7 Ways Grey’s Anatomy Season 21 Can Fix The Show After Season 20’s Problems

Warning! SPOILERS about Grey’s Anatomy season 20, episode 10 ahead.

The events in Grey’s Anatomy season 20’s finale proved especially shocking considering how many characters were affected, but they can also provide a clean slate for Grey’s Anatomy season 21 to solve the issues that affected season 20. Grey’s Anatomy season 20’s shortened run due to the dual strikes put a strain on the medical drama, as it had only ten episodes to condense multiple storylines when it usually had around double that number of episodes to focus on the story arcs of the extensive ensemble cast. Even without considering its shortened run, Grey’s Anatomy season 20 presented various problems.

Until Grey’s Anatomy season 19, the series heavily relied on the unlikely trio of Meredith, Maggie and Amelia, with their sisterhood being at the front because of Meredith uniting them. However, Meredith’s departure first and Maggie’s later left a big role for other characters to fill, especially given how they returned at times, with Meredith doing so more often in Grey’s Anatomy season 20. Adding to that how season 20 didn’t have time to show some things that embodied Grey’s Anatomy’s spirit through the years, Grey’s Anatomy season 21 has at least seven different ways to fix season 20’s problems.

7 Scale Back The Cast

Focusing On Too Many Characters Let Their Stories Flow Less Seamlessly

Introducing the new interns, Grey’s Anatomy season 19 greatly focused on their backstory, giving each of them something that made them distinguishable and interesting characters to get to know. The greater focus on them with Meredith and Maggie’s moves away from Seattle led to believe Grey’s Anatomy season 20 would have put them at the center of the story not unlike MAGIC were in Grey’s Anatomy season 1.

Nevertheless, Grey’s Anatomy season 20 had to focus on the fallout from the season 19 finale, necessarily having to continue the stories of the interns’ punishment following Sam’s death and Teddy’s illness. Having too many characters whose stories to move forward made Grey’s Anatomy season 20 seem directionless, especially so due to its shortened run. While Grey’s Anatomy always had a big cast of characters, not all were front and center all the time.

Scaling back the cast would make it possible for Grey’s Anatomy season 21 to focus on just a small number of characters, showcasing their story arcs in different moments, which would work even better if season 21 were to have a reduced number of episodes as Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s actor exits and cast cuts seemingly hint at.

6 Return To Showing More Tragedies Hitting Grey Sloan

Disasters Were At The Heart Of Grey’s Anatomy, Upping The Stakes & Threatening Beloved Characters

While plenty of catastrophes hit Grey Sloan Memorial in Grey’s Anatomy’s latest seasons, including season 20 with its wildfire-focused finale, no key character seemed truly in danger because of it. Grey’s Anatomy’s earlier seasons delivered various devastating disasters where central characters were in serious danger and secondary ones died due to shocking developments like Grey’s Anatomy season 6’s hospital shooting.

Some of the most gut-wrenching deaths like George’s or Mousey’s even took the audience by surprise by having them inconspicuously missing before being revealed on their deathbed, while the last devastating death was Andrew DeLuca’s in Grey’s Anatomy season 17. While it’s unclear whether Midori Francis and Jake Borelli’s exits as Mika Yasuda and Levi Schmitt respectively will see the characters move to better placements or die, it’s undeniable Grey’s Anatomy’s last three seasons didn’t put its key characters truly in danger, relying on the shock value of characters like Teddy collapsing in season 19’s finale only to be easily revived in season 20.

A catastrophe hitting Grey Sloan and killing off central characters would scale back the cast and also bring back Grey’s Anatomy’s usual tearjerker episodes that upset viewers but make the ends of characters’ stories more memorable.

5 Utilize The Cast Better

Some Characters’ Key Storylines In Season 19 Could Barely Be Mentioned In Season 20

Another issue of Grey’s Anatomy season 20 was its approach to all but drop backstories that were introduced as fundamental for the characters involved, only to be briefly mentioned in a scene, to introduce new characters whose new role has yet to be completely understood.

That was true for Simone’s grandmother and her Alzheimer’s heavily influencing Simone in Grey’s Anatomy season 19 but only being mentioned in a scene of season 20 when the sole reason Simone and Meredith bonded enough for Meredith to give her a key to her house was sharing that tragic past. Grey’s Anatomy season 20 also introduced Monica Beltran to Grey Sloan, and while appearing as a refreshing and considerably interesting addition, her story brought her somewhere very far from where Grey’s Anatomy season 20’s beginning hinted it would go.

Season 20’s mass firings provide a clean slate for Grey’s Anatomy season 21, giving it the chance to focus more comprehensively on the characters still at the center of the show and the hospital while giving less attention to those once in pivotal roles whose stories could easily take a step back after the layoffs.

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4 Bring Back Massive Shake Ups Of The Hospital

Threats To The Hospital Happened So Often The Hospital Changed Names Twice & Ownership Even More

While Grey’s Anatomy season 20’s cliffhanger ending that created season 21’s villain could be considered a shakeup based on how many lost their jobs at Grey Sloan Memorial by the end, Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t substantially threatened the hospital’s core since season 18. Grey’s Anatomy was always focused as much on its romance-prone characters as on the hospital and its importance for the doctor protagonists, making the hospital shakeups extremely central to the story.

The merger with Mercy West in Grey’s Anatomy season 6 and the doctors buying the hospital in season 9 both threatened Grey Sloan and greatly changed it. The recent lack of threats toward Grey Sloan Memorial can potentially turn fighting back against Catherine’s draconian rule in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 into the fuse that prompts structural change, delivering justice for all the doctor victims of Catherine’s tendency to punish whoever contests her.

Such a storyline would free Grey Sloan from the Fox Foundation’s grip and deliver the next great challenge for the hospital, one that would need the same ability to adapt Grey’s Anatomy characters displayed against Mercy West’s “invasion” or when they bought the hospital so that it wouldn’t be sold for pieces in season 9.

3 Decide What To Do With Meredith Story-wise

Meredith’s Departure & Frequent Visits Pull The Focus From Those Permanently At Grey Sloan

Meredith Grey was always at the center of Grey’s Anatomy, making her move to Boston in season 19 a noteworthy change, as it reflected on the steps forward her character took by prioritizing her family over her connection to Seattle and Grey Sloan Memorial. While Meredith’s Alzheimer’s research can deliver her most powerful story yet because it brings full circle what made Meredith and Ellis’s bond difficult in the end and potentially saves Meredith from the same fate, it also brought Meredith back in the middle of things at Grey Sloan in season 20 after just leaving in season 19.

Her Alzheimer’s research story, coupled with her relationship problems with Nick, pulled the focus from other storylines that were at the center of Grey’s Anatomy season 20 in the episodes where Meredith was absent. Whether Grey’s Anatomy decides to move on from Meredith or to embed her even more in the events at Grey Sloan, making her part of the story marginally without taking all the attention when present, a choice must be made. Otherwise, Grey’s Anatomy season 21 risks suffering the same bizarre pacing of season 20, where central characters are obscured by Meredith the times she is present.

2 Bring Back Event Episodes

Whether Tragic, Character-focused, Or Uncommonly Musical, Event Episodes Always Defined The Show

While Grey’s Anatomy season 20’s midseason and season finale were eventful to a point, most episodes aired without much fanfare unless cameos of beloved characters were included, like with Jessica Capshaw’s appearance in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, episode 4. Over the course of its twenty seasons, Grey’s Anatomy had plenty of event episodes.

Whether they stayed with viewers for how unusual they were, like Grey’s Anatomy season 7, episode 18 because of it being a musical, or, more often than not, harrowing, Grey’s Anatomy event episodes tended to leave a permanent markon audiences in the past. Even if the sole dying characters were patients, Grey’s Anatomy event episodes transformed new characters into beloved ones swiftly, like the bomb squad captain Dylan and the impaled patient Bonnie in Grey’s Anatomy season 2.

Grey’s Anatomy season 21 can easily bring back tragic and less so event episodes where the patients’ stories reflect the struggles of their doctors, making the patients iconic even in the case of their deaths while simultaneously moving forward their doctors’ stories. This would let Grey’s Anatomy season 21 mirror its greatest moments, giving its new characters a chance to also shine in event episodes.

1 Restore The Focus On Interns & Medicine In Grey’s Anatomy Season 21

The Interns Brought Back What Made Season 1 Great, But Keeping Them From Surgery Stifled Them

Although the tragic patient death in Grey’s Anatomy season 19’s finale locked in the interns’ fate away from surgery in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, their storylines mostly focused on their romances or placing the blame on each other as a consequence of getting banned from the OR in the season.

Despite still being central in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, being interns who couldn’t really compete for surgeries thus stifled their professional storylines, as it removed the one thing that motivated MAGIC or Jo and her fellow interns to be the best surgeons and getting into as many OR as possible.

With the interns finally earning back the chance to learn in the OR with the attendings (provided Catherine doesn’t fire all the interns along with Miranda Bailey), Grey’s Anatomy season 21 can unite the things at the center of its season 1 and many of the following: interns, their insatiable desire to log as many hours in the OR, and competing to get the best surgeries. Such a development would bring Grey’s Anatomy back to basics, focusing on what always set it aside from other popular medical dramas.

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Grey’s Anatomy

Grey’s Anatomy is considered one of the great television shows of our time, winning several awards and four Emmys. The high-intensity medical drama follows Meredith Grey and the team of doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial, who are faced with life-or-death decisions on a daily basis. They seek comfort from one another, and, at times, more than just friendship. Together they discover that neither medicine nor relationships can be defined in black and white.

Cast

Kelly McCreary , Patrick Dempsey , Kevin McKidd , Chandra Wilson , Jesse Williams , Jake Borelli , camilla luddington , Ellen Pompeo , Chyler Leigh , Eric Dane , Caterina Scorsone , Giacomo Gianniotti , Anthony Hill , Kate Walsh , Justin Chambers , Sarah Drew , Greg Germann , Martin Henderson , Katherine Heigl , T.R. Knight , Sara Ramirez , Jerrika Hinton , Richard Flood , Sandra Oh , Kim Raver , Jason George , Tessa Ferrer , Isaiah Washington , James Pickens Jr. , Gaius Charles , Chris Carmack , Brooke Smith , Jessica Capshaw

Release Date

March 27, 2005

Seasons

20

Writers

Shonda Rhimes , Julie Wong , Jen Klein , Tameson Duffy , Meg Marinis

Directors

Rob Corn , Kevin McKidd , Debbie Allen , Chandra Wilson , Allison Liddi-Brown , Jeannot Szwarc , Tony Phelan

Showrunner

Meg Marinis

Creator(s)

Shonda Rhimes

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