Grey's Anatomy: Season 20: The Off-Balance Review.
A new era looms.
Grey’s Anatomy’s twentieth season concluded on May 30th.
This review will discuss both the season finale and the season as a whole.
In a television landscape known for its volatility more than anything else, Grey’s Anatomy has shown some remarkable resilience.
No, it isn’t the cultural juggernaut it was during its heyday in the mid-to-late 2000s but… c’mon, that goes without saying. After nineteen years, twenty seasons and 430 episodes (as of this writing) you’re going to see peaks and valleys, dips and resurgences.
The show has been something of an online punchline for the better part of a decade now too, in reference to its seemingly iron-clad longevity but to its credit, it has managed to maintain an impressive level of consistency - despite there being only two original cast members left who are still regulars (Chandra Wilson as Miranda Bailey and James Pickens Jr as Richard Webber).
Even Ellen Pompeo, who has played protagonist Meredith Grey since the very beginning stepped back at the mid-point of the nineteenth season, pushing Grey’s into more of an ensemble direction.
The week-by-week formula then, has been more-or-less fine-tuned, (risky medical ops paired with riskier personal drama), even if that comes with an inescapable sense of familiarity: a reminder that, try as it might, the show will always be something of a soap at heart, especially now, after nearly two decades.
But with its recently concluded twentieth season?
While it goes out pretty strong (good thing too, with, at minimum, one more season on the books) it is clear Grey’s has come upon something of a creative crossroads. Not for the first time, sure but just how they, the larger enterprise, can navigate it?
It could prove key in determining the future of all those wacky interns and stressed-out doctors (still) running amok in Seattle.
Let’s get to it.
Grey’s jumps right into it on its aptly-named season finale, Burn it Down: working to set-up what is next, tying off some loose ends and of course, resolving that cliffhanger from the previous episode.
First thing’s first, though? There is a wildfire currently in action across the Seattle area, which quickly strains both the hospital and many of its doctors.
Bailey, most prominently, is struggling. She trusts Ben, her husband, to keep himself and his fellow firefighters safe but naturally, she’s worried. So much so, she even backs out of an active surgery in the OR, finding herself unable to concentrate.
It is only after Simone, concerned, informs her of a public access database that Lucas had a hand in putting together - Ben, fortunately, is just fine (admittedly, this storyline, while well presented either way, carries more weight if you also follow the Grey’s spin-off, Station 19, as it ties into that show’s series finale: Ben is leaving firefighting behind to return to his residency: question is, how will he adjust to being back in scrubs after so much time away?)
But speaking of Lucas: it has been recommended that he repeat his intern year entirely, following that whole Sam Sutton debacle earlier this season.
Defeated, he is seriously considering cutting his losses and taking Maggie up on her offer to go to Chicago to work in cardio. Following a conversation with a patient about the benefits of a “fresh start”, you can see the wheels turning.
But before Catherine can make her decision on Lucas’ future, all of his fellow interns (and Bailey) burst into the conference room to back him up.
Knowing how their respective dynamics have evolved, collectively since their introductions, this is an appreciated evolution (or at least a one-off show of maturity): Simone, Kwan, etc, putting their personal agendas aside for someone else… kinda.
Simone, in particular, is clearly still grappling with her complex feelings for Lucas and seems heartbroken and confused to consider he might be moving on, either through red-tape bureaucracy or personal choice.
So if Lucas, goes, the threat goes, they all go, Bailey included.
Considering Bailey’s insistence, Catherine seems particularly shocked, if only because she’s already ran through the gauntlet on her top doctors - a development that (mostly) concludes that big-ol’ cliffhanger from the previous episode.
Furious to learn that Teddy was bankrolling Meredith and Amelia’s Alzheimer’s research with Fox Foundation money without her knowledge? Catherine fires her, knowing Meredith and Amelia will make the cross-country trek to Settle to plead their case - and right on cue, they do.
They’re approaching a major breakthrough and to shutter their work, funded dishonestly or not, would be a waste for all parties, including the potential lives they could save.
Catherine agrees, saying that she’ll keep them employed and their work funded but only on the condition that they give everything to Tom Koracick (remember him, long-time Grey’s viewer?)
Meredith, after talking it through with Richard, decides on her course of action - burning it down, indeed. She and Amelia publish their work online instead of turning it over and Meredith, immediately resigning from the Foundation, doesn’t back down either, not wanting to get involved in any sort of longstanding back-and-forth.
The work and what it stands for, is just far too important.
“You’re just like your mother.” Catherine says snidely, unable to hold back her anger.
“Good. That means I’ll win.”
So it goes - following Teddy and Owen, both Amelia and Meredith have their credentials revoked over the course of the episode. Talk about stepping into the unknown, even if Meredith, if nothing else, is able to stick to her principles.
And there to bask alongside her in the unease of her kinda-sorta victory?
It is Nick, who is waiting in the parking lot. He reaffirms his commitment to her, her kids and the life they’ve built together in Boston. She does the same, surprising him with the news that she put down an offer on a house, as they walk off, hand-in-hand.
It is a nice moment, for sure but much like the show itself over the past few seasons, it isn’t perfect in either delivery or execution.
Even with only ten episodes this season (the shortest in the show’s history, outside of the first) which inherently suggests a sense of tighter narrative and character work, it has become abundantly clear - there simply isn’t enough to go around at Grey Sloan.
With Pompeo stepping back, into a supporting role, outside of her ever-present narration, there was some momentum to be found in the ensemble approach but too often, it has felt slow and stagnant.
The show, spinning its wheels.
Long-time, central and still-being-established characters, not given anything of great substance, which, given the size of the cast, is a trend that has defined much of the past couple years. Whether it is in-the-moment episode plot-lines that are neither impactful nor build to anything of legitimate significance.
Maybe the departure of a few cast members will allow the show to re-focus going forward, as it picks up on the few story beats it teased at the end of the season: Jo’s unexpected pregnancy (of which she doesn’t inform Link, at least, not right away), Teddy/Owen/Amelia’s uncertain futures or the current crop of interns, who remain generally underdeveloped but should, hopefully, see more opportunities going forward.
Grey’s laid down some significant groundwork this season, to be fair, as it looks to truly pivot towards a new era.
It wasn’t without a series of frustrating missteps and there are no guarantees that it’ll be entirely successful.
Perhaps the best one can ask for is that show ends its run on a high note, whenever that time comes.
Because noticeable faults or not, there is still some magic to be found in Seattle - and after twenty seasons, if nothing else?
That is pretty darn impressive.