Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Finale Review: Wedding Bell Blues / Happily Ever After (Season 19 Episodes 19 and 20)

This is a lot to process.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Episode 19, “Wedding Bell Blues,” and Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Episode 20, “Happily Ever After,” set up some major changes and leave us with a shocking cliffhanger that feels like it comes out of nowhere.

It’s actually a shame these two episodes air back-to-back because there’s so much to consider in each one. But let’s break it down.

Simone and Lucas

I’ve said all season how much new life the interns are bringing to the series, and how the fact that a lot of focus has shifted to their stories makes it feel like the early days of Grey’s. Simone’s (almost) wedding is further proof of why that’s all so important.

It’s such an obvious trope that she’s about to marry the wrong guy, and then she leaves him at the altar for someone else. Heck, we’ve even seen it on this show before. And yet that trope works so well. 

Especially after Lucas’s declaration of love to Simone on the previous episode, it’s impossible for the audience not to want these two to wind up together.

There’s no more satisfying moment than when Simone walks through the doors of the hospital in her wedding gown, heading straight for Lucas. It’s especially sweet the way Simone’s patient reacts to it all. 

What’s disappointing is that we only hear about the getaway van and how everything goes down when Simone decides to leave. We don’t see anything more than the realization on her face.

I believe this, in part, to be because we’re meant to stay on Simone’s side with all of this, and seeing her run away could change how we feel about that. Yet missing all of those details also feels like we’re being robbed of important parts of the story.

Even insofar as it relates to Yasuda and Helm’s perfect date (I love these two together, by the way), just seeing a few moments of Simone leaving could have made this whole thing more satisfying to watch.

It would also make it feel less jarring to see Trey show up at the hospital after getting into a wreck on his way to see Simone. While this feels too convenient, it’s important because Simone still shows she cares deeply for Trey.

And at the same time, Trey shows a side of himself that only makes us want Simone and Lucas to be together more when he punches Lucas and tells Simone how Lucas would wind up ruining her life.

Blue, Jules, and Max

This is another storyline that has really allowed the new interns to become integral to Grey’s Anatomy as a unit. Jules’ unique living situation and her relationship with Max have been fun to watch and allowed for an interesting backstory on her part. And Max has quickly become beloved by the other interns. 

In this instance, she winds up helping Blue by sitting with his young patient when he’s called away, and then she helps even more in that situation when it looks like the boy could be unfairly taken from his mother.

I’d have liked to see this story fleshed out a bit more, for what it’s worth, but it takes a turn toward Max in an emotional way when she suddenly isn’t able to breathe.

Blue disregards her DNI and DNA because he’s so sure she can be saved. It’s a classic dilemma for a medical drama — break the rules and do what he thinks is best, or follow protocol. And because Jules is Max’s medical proxy, she’s the one left to make the hard decisions.

The good news is that Blue’s decision does wind up saving Max, it seems, but it’s not without a whole lot of grief and turmoil. And now Jules is left with complicated feelings of anger and appreciation. 

The problem is that Blue doesn’t see that he made a mistake, which is clear when Levi sits down with him after the fact. Even still, the situation makes Blue someone we want to root for even more than we did before.

Jo and Link

Grey’s Anatomy has pulled off one of the best will they/won’t they couple situations with Jo and Link than it’s ever done. Their friendship developing into a family as they’ve recognized their feelings for each other has been fun and endearing to watch. 

The best part of it has been how they’ve insisted that it “wasn’t like that” between them while everyone else saw something different, including Sam, the patient who has his sights set on Jo. 

While the whole thing reminds me a little of the infamous Denny Duquette situation, it takes a different direction. Unfortunately, the sweet declaration of love between Jo and Link, in the rain no less, happens in parallel with the loss of their patient.

And I can’t help but wonder what might have happened had they been inside the hospital instead of outside kissing in the rain.

The cliffhanger

Speaking of that moment: most of the attendings are in Boston for the Catherine Fox Awards, and Teddy has been running around with a seemingly harmless toothache and holding down the fort. But then just when Sam needs emergency surgery, Teddy collapses, leaving the interns to try and save him on their own. 

It seems like every new class of interns faces something like this: the loss of a patient when they don’t have attendings around to help. There’s even a bit of foreshadowing when Levi talks about how he’d lost a patient recently because he was arrogant and thought he knew what to do.

It’s a tragic scene. Sam was such a likable patient, and the surgery it took to save him and allow him to one day be able to talk again was elaborate — and major plot point. It tested Link and it felt personal to Owen, and the success of it was due to a large team effort amongst the surgeons. So to see him go out like this is gutwrenching on a number of levels.

This loss will also no doubt affect Simone and Lucas. In the past, these situations have caused doctors to re-examine their entire careers. It’s also likely to make things even more complicated for Jo and Link. 

Plus, it’s unclear what Teddy’s fate will be. (There are spoilers out there due to contract negotiations, but I haven’t read them yet because I didn’t want that to affect my feelings about the episode.) 

It does seem to be quite the sudden drop, and it’s a plot device that Grey’s Anatomy has used a number of times before. But it does make for one heck of a cliffhanger — worse knowing that Grey’s won’t be back in the Fall since ABC’s schedule is putting scripted content on hold. We’ll have to wait longer than usual for any resolution.

Meanwhile, on the way to Boston…

The attendings are all on Catherine’s private plane, which is awkward thanks to Winston and Amelia. It’s actually a fun scene, especially with Bailey’s reaction. But then things go sideways.

This is not the show to have a fake-out plane crash, even if these are all different characters than the ones involved in the tragedy that killed Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan. Any other series could do this, but given the history of the show, it comes off as insensitive and downright odd. 

It’s also hard to feel the fear in these characters knowing that they’ll all be just fine — which we know given promos for the finale.

The incident does soften things between Amelia and Winston, and it’s the catalyst for Richard wanting a drink of alcohol. This feels forced, and maybe it wouldn’t if the episode was more focused on him. 

That said, jumping ahead to the end of the awards ceremony, it looks like Richard has been shaken enough to take a drink. He even lies to Amelia in order to do it. Amelia knows they both need to go to a meeting at the moment. 

It’s heartbreaking, and it’s a moment that made me scream out loud. Yet, it does seem fitting to revisit this part of Richard’s character. I’ll be curious to see what happens next season.

Meredith’s research

Seeing Meredith again makes it feel like she hasn’t actually been gone to begin with. She’s just been continuing her story elsewhere, and it’s a great way to bring her back into the fold. 

She summons all of the attendings who have come to Boston to share her research on Alzheimer’s Disease — research that questions everything science has discovered about the disease, and research that would even change Derek’s legacy.

She’s a bit frantic and she’s clearly been pouring everything she has into the research. At first, it seems like she’s not in her right mind, but then she convinces her friends by explaining her theory — her ideas make sense and they’re groundbreaking.

Richard has what sounds like the right advice, which is to play the long game so that she doesn’t ruin her reputation.

But when has Meredith Grey ever listened to advice like that? This is personal to her, and with flashbacks of her mother as she meets someone who has a loved one just diagnosed, she can’t keep her new findings to herself.

For better or worse. 

And the Catherine Fox Award goes to…

Is it a bit contrived that the award winds up going to someone who wasn’t even nominated? Yes. But it is the most satisfying, most incredible moment of the season to see Bailey honored like this after all she’s done and all she has been through this season. 

She deserves that kind of recognition, and it’s also so much more emotional to see one of the very few remaining original cast members reach a career milestone like this one. 

Her reaction is perfect, and her win is really the highlight of the entire finale.

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What did you think of the Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 finale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Grey’s Anatomy will return to ABC in 2024.

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