'Grey's Anatomy' Season 16 Finale: Why the last four episodes delayed by coronavirus lockdown should not air
And so 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 16 came to an end, four episodes before its original finale as planned. Episode 21 didn't disappoint, however, as certain storylines like the Teddy-Owen-Tom drama came to an explosive peak.
Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) finally discovered that Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) was cheating on him through an accidental voicemail. Needless to say, he stood her up at the altar and decided not to turn up for the wedding. Even though this was Teddy's "goodbye sex" to Tom, she was still in love with him and Owen as well.
However, Owen's decision might just push her back to Tom (Greg Germann). Meanwhile, on a happier note, Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) had a baby boy with Link (Chris Carmack), and at least one couple seems to be happy on the medical drama.
Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr) had a successful operation and remembered what Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) did to him, and in no uncertain terms told her to leave him alone.
Meanwhile, Andrew DeLuca has finally acknowledged that something is wrong with him and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is going to make sure that she pulls him through it.
This actually made for a rather sensible finale, and it couldn't have gone any other way. However, showrunner Krista Vernoff hinted to TVLine that the original finale might be embedded in 'Station 19's final two episodes, which will air in May.
Unlike 'Grey's Anatomy', which shut down production with four episodes left to shoot due to the coronavirus pandemic, 'Station 19' was able to complete its current season.
"Ironically, when fans watch Episode 15 and 16 of 'Station 19', they will probably have a feeling of some of what we had planned for [the original Grey’s finale]," says Vernoff, who handles both shows.
In an effort to reduce spoiler leakage as well as Grey's storylines that will leak into Season 17, Vernoff added that she edited a little bit of 'Grey's Anatomy' content out of 'Station 19'.
Episode 21 was the last episode that the team was able to shoot before the work stoppage and served well as a season-ender. And this actually makes more sense, because what would have been squeezed into those last four episodes? More Teddy-Owen-Tom drama? Or would Teddy have finally run off with Tom as planned?
The whole Teddy fiasco needed closure and had dragged on for long enough. While fans wanted to see a grand confrontation between Owen and Teddy, this quiet break-up had quite a lot of merit. It was a bittersweet finale as Amelia had her baby, and she, Link finally seemed like a happy family.
Amelia has had this happiness coming for a long time. Richard Webber's operation was successful and he booted Catherine out. There was a closure of sorts, as this season has been largely forgettable for the most part with its bland and repetitive storylines.
Season 17 is the curtain call for the show and it needs to begin on a new note and perhaps focus more on Meredith, who suddenly got rather phased out by the end of Season 16.
Hopefully, her relationship with Andrew DeLuca is fixed and Hayes finds someone else... *hint hint* Jo. Owen deserves happiness, but not with Teddy, as she belongs to Tom. 'Grey's Anatomy' airs on ABC.
