Grey’s Anatomy Season 16 Mid-Season Premiere Recap: Why Are People Stealing Babies?

When we last saw the intrepid doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital on the Grey’s Anatomy fall finale, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) lost her baby, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) was butting heads with the new head of pediatric surgery, Cormac Hayes (Richard Flood), Jo (Camilla Luddington) got her first safe-haven call from the Station 19 firehouse and ended up taking the baby home with her, Maggie (Kelly McCreary) quit her job because she has started to doubt herself after losing her cousin on the table, and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) found out that she's four weeks further along than she thought, which means the father of her baby might be Link (Chris Carmack) or it might be Owen (Kevin McKidd). 

And then to top it all off, a car crashed into the bar where Ben (Jason George), Captain Herrera (Miguel Sandoval), Jackson (Jesse Williams), Levi (Jake Borelli) and all the other residents were having drinks, so that was the big cliffhanger. But the other big cliffhanger happened in real life — Justin Chambers abruptly exited the show, so now Grey's has to find a way to get rid of Alex Karev, which is A) going to ruin Jo and all the progress she's made after the trauma with her birth mother, and B) deprive us of the best relationship left on Grey's, that of Meredith and Alex's friendship. That stinks.

But alas, let's dive in to "Help Me Through the Night," shall we?

First off, let's get this out of the way — throughout the entire episode, I was on pins and needles wondering which resident the show was going to kill off. At various times, it seemed like it could be Helm (Jaicy Elliot), Schmitt, Parker (Alex Blue Davis), or Simms (Devin Way), Koracick's (Greg Germann) new protege. 

Thankfully, everyone survives the night. The biggest heartbreak of the episode is that after everyone is stable, Miranda finally takes a moment to cry about her miscarriage. It is absolutely gut-wrenching. Bailey is so tough that watching her breakdown is even harder than when other characters do it.

But because everyone survives the accident, the biggest news that comes out of the episode is that Owen (Kevin McKidd) realizes he has to stop waiting around and proposes to Teddy (Kim Raver). She says "no" at first because she doesn't want him repeating old, destructive patterns, but he says he wants to start a new pattern: loving her for the rest of his life. It's very sweet, though viewers know things are going to get pretty complicated when Amelia's baby is born with bright red hair or something.

In all seriousness, Amelia is freaking out because she's not sure who the father of her baby is, while Link goes on and on to Jo about how in love he is with his baby that he hasn't even met yet. Amelia wants to tell him about her news, but she can't bring herself to do it, plus they get interrupted by Owen and Teddy's big news, so she settles for telling Link that "they're" having a boy. Oh, this is going to be so sad.

Meanwhile, the harrowing trauma for all the residents at least lets both Helm and Meredith forgive Schmitt for turning Meredith in — though honestly, what is there to forgive? He didn't know what he was doing at the time, he thought he was helping. 

Finally, Jo spends the night making sure the safe-haven baby is OK, which means she gets to meet the new head of pediatrics, Dr. Hayes. She immediately sees why Cristina (Sandra Oh) send him to Meredith and we can all see exactly what's coming here — Meredith and Hayes are totally making eyes at each other, but DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) realizes he royally forked up by asking Meredith for time and space, so he goes to Maggie (Kelly McCreary) for advice. 

Maggie doesn't get to give him any, however, because at that moment she is served with papers — she's being sued over her cousin Sabrina's (Crystal McCreary) death.

What's the over/under on how long Alex is "visiting his mom in Iowa"? Three episodes before they have to do something else with him? Do you think they're going to kill him off? Ugh, I hope not. That would be awful.

It was nice to see Webber (James Pickens Jr.) and Owen come over from Pac North, but Chambers' departure also puts a kink in that. Will they figure out a way to keep Alex at Pac North and we simply never see him again, while finding a way to bring Webber and Owen back to Grey Sloan? Maybe.

Also this:

Jo: "I did not steal a baby."

Meredith: "Well, that's what I said when I stole a baby."

Link: "Why are people stealing babies?!"