Grey’s Anatomy – Season 16 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Flash Forward

One of my guilty pleasures has always been watching Grey’s Anatomy with my daughter. Having watched every single episode since it first aired all those years ago, we always look forward to witnessing the drama and plot twists surrounding Meredith and her fellow doctors. Returning for an astonishing sixteenth season, we pick up right where we left off from before with the aftermath of the fog and the drama surrounding Meredith’s insurance fraud. With three of the most important doctors now fired, it’ll be interesting to see where the show takes that story but one thing’s for sure, in true Grey’s Anatomy’s style it will not be smooth sailing for our doctors.

The episode starts where the last one left off with Maggie calling for Jackson, finally answering just as an ambulance arrives. Rushing to him, they find him holding on to an unconscious and injured climber called Jai Prishna. A few days later, Meredith meets with her lawyer, telling them she takes full responsibility for her actions. Her lawyer explains that she will not face any prison time but only some community service. However, she’s not sure if her medical licence will be revoked.

Amelia brings Leo into the hospital to meet his little sister soon after. This touching moment is interrupted by Bailey telling them a trauma is coming into the hospital. Despite their protests, she reveals that Meredith, Webber and Alex have been fired. As Owen and Amelia leave, Koracick arrives, gushing over the baby but also telling her that he guessed she got back with Owen. The ambulance arrives with the two climbers Jackson saved soon after. They’re both suffering from fractures but before we get a chance to see the extent of these, we flash forward a week to catch up with everyone’s lives.

The day of Meredith’s trial has arrived and the judge questions her about her actions. She explains what happened and he asks her if she regrets anything. Unable to lie, her lawyer begs the judge not to throw her in jail as she has three children. Another week then passes and Jai is suddenly crashing due to a stroke. While Jai is on life support, Jackson cannot figure out what is wrong with the climber. Maggie arrives, discussing Jai at first but then their relationship before Jackson tells her he’s not sure about their relationship anymore.

While we see Meredith doing her community service, Bailey confronts Catherine about hiring Koracick to be her boss. Catherine explains that she hired him because she’s not happy with her decision to fire Richard as this is now affecting her marriage. Seven days later, a panicking Owen comes to hospital looking for Teddy who has disappeared, angry at him for not understanding her needs. Jackson looks ready to move on as he asks one of the paramedics, Vic (from Station 19), on a date and things are slowly moving forward for Alex and Jo as they’re having therapy to try and solve their issues.

While having dinner with Link, Amelia suddenly realizes the reason why Jai had the stroke. They rush to the hospital and as she examines him, she sees that her diagnosis is correct. Before we get a chance to see this, we jump forward again by one week, where we find Jackson having coffee with Vic. They confide to each other about their previous serious relationship and laugh as they both realize at the same time that now is not a good time to start something new.

Webber visits Alex to talk about his struggles in getting a new job.  He also tells him that he needs to sort his life out and suggests he try going for the position of chief in Pacific North hospital. Once again we jump one week forward where we get some good news for most of our characters. Jai finally wakes up and is reunited with his wife while Alex picks up Jo from the centre and tells her he wants to marry her again. Owen tells Teddy that he’s put his house on the market and that they’ll look for a new one together. The biggest twist of all is left for last – Amelia finds out she’s pregnant.

However, some of the doctors are facing uncertainty .Maggie sees Jackson and Vic together, Catherine is angry at Webber for getting a job at a rival hospital and Meredith finds out that the medical board are going to pursue action against her licence.

Grey’s Anatomy certainly knows how to keep viewers hooked. The premiere really delivers when it comes to twists and drama and the constant time jumps forward one week at a time keeps the pace fast, really helping to develop all the different stories and character’s arcs.

It’s not all drama though and there were some funny moments here too. One in particular involves Bailey when she requested Owen and Amelia to come to the trauma but telling Teddy that she’s excused. Bailey has always been one of my favourite characters and Chandra Wilson has really been consistent with her portrayal for the past 15 seasons. Amelia finding out she’s pregnant is a surprising twist too and it’ll be interesting to see what will happen as she just told Link she didn’t want things to get too serious too quickly.

With Webber and Alex working in a different hospital and Meredith’s licence hanging in the balance, things seem a bit uncertain for three of our original doctors. Once again these little twists, an all-too-common occurrence in Grey’s Anatomy, should bring enough drama and entertainment to make this premiere an enjoyable watch and looks to make this season another successful one.