S20.E01: We’ve Only Just Begun

[SoMuchTV]

Air date 2024-03-14. 

Meredith rethinks her plans; the interns are on thin ice following a patient's death; Simone and Lucas are immediately tested in an emergency; Richard confides in Bailey; Teddy's fate is revealed.

Edited March 15 by SoMuchTV
Trying to get the format right…

[Infie]

I already want to fire everyone, even more after seeing this episode.  I was sympathetic to Nick's frustration right up until he gave his reasons.   Then, ARGH! 

Do the writers actually think this is GOOD behaviour to have in doctors, anywhere?

I am out. 

[SoMuchTV]

I can barely remember who’s friends with who, who’s hooking up with who, who has kids with who… so I’m just watching for the stuff that happens in this episode. And regarding that and the self driving car, I kept thinking they should set up some kind of barriers. Surely a hospital parking lot has some Jersey walls or maybe sandbags laying around. I felt really dumb when someone figured out to just basically shoot out the tires. 

[choclatechip45]

I enjoyed it. Of ccourse Meredith has no issue  with the interns breaking rules.

[babyrambo]

A little underwhelming for a 20th season premiere but understandably so.

Season 19 was refreshing, but this show is about a decade past its expiry date and there are only so many stories to explore in a medical drama. And I like them, but the original characters that did stay have been rotating in place for years. There isn’t exactly a lot they can do in terms of shock and emotional impact. I do like that they’re invested in the new class though I’m hoping they pull back a bit on the back to back interpersonal drama. Maybe that’s a silly want given that Grey’s whole thing is Drama-in-Excess but still lol. I want to see some depth and care go into the stories they already have instead piling on scattered messiness. Doesn’t make me care, it actually has the opposite effect. 
 

But this wasn’t a bad episode, just routine. At least the medical cases were interesting (Teddy excluded; I knew she wasn’t dying so all those scenes of Owen pouting did less than nothing for me) and Meredith’s (third?) exit made sense. Wish she hadn’t taken Nick because I finally came around to him but I get why he left. Though I’m not sure making Bailey the intern wrangler makes sense (all the mentions of the newbies being worse than MAGIC were funny because Meredith’s class was the literal definition of interpersonal mess snd medical malpractice) because it seems like a little bit of a step down but I liked her five rules callback and don’t mind getting a more mature version of Bailey guiding the interns.  

[txhorns79]

54 minutes ago, Infie said:

Do the writers actually think this is GOOD behaviour to have in doctors, anywhere?

When Blue was saying he wouldn't ignore other patient's DNR/DNI, but did it on Maxine because he didn't want Jules to be sad, that was deeply disturbing.  The same with Adams' whole "I don't apologize or feel regret" attitude.  Neither should be practicing medicine. 

[dancingdreamer]

All I got from this episode,  was how stupid self driving  cars are.

[PWHCHCH]

This hospital has another hitherto never before seen entrance ‽‽ 

[LittlePeas3]

Having watched this on YouTube with the image enlarging randomly, I was less than enamored. Catherine was her usual 'holier than thou' self, Richard was on the drinking, will he won't he cycle yet again. I actually love Amelia supporting Owen, even if I still believe in her and Linc. She seemed like the voice of reason. I am disappointed Teddy lived, surely she has storylined out? She bores me to tears. I am not surprised Meredith has dragged Amelia into her research.  I do like how she said she had researched a lot more than she let on and wasn't becoming a crazed lunatic with a manic phase.  Jo and Linc at the end felt very soap opera-ish. I really miss Alex.

Am I the only one who seems very meh about the interns? And seriously, Schmidt is so douchey and incompetent and we barely saw Helm.

 

I would love to say I'm out, but 20 years has me invested to the end. 

[mammaM]

A very very meh episode. The only thing that made it worthwhile was Bailey the nazi is back!!!!!!!! "I have five rules" I loved it!!!

And as much as Meredith can be annoying, when Catherine told her to go back to Boston but "not on my plane", I really wanted Mere to remember she has a friend who runs a multi million dollar facility, quit, take the kids and boytoy and get on plane to Switzerland, christina would be waiting when they land😂😂

I know, I know, they'd never do this, "plot reasons", but its a nice dream😎

[Lady Calypso]

It does suck to see Nick leaving. He had such a great rapport with all of the interns and was probably one of the only truly competent doctors in that hospital to lead them. Bailey's changed a lot since the early years where she'd lead interns. I hope she can recapture that early series Bailey. Hopefully, this Director role does her better than the Chief role.

It looks like they're just completely embracing a villainous Catherine. They really went all out with her this episode, so I suspect it will get much worse with her. I also assume, at some point, Catherine's cancer will be her karmatic downfall.

The premiere was overall just fine. Good to see Winston leading in a way that works. I'm glad he outright kicked out the people who weren't supposed to be in the room and focused on the medical aspect of his job.

Mika standing up to Jo was great to see. She wasn't wrong; this is why interns have gotten away with so much in the past. They have incompetent residents and attendings who choose their romcom drama over teaching the interns. I mean, the interns also choose the romcom drama too but they're not leading themselves.

Self driving car case was annoying to watch but hey, it's no operating on a deer kind of stupid. 

So, Blue and Jules basically call things off because Jules can't get past what Blue did. And Simone/Lucas are already arguing about their romance drama.

I mean, this does feel very early Greys still, so they are attempting to recapture those early years. I did like all the references they made, such as with Derek and the LVAD wire, so that's nice.

 

[KittenPokerCheater]

I’ve forgotten, what are the “five rules?”  I’m sure it harkens back to season one. 

[mammaM]

34 minutes ago, KittenPokerCheater said:

I’ve forgotten, what are the “five rules?”  I’m sure it harkens back to season one. 

I'm too lazy to look them up but I remember "I hate you all", " don't wake me" and "when I walk you walk". That's three, anyone remember the other two?😎

[babyrambo]

18 minutes ago, mammaM said:

I'm too lazy to look them up but I remember "I hate you all", " don't wake me" and "when I walk you walk". That's three, anyone remember the other two?😎

“Rule number one: Don't bother sucking up. I hate you. That's not gonna change. Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers, nurses will page you. You will answer every page at a run. A run! That's rule number two. Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop, and don't complain. On-call rooms. Attendings hog them. Sleep when you can where you can, which brings me to rule number three. If I'm sleeping, don't wake me unless your patient is dying. Rule four: The dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed someone, you woke me for no reason. We clear? (Meredith raises her hand) Yes?

Meredith Grey: You said five rules. That was only four.

Miranda Bailey: Rule number five: When I move, you move.

- Greys, s 1 ep 1

courtesy of scattered quotes dotcom 

[Lovecat]

It's been so long since the S19 finale that I have no recollection of the Sam guy that died and was actually surprised to see Amelia, having forgotten that she was still on the show (it took me until someone else said it to remember her name).  I don't know what that says about me OR the show!

I seriously can't believe it took them what, 20 minutes to figure out that the best way to stop that car was to flatten the tires.  I had said that to my husband 10 minutes earlier.  They had firemen with sharp axes, RIGHT THERE. Sheesh.

The best part of this episode was "I HAVE FIVE RULES."  I can only remember one myself ("When I move, you move") but gimme a break, it was 20 years ago, and I couldn't even remember Amelia from 2 years ago :)

ETA: @babyrambo, doin' the Lord's work for the rest of us slackers!

Edited March 15 by Lovecat

[sadie]

Was it just me or did everyone look haggard?
 

I’m in until the end but the series is just a shadow of its former self and I struggle paying attention. The medical stories were meh,  and like everyone else it was driving me crazy they didn’t flatten the car tires. 

[marceline]

15 minutes ago, sadie said:

Was it just me or did everyone look haggard?

Not just you. I haven't seen people look this crappy since the season of COVID.

Edited March 15 by marceline

[Liquid6]

After 20 seasons, people still love jumping on forums to complain about “unrealistic” things that will never happen in a real hospital…..I mean “DUH”. This show crossed that bridge S1 E1. 

[MarylandGirl]

10 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

It does suck to see Nick leaving. He had such a great rapport with all of the interns and was probably one of the only truly competent doctors in that hospital to lead them. Bailey's changed a lot since the early years where she'd lead interns. I hope she can recapture that early series Bailey. Hopefully, this Director role does her better than the Chief role.

It looks like they're just completely embracing a villainous Catherine. They really went all out with her this episode, so I suspect it will get much worse with her. I also assume, at some point, Catherine's cancer will be her karmatic downfall.

The premiere was overall just fine. Good to see Winston leading in a way that works. I'm glad he outright kicked out the people who weren't supposed to be in the room and focused on the medical aspect of his job.

Mika standing up to Jo was great to see. She wasn't wrong; this is why interns have gotten away with so much in the past. They have incompetent residents and attendings who choose their romcom drama over teaching the interns. I mean, the interns also choose the romcom drama too but they're not leading themselves.

Self driving car case was annoying to watch but hey, it's no operating on a deer kind of stupid. 

So, Blue and Jules basically call things off because Jules can't get past what Blue did. And Simone/Lucas are already arguing about their romance drama.

I mean, this does feel very early Greys still, so they are attempting to recapture those early years. I did like all the references they made, such as with Derek and the LVAD wire, so that's nice.

 

I feel like the one truly good part of the ep was Mika standing up to Jo. She deserved that. Had she and Linc answered their pages, at least some of the interns wouldn't have been in trouble.

I ended up fast-forwarding through some of the self-driving car stuff. Partly because it was annoying, but it was also inducing some anxiety.

I was annoyed by more villainous Catherine. Was sort of hoping there'd be a twist where she'd say, "No, continue your research. I believe in you."

[KaveDweller]

58 minutes ago, MarylandGirl said:

I was annoyed by more villainous Catherine. Was sort of hoping there'd be a twist where she'd say, "No, continue your research. I believe in you.

Yes! I thought that was going to be a twist where she wanted Meredith to continue and just not talk about it publicly yet.

I forget, are Maggie and Winston divorced? Or doing a long distance thing?

[LisaM]

Very pleased to see Bailey taking charge of the interns. 

[ams1001]

On 3/14/2024 at 10:54 PM, SoMuchTV said:

I felt really dumb when someone figured out to just basically shoot out the tires. 

Lol, as I'm reading this, there is an ad for tires just below your comment. (I'm sure that's not a coincidence but I still find it funny.)

I totally didn't realize the show was back until I was checking TV listings earlier and saw that this week is episode 2. Oops. I'll watch it at some point before then. Three days later and only 20 comments doesn't put me in too much of a hurry to see what happened.

 

[RedbirdNelly]

I could not remember who Sam was.

I wanted them to deflate the tires from the get-go. 

My favorite part was when Katherine was tearing into mer and said that Katherine hadn't had to dance that much since the 80s. I think that was intentional and my 80s watching Fame-self was there for it.

[ams1001]

Okay, I watched. My only question/comment is...where was Jo when Sam died? I forget...

[Good Queen Jane]

10 hours ago, ams1001 said:

My only question/comment is...where was Jo when Sam died? I forget...

She and Linc were making out in the rain.

[Milaxx]

On 3/15/2024 at 8:34 AM, Lady Calypso said:

It does suck to see Nick leaving. He had such a great rapport with all of the interns and was probably one of the only truly competent doctors in that hospital to lead them. Bailey's changed a lot since the early years where she'd lead interns. I hope she can recapture that early series Bailey. Hopefully, this Director role does her better than the Chief role.

It looks like they're just completely embracing a villainous Catherine. They really went all out with her this episode, so I suspect it will get much worse with her. I also assume, at some point, Catherine's cancer will be her karmatic downfall.

The premiere was overall just fine. Good to see Winston leading in a way that works. I'm glad he outright kicked out the people who weren't supposed to be in the room and focused on the medical aspect of his job.

Mika standing up to Jo was great to see. She wasn't wrong; this is why interns have gotten away with so much in the past. They have incompetent residents and attendings who choose their romcom drama over teaching the interns. I mean, the interns also choose the romcom drama too but they're not leading themselves.

Self driving car case was annoying to watch but hey, it's no operating on a deer kind of stupid. 

So, Blue and Jules basically call things off because Jules can't get past what Blue did. And Simone/Lucas are already arguing about their romance drama.

I mean, this does feel very early Greys still, so they are attempting to recapture those early years. I did like all the references they made, such as with Derek and the LVAD wire, so that's nice.

 

Agreed. Nick as a doctor was one of the better things going for this attempted reset. As much as I like the idea of Bailey in charge of the interns, I’d rather Bailey run the clinic & Nick oversee the interns.