Is Grey’s Anatomy the master of the cliffhanger? It might seem like a TV show can’t surprise fans after 20 seasons… but the season 20 finale had a bunch of surprising moments.
While main characters like Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) have faced overwhelming decisions and major problems before, their lives are in disarray by the end of the season. What are the biggest cliffhangers in the season 20 finale of Grey’s Anatomy?
Is Jo pregnant in the Grey’s Anatomy season 20 finale?
The biggest cliffhanger in the season 20 finale of Grey’s Anatomy is definitely Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) learning that she’s pregnant. She hasn’t told Link (Chris Carmack aka Luke from The O.C.) yet, which leaves fans wondering how he’s going to react and what she’s going to do next.
This cliffhanger is particularly effective since Jo had a pregnancy scare earlier on in the season, which made her think about whether she and Link wanted to expand their family. While it’ll be moving to see Jo and Link excited about having a baby, nothing goes as planned for the Grey Sloan doctors. A pregnancy might be easy breezy on another series, but not Grey’s Anatomy. Jo is likely in for a difficult time.
Besides leading into what’s sure to be an intense Grey’s Anatomy season 21 storyline, this moment allowed Jo and Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli, who will leave in season 21) to bond a little since Levi is the one who accidentally told her she was expecting.
Do Meredith, Amelia, Teddy, and Owen lose their jobs in the Grey’s Anatomy season 20 finale?
Our favorite Grey’s Anatomy characters are in tough professional spots at the end of season 20. Caterina Scorsone and Kevin McKidd told The Hollywood Reporter that fans should look forward to some wild cliffhangers in the season finale and they were definitely right. McKidd said, “A lot of us very much end up on a career precipice, if you will, at the end of the finale” and Scorsone added, “it’s like an existential cliffhanger year.”
After Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) tells Meredith and Amelia that they have to hand over their secret Alzheimer’s research or face losing their jobs, they make the difficult choice to publish an abstract online which seals their fate. Catherine fires Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) for funding the research without her knowledge. Although the whole season was building up to this moment, we’re still stunned that all three doctors would be let go considering how brilliant they are.
It’s unclear how long these doctors will be out of work, which sets up what is sure to be a miserable time for these workaholics who can’t stay out of the O.R. The Grey’s Anatomy season 20 finale added another cliffhanger when Owen realizes his key card doesn’t work at the hospital anymore, suggesting that Catherine fired him as well. (What a cold move.) Although it seems clear that everyone will be back at Grey Sloan soon enough (or there’s no more Grey’s Anatomy), this is still nerve-racking.
Are the Grey’s Anatomy season 20 interns leaving?
While we wait to see if Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) will exit Grey’s Anatomy since he was told he needed to repeat his first year internship, we’re also surprised by a major cliffhanger from the season 20 finale involving the interns. Lucas’s peers stick up for him and suggest to Catherine that if she doesn’t let him move onto his second year, they won’t stay.
Considering how hard it is to get an esteemed hospital internship, let alone pass the overwhelming exam they just took, no one thought the interns would have the courage to do this. While sometimes splashy storylines are added to make fans want to watch the next episode (right now), this one works. Simone Griffith (Alexis Floyd), Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis), Benson Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.), Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane) and the others show how much they care about Lucas, and this sense of community is a key part of the show.
Hopefully this issue is resolved in the season 21 premiere… or it’s going to be a messy time for everyone. It seems unlikely that all the interns would really quit, but we have no idea how this will shake out.
Will Bailey stay at Grey Sloan in season 21?
The final cliffhanger in the Grey’s Anatomy season 20 finale? Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) walks into the room and tells Catherine that she might have to replace her.
Since Bailey adores her job and has been mentoring interns for years now (and started at Grey Sloan when she was a young and nervous aspiring doctor herself), we never imagined she would threaten to quit. Like the other storylines in the Grey’s Anatomy season 20 finale, this one is not only a huge cliffhanger but also makes sense for the character. Bailey is worried about her husband Ben Warren (Jason George) being out in a terrible wildfire and might be rethinking what she really wants in life.
Could we really see Grey’s Anatomy without brilliant and independent Bailey? It’ll unfortunately be several months before we find out.