Following The Addison Montgomery Cliffhanger, Grey’s Anatomy Just Proved That Station 19 Crossovers Don’t Need To Be Huge Events
Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy’s March 30 episode “Pick Yourself Up.”
Last week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy ended on a huge cliffhanger that had fans wondering if the show was going to be losing another beloved cast member — after Ellen Pompeo left the show and ahead of Kelly McCreary’s announced exit — when Kate Walsh’s Addison Montgomery was run down by an anti-abortion protester. Grey’s viewers weren’t the only ones left in the dark, though, as Station 19 ended with Maya Bishop and Ben Warren literally running across Seattle to ensure their wives were OK, and their presence at Grey Sloan Memorial proved that crossovers between the two shows can be effective even without promoting it as a huge event.
Grey’s Anatomy trolled its fans a little bit with its Addison cliffhanger, making us think the OB/GYN would be fighting for her life in “Pick Yourself Up.” But pick herself up she did, suffering only a dislocated shoulder, and she was back saving babies' lives within minutes. But we didn’t know that going in, and neither did Maya (Danielle Savre) and Ben (Jason George), who had only heard that multiple doctors were injured by protesters.
There have been a lot of opinions about the Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 crossovers since the firefighter spinoff was created in 2018. Usually the show promotes some kind of huge two-hour event, where the firefighters are involved in some sort of rescue, with the victims being handed over to the surgeons for the second hour. This has led to complaints of not being a real crossover or disappointment when first-hour cliffhangers aren’t addressed in the second half.
“Pick Yourself Up” was an example of a small crossover done right, where Station 19 fans didn’t necessarily miss anything if they didn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, but we were treated to some great moments between the two firefighters (and little Pru!). Even though the episodes weren’t promoted as a crossover, it just made sense that after an attack on the hospital, Maya and Ben would be there — especially given the fact that they couldn’t reach Carina DeLuca (Stefania Spampinato) or Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) by phone to find out what had happened.
Once they were there and had confirmed the safety of Carina and Bailey, Ben pointed out that what they’d felt was what their wives dealt with every day, since their job consisted of running into fires. He told Maya:
It’s a scary day. Guess this is what it feels like to be married to us. When you and I found out that something had happened at the clinic, we both ran here. We had to know that they were OK. We had to see it. Well, we do that to them on a daily basis.
It also seemed like Maya got a fresh dose of respect for what Carina does for a living, as she noted:
Carina’s delivering a baby. She operated on the doctor who got hit, she delivered that doctor’s baby, and now she’s delivering another baby, and she’s a miracle worker. I don’t stop to think about it enough, but my wife is a bringer of life. I’m sorry, I just needed to hear her voice.
That’s good news for Marina fans, who have seen the couple weathering some really tough times on Station 19. For the fans' sake, I hope they did hang around for Grey’s Anatomy. There are likely some who think crossovers aren’t worth doing if there aren’t big, life-threatening stakes involved, but I think Maya and Ben’s presence at the hospital brought an authenticity to their relationships, and I wouldn’t mind more little crossovers of that kind. And if I had a say in it, little Miss Pru (Janai Kaylani) would show up in every episode of both shows.
Grey’s Anatomy will return at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, March 30, on ABC. Be sure to check out our 2023 TV schedule to see what premieres are headed our way.
