Grey's Anatomy Season 20 Episode 1 Review: We've Only Just Begun

Miranda Bailey has five rules, and we have all those great callbacks to make us nostalgic.

Who wasn’t smiling from ear to ear after Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 1 concluded with Bailey uttering her iconic intro words?

Grey’s Anatomy is back, baby! And we’re breaking into the 20th season with Meredith Grey and a lot of drama.

The premiere picked up where Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Episode 20 left off, with Teddy fighting for her life and all hell breaking loose because of the interns’ actions.

And the M.V.P. of that debacle had to be Nick. Scott Speedman and his roguish good looks were back for the premiere, to a girl’s delight because no one could express the level of exasperation with M.A.G.Y.K., the sequel, like Nick.

Bless his heart; he’s unaccustomed to interns doing foolish things that open the entire hospital and everyone in it up to lawsuits, scrutiny, and the potential loss of medical licenses.

It’s sweet when you have to break a new person into the Grey Sloan level of foolery.

So, which one of you am I firing?

Nick

And he was not amused, which in turn was entertaining for us as he wondered how he left his merry band of misfit interns with assignments and the confidence that they could execute them and returned to a dead patient, a nearly dead chief, and his students sniping about their personal levels.

Nick’s level of done with them was hilarious, mainly because he was silly enough to believe that anything would happen to the kiddies in the first place.

But there’s also a level of accountability that should’ve been extended to all of their superiors, and for once, it feels right that they acknowledged that a bit.

Poor Sam is dead. And if we didn’t have his mother coming into the picture and directing her ire toward Jo and Link for how easily they moved on and what happened, one has to wonder if either of them would’ve reacted to his death at all.

And best yet, Yasuda didn’t hold back when she saw Jo in that hallway and let her have it.

It used to be a time when the hierarchy was damaging because interns took the brunt of everything, and the people who were supposed to be teaching them didn’t take much accountability.

But because of this shift in recognizing the pitfalls in that, things feel more balanced in a necessary way.

My heart ached for Mika because everything she said was correct. She was also the only person who seemed to behave appropriately and wasn’t so self-absorbed that she didn’t recognize the situation and the loss.

We are interns. We were supposed to be there when you called. And we called, and we paged, and we waited for someone to come through those doors, and no one came until it was too late.

Yasuda

It was delicious to watch her eat Jo up about how they did call and page attendings and did everything they could to get assistance, and she put the ball back in Jo’s court when she inquired about Jo when all of that was happening.

The interns weren’t supposed to do what they did, but they also weren’t granted much choice when it came down to whether or not they should take action to save a life or wait for someone in charge to get to them in time.

And we know where Jo was when all of this was going down. She was kissing in the rain with Link like something ripped from a Rom-Com.

Congratulations on this ship sailing and potentially being on the path toward a healthy and successful relationship, JoLink fans.

They had a lot of great scenes together if you’re into the pairing. Their opening makeout session was beautifully filmed. I loved the sunlight illuminating them.

Jo, especially, is her happiest yet; we haven’t seen that in a long time, if ever. There’s no denying that the character has been through some rough periods and is due for this era in her life.

And she’s meant to have found it with her relationship with Link and her child and feeling content with where she is in her career.

All the romantic and sweet things Link told her at the end of the hour were primarily true.

All that aside, the JoLink became annoying quickly. For one, it was jarring to hear them slide past their accountability in Sam’s death and Link downplay what happened so they could continue to be starry-eyed over one another.

Something tells me that Jo and Link will be that couple that is so happy and affectionate that it’s nauseating. I’ll completely own being a “hater,” and maybe I am allergic to joy. It’s almost spring, after all. I’m allergic to everything.

But while Link was playing the romantic lead to Jo, his ex was being the consummate support for Owen.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Owen and Amelia Shepherd used to be married, but then they have these moments, and you remember how great they are together.

That’s not to say they should be a romantic pairing, but they genuinely work better as friends, and it’s a dynamic that can tug at the heartstrings because Amelia has become Owen’s “person.”

No one else could’ve sat with him that entire time and gotten through to him on multiple fronts. And she provides the perfect amount of support and distraction for him.

They also had touching moments, such as Amelia opening up about Derek and missing him.

They get along so well together, and she knows how to come through in a crisis, but she especially does well when it’s Owen.

If you don’t trust me right now, trust your wife. She’s the one who made me chief of cardio!

Winston

He was torn many times between his role as a doctor and that of a husband.

Winston did well, too, although he has a particular style that he may still get used to as he runs the cardio department now. But his best move was reminding Owen that Teddy trusted him to lead for a reason.

And he saved Teddy Altman in the end, which is something of which we had doubts about at all. I almost hate that the stakes surrounding Teddy were so low.

The premiere barely handled her case as if it was worth worrying about, and because there was so much other extraneous drama and humor intermixed in the hour, Teddy’s health felt like an afterthought.

But she’s okay, and that’s all we care about, right?

Meanwhile, Meredith Grey is not the type of woman who will back down for anything in the world regardless of what Catherine wants.

Do we really believe she’ll stop talking about her controversial Alzheimer’s hypothesis? It’s Meredith, for goodness sake!

All she did by the end of the hour was rope her sister into it. Meredith and Amelia collaborating on anything is honestly fabulous. In hindsight, they would slay on The Traitors.

After some of Amelia’s messiness in her romantic life, it’s promising that she’ll have something else to distract her and pour all her energy into, and this research is the key.

It would also be nice if she spent more time with Richard Webber. They’re always great together when they hold one another accountable for their addiction, and she’ll be a great support for him as he works his sobriety program all over again.

But the interns were at the crux of so much messiness, like old times’ sake, and they knew how to reel you in.

The self-driving car incident was outlandish and pure entertainment.

Simone: I wanted one thing my entire life. This to be a surgeon. And I can lose everything, all over, once again, because…
Lucas: Say it, Simone. Because of me.

Personally, if I were told to perform a trauma surgery in a tin can of an ambulance that’s getting rammed every 30 seconds alongside the person I banged before accidentally killing a patient and watching my boss die, I would’ve simply clocked out.

However, Simone and Lucas are built differently, so they’re likable even when they’re hot messes.

We see a different side to Lucas, and knowing how to take it is hard.

He isn’t remotely apologetic about what he did and that they lost a patient in the process, and he didn’t hesitate to defy Nick’s orders. Maybe this is how he’s dealing with losing that patient, or he’s stuck trying to prove himself.

It was interesting to hear him speak about not having regrets ever. It doesn’t feel authentic, but he’s standing by that sentiment for now.

We have so much to unpack when it comes to Lucas. But for now, they’re delivering on the “Lumone” angst, and as someone who ships the pairing, there’s nothing wrong with that.

The best relationships in the series are the most fun when they’re undergoing some angst and sexual tension, and Simone and Lucas give us both.

They have different ways of practicing medicine and approaching things, and their viewpoints appear to conflict, or at least that’s what Simone is thinking.

She’s undergone a traumatic experience and jumped into bed with Lucas moments after ending her engagement with that jerk she almost married.

It’s reasonable that she wants to take a step back and reassess things. It probably scares her that she has such a deep connection with Baby Shepherd so quickly and that he has a specific power over her that he doesn’t even know.

She admitted that she couldn’t say no to him and went along with both rogue incidents, which are against her nature for him.

It’s unfair for her to blame him for her actions, but one can understand where she’s coming from and why she needs to step back.

Lucas: Do you regret us?
Simone: No, I just, you and me, last night. Everything happened so fast, I think I just need a minute.

In Simone’s defense, that man and his chiseled jawline could probably make me do fiscally irresponsible things like screw up my credit score, so we’ll support Simone’s decision for now.

We also know that it won’t stick.

Simone and Lucas pulled off that surgery well, given the circumstances. Still, nothing topped Blue pulling a Casey Parker and coming in clutch with the simplest solution to an outrageous problem.

Stabbing the tire out initially could’ve saved a literal life, time, and stress.

I have five rules …

Bailey

It’s also the type of move that would have Jules fawning all over him if she were willing to own up to her feelings instead of desperately trying to take them back.

We know she loves him, and he loves her too. It’s all out there in the open. No take-backs, ma’am!

He did an unethical thing so she wouldn’t have to lose someone she loved, so as far as romantic gestures go, Blue may be leading the charge these days.

Over to you, Grey’s Anatomy Fanatics.

What are your thoughts on the season premiere? Did you love all the references and callbacks? How do you feel about the pairings? Sound off below!

Grey’s Anatomy airs all-new episodes on Thursdays at 9/8c. You can stream the following day on Hulu.