The beloved staff of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital returns to TV screens tonight. When the doctors return, they will be fighting severe stormy weather as well as their own personal battles.
When we left off last season, a super-storm was devastating the hospital. We pick up only moments after last season ends. Meredith and Derek are celebrating the birth of their baby, Callie and Arizona are suffering marital issues and Webber's life hangs in the balance. TVGuide shared some refreshers about where the characters left off, and revealed some juicy tidbits about what we'll see this season.
Life is looking pretty good for Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), who gave birth to her baby, Bailey, last season. Although she loves her kids, her and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) go a bit stir crazy at home, longing to be back at the hospital. "They're competing with each other at home," Pompeo told TVGuide. "Then, Mer sneaks and goes and does the surgery. Sneaking around on each other's backs in "Grey's" is us doing surgeries." Meredith will also have to face the loss of Cristina (Sandra Oh), since she will be exiting the show this season.
As previously mentioned, Derek is in the same boat as his wife: loving the kids, but missing work. Derek will dive back into work with a a new brain mapping project with Callie (Sarah Ramirez). He and the rest of the board members will also be facing financial difficulties after the devastating storm, and will try to secure the funds needed to keep the hospital running in top shape.
Cristina broke up with Owen (Kevin McKidd) last season over the issue of having (or rather, not having) children. This season will explore the aftermath of the breakup. "We're going to watch them grapple with what it means to have broken up at the end of the season and what that means for their future," showrunner Shonda Rhimes said. "For both of them, the hard part is that they love each other. They want very, very different things, but they love each other. If only she'd want to have babies, or if only he'd give up wanting kids, they'd be fine." And as previously mentioned, Cristina will be leaving Grey Sloan Memorial next season, although it has not been revealed how or why her character will exit.
After the breakup, Owen will try to move on. "Cristina's being supportive of him meeting someone else," McKidd told TVGuide. "Will Cristina still feel the same way, even though she's been the one cheerleading and Owen's been the one who's been very reluctant to do that, when she realizes maybe he's taken her advice at last?" Even so, both Rhimes and McKidd said that Owen and Cristina both still love each other, meaning their breakup may not be forever.
Last season, Alex (Justin Chambers) admitted to Jo (Camilla Luddington) that he is in love with her. Although Alex has some issues from past relationships, the couple will enjoy many cute, and often comical scenes. "I also wanted this season to have a lot of fun in it, and I wanted it to be funny," Rhimes said. "Alex and Jo are really charmingly funny together, so we're having a lot of fun with them as we begin."
Callie and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) will not have such happy times in season 10. Callie is furious after learning that Arizona had an illicit tryst with Dr. Boswell (Hilarie Burton).
"It's pretty dark," Capshaw said. "Arizona has done something so terrible and so tragically divisive that there's really nothing that she can do besides be penitent and present and say everything she can to try to rectify it. There's the showing up and apologizing and saying how sorry you are, but there's a certain point when, if a person doesn't want to move forward from that, then you have to move forward from that." In addition to trying to patch up her relationship with Callie, Arizona will act out due to her persistent PTSD.
Callie won't keep Arizona's infidelity a secret for very long; she blurts out the news to everyone in the season opener. Callie's anger at the egregious betrayal may not allow her to forgive this time. "When the trust is broken as much as it is, how do you reengage with your partner? How do you trust them with something as simple as taking care of their child?" Ramirez said. Callie will find support from Cristina and Meredith, but one of them will betray her in some way early on in the season.
As for Jackson (Jesse Williams), we will pick up in his hospital room, with April (Sarah Drew) waiting for a response after she gave him an ultimatum to give her a reason not to marry Matthew. It will be complicated next season as Jackson and April get entangled in a love triangle with Stephanie (Jerrika Hinton), who has feelings for Jackson.
In addition to trying to get back together with Jackson, April will be studying for her medical boards, which she will take again this season. "She's really going to come into her own as a total kick a-- trauma attending," Drew said. "We're going to see her interact more with the interns, and she'll have much more of a teacher role."
As for the young interns, this season will seem them figuring out the departments they want to work in.
Yet, intern Heather's (Tina Majorino) life could be in jeopardy after she gets electrocuted while searching for Dr. Webber. It was revealed in the promo that someone will die in the season opener-- could it be Heather?
Find out when the anticipated two-hour season premiere airs tonight, Thursday, September 26 at 9 p.m. on ABC.