Meet Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital’s 2022 Intern Class
It’s time for Season 19 of Grey’s Anatomy and we have a brand new class of interns! Very few residents, though, what with the pandemic-induced upheaval of the medical field and Grey-Sloan’s compulsion to run afoul of whatever rule or regulating body is most power-hungry at any given time.
“We didn’t pick you for your grades,” Dr. Meredith Grey tells the dazed-looking medical noobs. “We picked you for your fight.” Which is to say, Grey-Sloan didn’t get first pick of the new doctors and they are making do with who they have. Which of tonight’s contestants will get fired first? Who will get fired and rehired the greatest number of times? Who will sleep with an attending? Who will marry an attending in Season 25 and divorce them in Season 27 right before they get a brain tumor? I’ve really missed this show.
Here are this year’s candidates, the five important ones. The first letters of their first names are a bunch of consonants, and their last names spell GAMBY. Well, it’s no MAGIC (Meredith, Alex, George, Izzy, Cristina), but we’ll make it work.
Dr. Simone Griffin (Alexis Floyd)
We first see Dr. Griffin running late to her first day of work. She maneuvers among felled trees and hops over debris from a recent tornado. She weaves through crowds. She sprints down the hall. We learn later that none of these things are the real cause of her lateness. She had a panic attack because she hadn’t been to Grey-Sloan since the day her mother died… the day she was born.
Dr. Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane)
Jules is the Meredith of this class, having already slept with the hunkiest attending, Dr. Atticus Lincoln (Chris Carmack). He goes on to be the one who looks foolish about it. Why is this towering Adonis such a screw-up in love? Jules is also a big fangirl of Maggie, which she demonstrates by telling Maggie how much better she looks than her picture.
Dr. Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis)
Her first major line is “Organpalooza!” about a roomful of likely brain-dead people. She gets shut down immediately by Amelia and told not to talk for the rest of the day, understandably. Her patient is the only one who wakes up, and Dr. Yasuda is actually really good with that patient’s mother. She has a bunch of siblings, so count on one becoming a doctor and one needing major surgery that can only be performed at GSMH.
Dr. Daniel “Blue” Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.)
Awesome, a Dr. Reply Guy. We need one of these in every group of students. He’s called Blue because he always wins the blue ribbon and is compelled to tell everyone. The entertainment articles tell us that “A family crisis interfered with his career plans,” but the first episode does not elaborate. He has no qualms about introducing himself to a grieving mother as Dr. Benson Kwan and telling a completely made-up story in support of organ donation. I predict he learns at least one Important Lesson this season.
Dr. Lucas Adams (Niko Terho)
Lucas introduces himself to everyone in the locker room, without being asked, while taking his shirt off. He’s not the arrogant one, but he’ll be getting a lot of screen time, I’d wager. He’s the screwup, the George. He has a license to tell the wrong parent her son is brain dead (neglecting the real bereaved mom) and his bumbling sets off a chain reaction that almost results in a grandmother losing her new heart, lungs, and liver. But it’s cleared up, because this kid is charmed somehow. “It’s a beautiful day to save lives,” he says in the operating room. Twice, in case you missed it. And then we find out he is the “black sheep” nephew of Derek and Amelia Shepherd. Okay, that adds a whole ‘nother layer.
“I had to be watched very closely at that age,” Amelia recalls. Meredith takes this statement as a pledge that Amelia will keep an eye on Lucas. Amelia wasn’t volunteering, but it’s too late because Meredith already accepted.
Their Chief Resident is one Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli), fka Glasses, fka Blood Bank, fka killer in and of the Weber Method. He tried OB/GYN under Jo’s tutelage but couldn’t stomach the amount of stretchy vagina. He is battle-toughened and ready to lead, despite the fact that Jo’s not speaking to him. Know who else is missing? Nico. Good. It’s time for Schmitt to lose that zero.
Dr. Miranda Bailey remains on leave from the Chief of Surgery position, stopping by the hospital to shake her head over the current state of things. Meredith is Interim Chief, which has kept her from returning to Minnesota to be with Dr. Nick “McTransplant” (Scott Speedman). Nick conveniently shows up at Grey-Sloan, along with half the transplant surgeons in the country. Meredith very professionally offers him her triple organ transplant, which he accepts.
I’m glad they’re focusing on the new interns. For one thing, most of the staff has left the show, had their license suspended (and yet, Owen’s still on our screens being literally useless and not even bringing his cute kids) or been stabbed to death by sex traffickers (I’m still mad about DeLuca, yes.) So I like the idea of five brand new blank slates for Meredith, Amelia, Maggie, Mr. Maggie, and Link to mold. They will all have their own stories, hangups, issues, fetishes, and operating room disasters. The show needed a facelift and an infusion of new blood (sorry) and these five young upstarts are both those things. It’s almost like the show has come full circle. I can see it continuing indefinitely…
