‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Meredith Takes Matters into Her Own Hands as Another Doctor Dies Following the Explosion

Warning: this story contains spoilers from the Oct. 9 episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

Chaos ensued as the doctors navigated the aftermath of the devastating explosion at Grey Sloan Memorial.

The season 22 premiere of Grey’s Anatomy picked up right after Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) watched the flames engulf the building when a patient’s mother, Jenna Gatlin (Piper Perabo), inadvertently left a gas valve open during a hostage situation with Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Simone Griffin (Alexis Floyd).

Once Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) informed Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), he decided they needed to lock the hospital down again. Meanwhile, police wouldn’t let Meredith enter the hospital, but she took matters into her own hands and broke a glass door. “Clinic’s open,” she declared as she entered with a new class of interns behind her.

Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), Ben Warren (Jason George) and Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) also jumped into action to save Atticus “Link” Lincoln (Chris Carmack), who panicked when he learned a piece of the ceiling had penetrated his collarbone.

Monica Beltran (Natalie Morales) also had a partially shattered pelvis from equipment falling on her.

A Life Hangs in the Balance

The doctors realized they would need to improvise to save Link with the elevators out after the explosion. “We’ll take the stairs,” Owen told the others as Link continued to bleed on the OR floor.

While transporting Link, Bailey realized they would need a “plan B” when he continued to bleed heavily. With his situation becoming more dire, Bailey gave Link the phone to talk to Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington), who is pregnant with their twins. 

“I love you. Love our kids,” he said. “I feel pretty damn stupid took me so long to get my crap together to tell you that.”

“Hey, it’s gonna be OK, but just in case, my password book is the second left drawer of my desk. Get a dog,” he added before he passed out and Jo broke down in tears.

The doctors raced to revive Link and figure out if he was suffering from other injuries after the explosion. When Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) found him in dire condition, she tried to jump in to help, but the other doctors refused as they share a son, Scout. Owen said, “Get her out of here right now,” as she began to panic.

“I lost my dad when I was a kid, the defining fact in my life is just unrelenting absence. I don’t want that for Scout,” she said as she broke down in tears.

Ben Warren (Jason George) encouraged them to perform surgery on Link at Grey Sloan rather than transferring him to another hospital. Once he was stabilized, Bailey told Jo, “I haven’t seen anyone pull through like that in a long time. That man did not want to leave you.”

“He’s been my best friend for 20 years. He means everything to me so thank you,” she responded. She found a sliver of hope when he gripped her hand following the surgery.

Ben also received praise from Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) after she questioned his return to medicine last season. “I used to be a lot like you. I used to take risks and make decisions based on instinct and second-guess everything, but now I’m a suit, and I’ve become more cautious, and I shouldn’t put that on you,” she said before telling him that he could complete his residency at the hospital.

Gone Too Soon

With Beltran’s injury, Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane) performed surgery on a 6-year-old patient with limited resources as they waited to be evaluated from the OR floor.

After realizing he might be bleeding internally, Beltran told Jules she was going to need to reopen the patient even though they were running out of anesthesia.

“We always do this. You always panic spiral, and I always snap you out of it. And we really don’t have time for that right now,” she said. “So, unless you want to see that sweet little boy die, I suggest you open him up right now.”

Jules got the bleeding to stop, but she soon realized that Beltran was unconscious and began to perform CPR. Ultimately, she wasn’t able to save her, and Beltran died on the OR floor.

Devastated by the experience, Jules cried and found comfort in Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) before running off.

Winston then delivered the news to Amelia, saying, “Monica… She was trapped on the OR floor. She didn’t make it.” 

The End of the Road?

Simone Griffin (Alexis Floyd) was forced to work with her one-night stand — and new intern —  Wes Bryant (Trevor Jackson) while treating fellow intern Dani Spencer, who had blunt trauma to the abdomen after attempting to take a selfie in the OR during her first day.

After attempting to avoid a conversation with Wes at all costs, she finally told him, “What we did was wrong. I would have never happened if I had known…”

“You were my boss,” he interrupted.  

After another awkward encounter with Wes and deciding they needed a “fresh start” while working together, Simone ran into Lucas Adams (Niko Terho), who declared his feelings for her post-breakup in the season 21 finale, and delivered some bad news.

“I don’t think we should get back together… We almost died in a hostage situation. That’s not real life. I think we just both need to take some time, focus on work,” she said before adding, “I slept with someone.” He then walked away.

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Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC and will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.