotel, he ran into estranged wife Maggie (Grey Sloan’s former Head of Cardio) and helped her zip up her dress before the event. The two ended up in bed and seemed well on the way to a reconciliation, until he told her he wanted to keep focusing on his career. “Should we be divorced?” he asked Maggie, who said that decision can wait.
6. Benson intubated elderly DNR patent Maxine against her wishes and Jules was furious
Benson Kwan (Harry Shum Jr) had grown very fond of 81-year-old patient Maxine (Juliet Mills), so when she suddenly stopped breathing, he ignored her instructions to not be resuscitated or intubated. Jules (Adelaide Kane) was furious, especially when she realized that Maxine had named her as medical proxy. She told Benson, “Do you realize the position you put me in? I might have to decide to unplug my favorite person in the world.” But his gamble paid off as Maxine, who suffered a punctured lung, regained consciousness and is expected to recover. Jules told him that he was “the most selfish, impulsive, arrogant, enraging person” she’d ever met, but that because he saved Maxine’s life, “I don’t just get to hate you. I have to love you too.”
5. Richard (maybe) fell off the wagon
When severe turbulence hit the flight to Boston aboard Catherine (Debbie Allen)’s private plane, Richard (James Pickens Jr.) made a grab for her martini. Bailey slapped it out of his hand before he could take a sip. But later that night, after the awards ceremony, Richard told Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) that he was tempted to drink again. She invited him to come to an AA meeting with her, but he insisted he had to wait for Catherine. Moments after Amelia left, a waitress delivered a vodka tonic he had ordered. He hesitated and we didn’t see whether he took a drink or not.
4. Simone left Trey at the altar and things spiraled from there
Simone getting cold feet about marrying Trey wasn’t really a big shock, nor was her rushing to the hospital, in her wedding gown, to proclaim her love for Lucas (Niko Terho). The pair had sex and both returned to work. But then Lucas’s next patient ended up being none other than Trey, after crashing his car while trying to follow Simone. Despite breaking one arm, Trey was still able to punch Lucas in the face for taking Simone away from him.
Trey was willing to give Simone another chance, but she told him she wasn’t the same person since moving to Seattle. He warned her that Lucas is a “screw-up” and added, “if your life falls apart, I’m not going to be there to pick up the pieces.”
3. Link told Jo he loves her
Link (Chris Carmack) openly disapproved of all the attention Jo lavished on handsome, charming patient Sam Sutton (Sam Page), and told her she was being inappropriate. She reminded him he slept with an intern, so he had no business advising her on the ethics of hospital romances. She later told him he should move out because their children, who they are co-parenting as roommates, found the situation “confusing.”
He confessed that he’s been in love with her for years and she seemed stunned… until she answered with a smile, “You unbelievable dummy, I love you too,” and they kissed in the rain.
2. Meredith’s new Alzheimer’s theory meant she might lose her research funding — and her career
When her former coworkers arrived in Boston, Meredith was in “mad scientist” mode, as Nick phrased it: She told them of her radical new theory about what causes Alzheimer’s, one that would shake up the establishment and put her research on an entirely new track. Richard advised her, “If you make this public, there’s a possibility you could lose your funding and your reputation.” Amelia was also upset, saying to Meredith, “It insults Derek’s (Patrick Dempsey) work,” since it went against her late brother’s findings. Later, however, Nick told her not to listen to them: “Did you really come all this way just to follow the rules? Because that would piss me off even more.” At the awards dinner, Meredith plunged in and told a wealthy investor that she intended to go in an entirely new direction with her research.
1. Teddy collapsed and stopped breathing
Teddy’s fate was left up in the air after she collapsed on the O.R. floor as she prepared to operate on Sam. For the previous two hours, she’d been complaining about a bad toothache, but refused to go to a dentist since Grey Sloan was already short-staffed. Longtime “Grey’s” fans were probably not entirely shocked that this seemingly minor concern would become life-threatening, but it was still terrible to see her unresponsive after failing to respond to a defibrillation shock as Owen (Kevin McKidd) looked on helplessly.
Teddy’s own medical emergency meant there was no surgeon to operate on Sam, who had suffered an aortic transection and was bleeding out. Despite being told to wait for an attending doctor, Lukas made the first incision to try to save Sam’s life. The episode ended with Teddy lying lifeless on the floor next to an ominously growing pool of Sam’s blood.
“Grey’s Anatomy” has already been renewed for Season 20 on ABC.
