EP On Premiere’s Big Death (And Near Death)

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 22 premiere of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.

Grey’s Anatomy‘s Season 21 finale left the lives of all but 3 Grey Sloan doctors hanging in the balance when an explosion ripped through the OR floor. A few minutes into the Season 22 premiere, all of them were accounted for and found safe except for two who had performed surgeries at the time of the blast — Link (Chris Carmack), found lying unconscious on the OR floor with a ceiling beam over his chest, and Monica (Natalie Morales), pinned against the wall of another OR by heavy surgery equipment.

Link spent the episode on the brink of death — even saying his final goodbyes to Jo at some point — as a team of his colleagues fought to save his life. Meanwhile, Monica calmly guided a freaked-out Jules (Adelaide Kane) through her first solo surgery on the boy lying open on their OR table.

In the end, Link pulled through while Monica died before the excruciatingly slow rescue team finally reached them.

Her death had a profound impact on Jules who, after telling the young patient’s parents that he would be OK, broke down, leading to another uncomfortable close encounter with Winston (Anthony Hill) as the two hugged before she ran out.

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), joined by Simone (Alexis Floyd), led a group of new interns in triaging incoming patients at Bailey’s clinic. The experience led to multiple awkward exchanges between Simone and new intern Wes Bryant (Trevor Jackson), aka the hot guy from the bar she slept with, as he repeatedly tried to bring up their encounter but she would not have it. Simone later told him that they should erase the one-night stand altogether and pretend that they first met at Grey Sloan.

That doomed plan lasted only minutes, thwarted by Simone herself. When Lucas (Niko Terho) did not agree with her idea about taking a break and focusing on work and instead wanted them to stay together and told her he loved her, Simone blurted out that she slept with someone, leaving Lucas deeply hurt.

Lucas and Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) spent the episode trying to safely evacuate Nora (Floriana Lima), Winston (Anthony Hill) and Teddy’s (Kim Raver) miracle surgery patient who had a fling with Owen (Kevin McKidd).

The episode reaffirmed Teddy’s decision from the finale to go on her own for awhile, even rebuffing Owen’s offer to “go back to what we were, best friends.” Fortunately for Ben (Jason George), Teddy reversed another decision she’d made in the finale, to drop him from the residency program, after he impressed her with his call on Link’s medical care that may have saved his life.

The Season 22 premiere introduced a new intern, Dani (Jade Pettyjohn), who made a big first impression as she collapsed after getting hurt in the explosion while taking a selfie in an OR. Meredith performed an emergency surgery on Dani who only after the fact realized that she had been under the care of her hero.

The episode ended with Meredith and Richard (James Pickens Jr.) standing by a gaping hole and looking at the devastation from the explosion.

“What are we going to do here?,” Richard asks, to which Meredith replies, “What we always do, we are going to rebuild.”

The line sets up perfectly the theme of the new season, revealed by Grey’s Anatomy executive producer/showrunner Meg Marinis who wrote the episode.

“It’s hope and recovery and where you find your hope, who gives you hope and what gives you hope,” she said about the Season 22 theme, adding, “We need some hope.”

As for the physical rebuilding, it will be integrated into the season, construction workers and all, she said.

In an interview with Deadline, Marinis explained the decision to kill off Monica and how her ending fit the character’s history of putting her patients first.

The Texas native revealed how she rewrote Link’s goodbye call scene after the Camp Mystic tragedy and the tough road ahead for him and Jo (Camilla Luddington) as he embarks on recovery while she is expecting.

And while Virgin River had a twin pregnancy that lasted five seasons, Marinis confirmed that Link and Jo’s girls will be born this season.

She also addressed the emerging love triangle among Simone, Lucas and hot new intern Wes. As Deadline reported exclusively earlier today, Jackson, who plays Wes, has been promoted to series regular for Season 22, which will introduce two new recurring players, Pettyjohn and Anita Kalathara.

Marinis spoke about Dani’s (Pettyjohn) nightmarish first day and teased the Season 22 storylines for Jules, who was left devastated by Monica’s death, Teddy & Owen as well as Ben.

She also spoke about how much we can expect to see Pompeo and Scott Speedman (who was not in the premiere) this season.

In her exit interview Morales discusses leaving the show.

Death Of A Grey Sloan Doctor

DEADLINE: After so many deaths over 21 seasons, Grey Sloan should include a warning in intern recruitment brochures that it’s the hospital with the highest doctor mortality rate.

MARINIS: Not good.

DEADLINE: How was the decision made to kill off another doctor?

MARINIS: I didn’t want to kill off another doctor. It was a very difficult decision, but I think that as we ended the finale last season, and we saw the size of the explosion, in particular that fireball that Meredith sees coming out, it was just more and more realistic that we would have to lose one of our own, especially moving forward, we wanted to have a very strong impact on our other characters as well with this tragic event.

DEADLINE: When did you zero in on Monica? Natalie was MIA for a stretch last season before coming back at the end. Was it with the intention to wrap her storyline? Did she already know how this was going to play out?

MARINIS: No, no, it wasn’t, the decision wasn’t made that long ago. That stretch of time when she wasn’t in episodes, that was us working with her schedule because she was on another project [Netflix’s The Beast In Me], it’s coming out soon, so we were just collaborating with her team and making sure that she got to do both things.

The decision on who we were going to kill off, we knew it was going to be one out of that group of people that was on the OR floor, but I really struggled with making the decision to kill someone off, I didn’t want to kill someone off. I left last season thinking, no, we’re not killing anyone off.

But then I was in the writers room, and as I rewatched the finale, it became clear to me, Oh, this is where the story is leading.

DEADLINE: How did Natalie take the news when you called her, did she understand that this was for the good of the show?

MARINIS: Oh yeah, she’s an absolute professional; it’s so hard to make those phone calls. She’s such an incredible performer, incredible actor. I loved working with her, and I hope to work with her again one day. She’s just a delight, and the things that she brings on screen. Sitting at the monitors during those scenes when we were filming in the OR, I cried even when she wasn’t on camera.

Link’s Emotional Call, Long Recovery & Pending Fatherhood

DEADLINE: After the S21 finale you admitted that nobody wants those unborn girls to be fatherless, but did you consider at any point that Link could die? Was his tearful goodbye call a red herring, or was it one of those moments where it could have gone either way?

MARINIS: It was one of those moments that could have gone either way. I mean, when breaking and writing the premiere, I definitely went down the line of thinking like, if it’s this character, what happens, if it’s this character, what happens? So, no, I barely considered everyone. And when I sat down to type, this is just where I was led. But I wanted to also play the reality that he was in that OR right next to the gas, and so that’s why he was injured so severely. He’s alive, but he has a long road to recovery. I’s going to be a long time before we see Link back up operating as a surgeon.

DEADLINE: Will that be a major storyline, the way Teddy’s recovery was last season?

MARINIS: Absolutely. And, obviously they’re about to have two new additions, that’s the other big storyline.

DEADLINE: Back to Link’s heartbreaking call to Jo. How was it writing it?

MARINIS: It was really difficult to write. I might be getting a little too personal. I revised it right after the terrible floods in Texas had just happened. I knew a couple of families that had suffered tragedies, so I was in a very emotional, sad space. That’s where that sad speech came from me. The things that you think about saying before you might lose your life to your loved one, you never know what you’re gonna say. The thing that came out of me was the thing about the dog.

DEADLINE: This is the second traumatic experience Jo has gone through during her high-risk twin pregnancy so far after the store robbery. What will the impact be on her, how will she recover, and will that play out on screen?

MARINIS: We will definitely play it all out on screen. I think that these two characters deserve some joy, and they will eventually get it but it’s hard. The babies will be born when Link is still in physical therapy and things like that. So they’re going to have a tough road and they’re going to need a lot of help.

DEADLINE: So the babies will be delivered this season?

MARINIS: I will say the babies will be delivered this season.

Monica’s Slow Rescue & Quiet Death

DEADLINE: Why was Link reached so quickly while the rescue of Monica and Jules took so long?

MARINIS: Well, we obviously didn’t see the other side. But, basically, if you remember at the end of the episode, when you see Meredith and Richard walking down that side — I guess you have to be on the set to really see it — but it was caved in on the entrance so they had to get through a lot of debris, as well as live wires and frames.

DEADLINE: Okay.

MARINIS: And I think cause it’s TV.

DEADLINE: While Link had that tearful goodbye, Monica didn’t get that moment, she passed away in the background after helping Jules with the surgery. Why did you opt to give her this very quiet hero death?

MARINIS: I think it speaks a lot about who her character is and was; she’s very selfless and she’s always been about the children first, taking care of them, saving their lives, doing anything she can to protect them and make sure that they’re okay. And she’s also been an excellent teacher. There’s been a couple of moments — and she even references them — where she’s been with Jules when Jules has almost frozen in an OR, frozen on a case, and she wasn’t going to let that happen today. She was going to be there for Jules. I think it just says who she is as a teacher, that she dies still responding to the calling that she had in life, which was to be a pediatric surgeon.

DEADLINE: What was the total death toll from the explosion?

MARINIS: I think we never really say the total, but in my mind, it was around four or five.

DEADLINE: Will they be honored on the show?

MARINIS: Monica will be honored.

Lucas, Simone & Wes’ Likely Love Triangle

DEADLINE: There are a lot of sparks flying between Simone and Wes, despite her rebuffing his flirtation and insisting that she is only focusing on work. But it’s Grey’s so it’s never about only work, is it?

MARINIS: Of course, it’s not just about work. I think it’s mainly more about her trying to deny that attraction to him. He’s clearly a very attractive person, and she knows it, and he knows it. I think that elevator ride that they have in the finale is not easy for her, but she is trying to respect the boundaries at work. And she also knows that her personal life right now is a mess, and she doesn’t want to make a mess here.

DEADLINE: Let’s talk about that mess. It was Simone’s idea for them to keep the hookup a secret and yet she blurted it out when Lucas told her he loved her. What was that about and what will the fallout be for them?

MARINIS: I think for me, she told him because Lucas wasn’t accepting that they shouldn’t get back together. And for her, she didn’t want to get back together with him after what she did because it’s not fair to him, and she cares enough about Lucas to not be dishonest with him. So that was kind of the decision. It was like, if she told him that, then he would really understand. It was painful for her, because he walked away from her. But as much as they say they’re not going to talk about it, just wait for Episode 2.

DEADLINE: Grey’s is known for planting seeds and watching them grow, so it was interesting that you played the secret out very quickly, didn’t drag it on until later in the season to create tension. Why did you decide to do that?

MARINIS: We thought about it, but we also thought how much fun it would be and how much conflict we could have: the conflict between her and Lucas as well as the conflict that brings for the four that are there, and knowing that two of them have this rift and once even more information comes out — because he knows that she slept with someone but he doesn’t know who he is — so once that information comes on, I think it’s a bit more fun.

DEADLINE: Is this a love triangle in the making?

MARINIS: There’s always a love triangle on Grey’s, Nellie. (laughs)

Jules Grappling With PTSD & Hugging Winston

DEADLINE: Jules spun out of control when Mika left suddenly. Barely recovered from that, she was now hit hard by Monica’s death, How much processing that trauma will be part of her arc this season?

MARINIS: We’re definitely going to pick it right back up in the next episode. She is somebody who is very resilient, so even if she seems like she’s okay, she might not be okay, but she might not be realizing she’s not okay yet. So I think there’s plenty of opportunity this season for her to, one episode, she seems fine, but in the next episode, she kind of reverts back and is a little bit more open about what she’s going through.

But I do think this experience is going to also contribute to how she views herself as a doctor, because she obviously went through something traumatic, but she has to save this little kid’s life.

DEADLINE: Now, my least favorite Grey’s storyline: Winston & Jules. It looked like he wanted something to happen after they hugged. That storyline about an inappropriate relationship with his subordinate, what is his game here? Can we give Winston a healthy relationship?

MARINIS: I don’t think anyone can just turn off the feelings like that but he is not outwardly seeking because he is respecting the boundaries of work. Now, she kind of made that move to hug him into his arms, because she clearly needed some sort of comfort from someone. But who’s to say, no matter who had followed her into that closet, she may have hugged that person, she just really needed some physical comfort.

Now, whether or not she is going to feel something for him based on how things have occurred in the past, that’s up in the air, but he is a stand-up guy at work.

Teddy & Owen’s New Normal

DEADLINE: What is happening with Teddy and Owen? She said she was focusing on herself, but now they can’t even be best friends? What does the next stage of their relationship look like?

MARINIS: When she said ‘I don’t know who I am anymore’, to me that wasn’t necessarily saying no, we’ll never get there. I think it’s just that she really needs to remember who the Teddy was separate from Owen. That character I really, really love, that Teddy before she was with Owen. I still love Teddy, but it’s interesting because so much of the past few years of her life have revolved around him.

And so I’m interested to see who Teddy is when she forges her own path. But that’s not to say that we won’t see them have meaningful conversations anymore, or be there for one another. They’re co-parents, and they have known each other for years. They’re linked for life. So I think it’s just going to be a journey to get back to that place.

DEADLINE: In the meanwhile, will they have their own separate relationships? Is Cass still in the picture?

MARINIS: Yes, we’re absolutely gonna see them get to explore things with other people and, if we can have Cass back, I’d love to have Cass back.

DEADLINE: Is Nora’s story over?

MARINIS: No, I wouldn’t say that Nora’s story is over.

DEADLINE: You’re not indicating that she may get involved with Owen again, are you?

MARINIS: Oh, I don’t know, you’ll have to wait and see. (laughs)

New Intern Dani’s Memorable First Day

DEADLINE: The premiere introduced a new intern, Dani, who went through a lot. What is her future, will we see Meredith take her under her wing?

MARINIS: I think the future of the character is that she needs a new first day. (laughs) Obviously we have to play the reality that she just had surgery so we won’t see her immediately, but I’m excited for fans to get to see her again.

She wants to be so good, and that’s what I love about that character. She wants to try so hard, and she’s so excited to be there.

She’s just so genuine, and that’s what I love about her, too. But yes, she’s a lovely character, and we were so lucky when Jade Pettyjohn was cast. Yeah, we’re excited.

DEADLINE: I assume there’ll be more stories with that new group of interns?

MARINIS: There will be stories and how they interact with our residents and our attendings. We’re still primarily telling stories for our attendings and our for now second years.

DEADLINE: Ben is now back in the program. His whole storyline last year was trying to earn his spot. Now that he has it, what is he going to do with it?

MARINIS: Absolutely, we’ll see a little bit more of where that goes in Episode 2. But I’m really excited for Ben this season, because we’re going to tell fewer stories of him being behind and more stories of him really coming into his own and becoming a leader.

Ellen Pompeo & Scott Speedman’s Episode Load & Alum Visits

DEADLINE: Ellen Pompeo was back in the premiere, that’s become a tradition now. Scott Speedman has a new ABC series, RJ Decker, which may or may not film in Los Angeles where Grey’s shoots. How much will we see of each of them this season?

MARINIS: We’ll have both of them as much as we can. I think it’s mainly about scheduling. Because, like you said, it depends on where Scott’s show takes place and where he’s filming it. I think we’re lucky that it’s with the same studio [20th Television], and so we’ll be able to collaborate more easily than with other places.

We’re definitely still going to see him this season; we see him pretty soon, early in the season.

DEADLINE: What about Ellen? You have the new storyline about Meredith spending time in Seattle doing surgeries. Will that still continue, and does it mean that Ellen will be on Grey’s semi regularly?

MARINIS: Meredith is not in every episode. We have her a lot in the beginning of the season, and she’s in Seattle, the character will be in Seattle for the beginning of the season. But we will still pick up her research, that won’t go away, because that is a very important piece of her character in her life right now. So that will still come into play.

DEADLINE: Do you have any planned visits of former cast members, like Jesse Williams or Jake Borelli? The babies are coming…

MARINIS: Yes.

DEADLINE: You won’t say who?

MARINIS: Stay tuned.