Spoiler alert! This story discusses the Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 premiere “We’ve Only Just Begun” that aired March 14.
Fans watching Grey’s Anatomy’s 20th season premiere noticed quite a few parallels between the current interns’ situation and the good ole days of Meredith Grey and Co. in the early seasons. That was no coincidence either, as evidenced by Miranda Bailey’s big full-circle moment at the end of “We’ve Only Just Begun,” when she announced that she was taking charge of the interns — just as she was when we first met her back in Season 1. The series’ new showrunner Meg Marinis explained how Season 20 nods at the show's beginning and why this had to be Bailey’s next career move.
The Season 19 finale saw a world of trouble for Grey’s Anatomy’s five interns, with Blue Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) ignoring the DNR of Jules Millin’s (Adelaide Kane) roommate. Meanwhile Simone Griffith (Alexis Floyd) and Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) took matters into their own hands by trying — but failing — to save a patient. In the end Bailey (Chandra Wilson) entered the room and uttered the same iconic words we heard in the 2005 series premiere: “I have five rules.” Meg Marinis opened up about that big moment, telling Parade:
We talked about where does Bailey go from [winning a Catherine Fox Award] in her career. It’s the highest award of awards in our world. What a lot of people don’t realize is that she won that award for her teaching reproductive care. She’s the teacher of all teachers. Based on where we left our interns at the end of last season, they have to come back from this. It made sense when we looked at the stories that there was only one person who could bring them back. She helped raise Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Isabel Stephens, Alex [Karev] and George O’Malley. She was responsible for turning out these great surgeons. She’s the only one who can help the interns come back from this low they’ve had.
The episode was filled with parallels to the original interns, including Meredith Grey (yes, Ellen Pompeo was back for the Season 20 premiere) and Bailey talking Simone and Lucas through a trauma while they were trapped inside an ambulance with a critical patient, which echoed a Season 2 situation involving George O’Malley and Alex Karev.
Bailey even said this new group was nothing compared to Meredith and her class, reminding the surgeon of past infractions, including Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) cutting Denny Duquette’s LVAD wire. Not only did it show exactly why Bailey was the only person good enough to save the interns, but it served as a throwback in Grey’s Anatomy’s milestone 20th season. Meg Marinis said there’s more of that to come, revealing:
It’s a celebration of the 20th season. We’re kind of nodding to the foundations that Shonda [Rhimes] built. It’s nostalgic. It’s going to be a nostalgic Bailey, but she’s evolved. She’s taking on this job and this role that she had the very beginning of the series, but with 20 years of experience.
We’ve known and loved Bailey from go, and to see her in her element like this, doing what she does best and taming the wildly disobedient interns is definitely something I’ll be tuning in for. The showrunner, who stepped in after Krista Vernoff’s exit following Season 19, said there’s going to be a lot of Easter egg moments for fans this season, and “it’s going to be so fun.”
New episodes of Grey’s Anatomy air at 9 p.m. ET Thursdays on ABC and are available the stream the next day with a Hulu subscription. Keep up with all of the upcoming premieres with our 2024 TV schedule.
