Spoiler alert! The story contains spoilers for the Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 episode “With a Little Help from My Friends” as well as the teaser for the next episode, “Bottle Up and Explode!”
The most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “With a Little Help from My Friends,” contained some truly heartwarming moments for the surgeons of Grey-Sloan Memorial. Jo gave a pep talk to a single mom and delivered her baby. As part of Webber’s revamped teaching program, all of the residents performed a solo surgery with no fatalities. And Addison and Amelia decompressed with some lovely sister gossip that I know Private Practice fans have been craving. Well, I hope you all enjoyed the night, because fans were just dealt a double dose of bad news for what’s coming up next.
The first half of the bad news came after Station 19, which plays before its Seattle sister. The promo for the next episode announced that Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy will go on a two-week hiatus before returning on November 11 for a crossover event. The reason for the hiatus isn’t confirmed, but it sure is a bummer to have to wait three weeks for the next episodes. Especially considering what’s about to go down on the Seattle shows.
That brings us to the second part of the bad news. It looks like Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy are doing going disaster episodes, as the promo following Grey’s Anatomy had characters on both sides of the crossover talking about explosions. The most foreboding part was where the promo warned that “Not everyone will survive.” Check out the promo for Station 19’s as-yet-untitled Episode 5 and Grey’s Anatomy’s “Bottle Up and Explode!” below:
What jumped out to me is that they don’t indicate which show the "not surviving" member will come from, which is sure to anger opponents of the crossover events. The shows have drawn the ire of fans in the past for things like explaining huge Station 19 plots on Grey’s Anatomy, but we do all understand the point of the crossover is to make you want to watch both shows. It is what it is.
And when they say not everyone will survive, I hate to say that I hope it’s one of the series regulars, but I’m totally done with the over-hyped, misleading promos that promise something huge and then under-deliver. Call me naive, but I’m choosing to assume they don’t just mean Random Extra #4 (no offense to that actor).
Another interesting thing to notice about the promo is that at least one explosion seems to happen on Grey’s Anatomy, with Owen asking, “What the hell was that?” That would seemingly happen after Station 19, where we hear Travis say, “There was a second explosion.” Could that mean there are more than two? Or will they do some kind of simultaneous timeline? That might be cool, actually.
Whatever Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 are planning, we have three weeks to wait and speculate about it. The Seattle shows will return to ABC on November 11, with Station 19 at 8 p.m. ET and Grey’s Anatomy at 9 p.m. Be sure to check out our 2021 Fall TV Schedule in the meantime for all of the upcoming premieres.
