Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Ending Explained

Warning! This article contains spoilers for the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 finale.Grey’s Anatomy season 19 ended in a packed finale that saw the return of Maggie and Meredith, a wedding gone wrong, the Catherine Fox Award ceremony, and potentially the death of another main character. It was a two-hour event in which the characters were split between the doctors working at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and those attending the Catherine Fox Award ceremony in Boston, where Meredith moved to when she left earlier in the season. Grey’s Anatomy is known for its shocking finales, like the season 8 plane crash, and season 19 didn’t disappoint.

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Both Maggie and Meredith leaving in Grey’s Anatomy season 19 had a big impact on the series. Meredith was one of the few original characters left and Maggie had been a series regular for a decade. It made sense that their returns would be a big focus of the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 finale. However, the finale being split into two hour-long episodes allowed for almost every character to have a storyline. Grey’s Anatomy has been renewed for a season 20, so while there was a major cliffhanger ending, it’s certain to be addressed when the series returns.

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Did Teddy Die In The Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Finale?

Grey’s Anatomy is no stranger to cliffhangers and the season 19 finale delivered a shocking one. Throughout the episode, Teddy exhibited signs of pain in her tooth, but the combination of her military background and the hospital needing her meant she never got it treated. Instead, Teddy surprisingly collapsed in the final minutes of the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 finale, and the last that was seen of her was Yasuda attempting to revive her. It’s left open-ended whether she will survive when Grey’s Anatomy season 20 premieres, but it’s not looking good for the cardiothoracic and trauma surgeon.

Teddy has left Grey’s Anatomy once before. She was fired in the season 8 finale but returned full-time in season 15. Since her return, much of the focus on Teddy has revolved around her romantic relationships, but Grey’s Anatomy season 19 allowed her to shine professionally when Teddy became Chief of Surgery at Grey Sloan. It would be cruel to kill her off just as she’s finding her groove again and making an impact at the hospital, and even crueler to make viewers wait to see her fate.

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At the same time that Yasuda attempted to revive Teddy, Lucas and Simone performed surgery on a dying Sam – something that, as residents, they are not supposed to do without an attending’s supervision. This isn’t the first time Grey’s Anatomy had a resident perform an unauthorized surgery, as Levi had in the season 18 finale, and when his patient died, it traumatized him and caused him to temporarily leave the hospital. Lucas and Simone making the same mistake Schmitt made was foreshadowed earlier in the episode when Schmitt brought it up with Kwan.

Kwan also broke important hospital protocol when he decided to resuscitate Max, Jules’s roommate and the closest thing she has to family, despite her do-not-resuscitate order. It was a decision that seemed to have some payoff as her condition was improving, but he could still be punished along with Lucas and Simone for breaking the rules. Three of the interns joining the list of characters who have been fired in Grey’s Anatomy would be a surprising twist, but characters have returned after being fired before, and hopefully, that will be the case with this trio as well.

Bailey Winning The Catherine Fox Award Proves Reproductive Rights Was Season 19’s Biggest Focus

While chaos took place at the hospital during the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 finale, the Catherine Fox Awards ceremony had its own shocking twist. Nick and Winston traveled to Boston for the ceremony as nominees, with Bailey joining under the guise of presenting, Amelia and Webber as guests, and Catherine as the host. While it seemed like the finale was setting up Winston and Maggie to win, Bailey became the first Catherine Fox Award winner in its history that hadn’t been nominated and was winning for a non-surgical achievement.

Reproductive rights have been a huge focus throughout Grey’s Anatomy season 19, as shown through the OB/GYN’s black scrubs, Bailey’s new reproductive health clinic, and Addison and her traveling PRT. Bailey winning the award further proved that the issue was the most important focus of Grey’s Anatomy season 19. It was a triumphant moment for Bailey as one of the few original characters from season 1 still left standing, as well as for the reproductive rights movement. It’s unlikely that the story will end there, but hopefully, Bailey will get more funding in Grey’s Anatomy season 20.

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The Symbolism Behind The Dead Bird At Simone’s Wedding

The Grey’s Anatomy season 19 finale was promoted as revolving around two major events: the Catherine Fox Awards and Simone’s wedding to Trey. Grey’s Anatomy has had many weddings in the past, but like the season 3 finale and the season 10 winter finale, this wedding ended up not happening, and in part due to a dead bird. Simone’s wedding ended up being something of a comedy of errors, with the flowers not arriving, Simone’s dress ripping, and her dripping blood on her dress, but the dead bird became the biggest symbol for her, which resulted in her leaving Trey.

While getting ready, Simone told Jules about how her mom’s favorite bird was a robin, and when a robin appeared on the day of her first date with Trey, she took it as a sign that he was the one for her. Shortly after, a robin crashed into the window and died, though Jules attempted to hide this from the bride, only for her to discover its body while walking down the aisle. The dead bird, alongside conversations with her grandmother and father about her mother’s own failed engagement, caused Simone to flee.

Multiple Couples Finally Got Together (Again)

The Grey’s Anatomy season 19 finale was a big night for romantics, with multiple couples getting together and confessing their feelings, many of them not for the first time. When Simone left her wedding, she immediately went to the hospital to find Lucas and tell him. Though it wasn’t the first time they had hooked up in the season, this time they made their feelings for each other clear. This also happened with Link and Jo, the culmination of a season-long saga that saw them letting each other know they were in love and had been for years.

In Boston, Meredith was able to tell Nick she loved him back after not saying it when she left in the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 premiere. Maggie and Winston also had a reunion and decided to stay married but apart, acknowledging their love along with their differing career aspirations, leaving them in a much better place than they’d been when Maggie moved to Chicago. This left many couples in a good spot, along with Helm and Yasuda and Jules and Kwan, though Grey’s Anatomy season 20 is sure to have its own drama and twists that will challenge them.