Ellen Pompeo returned as Meredith Grey to help close out the season.
Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you have not watched the two-hour season finale of Grey's Anatomy.
Ellen Pompeo made her return to Grey's Anatomy for the season 19 finale, but one doctor's fate is up in the air following a dramatic cliffhanger.
The two-hour finale, titled "Well Bell Blues" and "Happily Ever After," returned Pompeo's Meredith Grey to the center of the action as Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen), Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill), Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) and Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman) fly out to Boston to attend the Catherine Fox Awards. But in classic Grey's fashion, their flight to Boston isn't without its bumps in the road as the private jet experiences an extended period of turbulence, to the point where they all begin questioning whether they would die.
Thankfully, they all land safely in Boston, but the scary plane ride is enough to rattle Nick, who makes a detour to Meredith's house in Boston to, one would presume, make his true feelings known. But when he knocks on the door, someone else -- a man named Michael (guest star Gilles Marini) -- answers, advising a thrown-off Nick that it's "probably best [he] text her" instead.
But there isn't any time for Nick to deal with his feelings and that another man is now in the picture, especially after Meredith frantically sends a text to everyone to come to the lab, where she's been spending the past several months researching to find a cure for Alzheimer's. Once everyone arrives, she reveals that they need to "question" everything they've known about Alzheimer's -- disclosing the potentially bombshell discovery that, to sum it up in a nutshell, decades of research and studies behind its cause may actually be incorrect and invalid.
The revelation is quite damning and possibly exciting -- if Meredith turns out to be correct, of course -- but it's also career suicide if she decides to move forward and present her findings, as it'll tarnish and put into question years and years of hard work put in by past doctors and experts, including her late husband, Derek. One way to keep Meredith on track and to continue with her work while keeping her relationship intact with her investors, Webber suggests, is to secretly continue working on her groundbreaking research on the side. As he warns, making her findings public would destroy her reputation, she would lose all her money and the lab would close.
Later, she asks Nick for advice on what he would do if he was in her shoes and he intimates, without explicitly saying it, that maybe Meredith should break the rules. And she does just that at the awards gala once she's introduced to one of her money men after he discloses to her that his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's just a year ago, and Meredith suddenly flashes back to her own mother. Not heeding Webber's warning, Meredith moves forward and breaks the rules, telling the investor the current path they're on may be the wrong one for an Alzheimer's cure. With that now out in the open, where does Meredith stand with her Alzheimer's study and career? That remains to be seen.
What did get resolved was Meredith and Nick's ongoing romantic saga. After the Catherine Fox Awards ceremony, Meredith drops a letter under Nick's hotel room door, but he catches her before she can slip away. And the man in question, Michael, is actually Zola's gay tutor, Meredith reveals to Nick.
"I went to your house because I thought I was going to die today. It's a long story; I didn't die. But it made me realize how badly I want to live," Nick confesses his feelings. "I wasted years of my life trying to avoid pain and I went to your house to say that I never should have let you walk away. And to say that I want to live a whole life with love and mess and pain and you."
His declaration of love is all Meredith needs to reconcile their unfinished business as she sealed their romantic reunion with a kiss, "Well, OK then."
While it's unclear what is in store for Meredith after she comes clean about her Alzheimer's research findings, at least in the romance department, all seems to finally be well with her and Nick. But they weren't the only ones dealing with major life changes.
Back in Seattle, when Jo's patient, Sam Sutton (Sam Page), starts bleeding out into his chest, the doctors head straight to the operating table with the chief, Teddy Altman (Kim Raver), leading the charge. However, things soon go from bad to worse when Teddy collapses mid-surgery, all while the patient is also fighting for his life.
Teddy's husband, Owen (Kevin McKidd), is immediately called to the OR, only aware that something has happened to Teddy. When he bursts through the OR doors, the reality of the situation hits him as he sees the patient and Teddy flatlining in another classic Grey's cliffhanger as the finale ends. Will Teddy make it out alive?
Here are the other notable highlights from the season 19 finale, including the return of former series regular Kelly McCreary.
Maggie and Winston are back on? McCreary returned for the finale as Maggie Pierce and her appearance was red-hot, as her character reunites with Winston, who has just been promoted to her old position of head of cardiology at Seattle Grace, in a spicy affair. Winston made the trek to Boston as a nominee for the prestigious Catherine Fox Award, which was given to Bailey, making her the first non-nominee and the first non-surgical project to be given the honor. It seems Maggie and Winston are willing to revisit their marriage as he expresses his desire to do the best he can at his new position and teach the next generation, implying that a romance may not work for him. But Maggie isn't ready to throw in the towel yet: "Start with that. We can figure out the rest later."
Link confesses his love to Jo. It was a long time coming but Link finally airs out his true feelings for Jo after years of pent-up tension. The conversation begins as a fight but as he reveals to her, he's been in love with her since they first became friends years ago at school, confessing that he's "so completely in love with [her]. How do you not see that?" It doesn't take long for Jo to give in to her feelings too, telling Link that she's in love with him too. And the pair make it official as they kiss in the rain.
The interns are all loved up. Love is never easy on Grey's and that's clear with the way season 19 wraps up, especially for the new class of interns. Simone (Alexis Floyd) ditches her fiance at the altar and dives head-first into a relationship with Lucas (Niko Terho), while Jules (Adelaide Kane) tearfully admits she can't stop loving Benson (Harry Shum Jr.) after he saves her mother. And Mika (Midori Francis) goes for it with Taryn (Jaicy Elliot).
Will Webber relapse? The finale also raises the question about Webber's struggle to maintain his sobriety. Even though Amelia tries to extend an invite to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with her in Boston, he turns it down, ordering a vodka tonic from the bar instead. Is this just a temporary blip or something far more serious?
Back in March, Raver sat down with ET in New York City where she discussed the significance of reaching a 20th season.
"There feels something very momentous about a season 20," the actress said at the time, adding that she doesn't feel it's time for Grey's to close up shop.
"I don't feel that way. I just feel like there’s [something] inherently in Greys Anatomy and the amazing way to tell human stories and I feel like that just can keep going. We have all these new, young interns and there’s so many stories to be told with them and I love them in contrast with the attendings. I think its longevity can keep going because the stories are ever-evolving."
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