Meredith Leaves Grey’s Anatomy In Season 22 Episode 4 As Jackson Returns

The revolving doors of Grey Sloan Memorial continue to turn: Just two weeks after Amelia announced she was going on sabbatical, Thursday’s episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” welcomed back Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery, marking his first appearance since Season 21.

Of course, not everyone was as thrilled to have Jackson back as we were. The moment he and Meredith crossed paths, they butt heads over Koracick’s published report about his Alzheimer’s experiments on mice. Unlike Meredith, Koracick only used male mice in his testing, and therefore shouldn’t have been able to publish his findings so early, lest everyone falsely believe that what’s true for male mice is true for all mice. (#NotAllMice!) Rather than hearing Mer out, however, Jackson brushed off her concerns, reminding her that she has one empty lab and zero published reports. Ouch.

Jackson changed his tune later in the hour when his patient, a cancer survivor undergoing breast reconstruction, needed an additional hernia surgery before he could get to work. Meredith reluctantly agreed to help, but trouble immediately followed when the patient asked for both procedures in the same day. Jackson said it wasn’t possible, but Meredith — hearing the desperation in the woman’s voice, and the longing to finally see herself as more than a cancer survivor — agreed to do both, further irking an already irked Jackson.

The irking continued during the dual procedure when Meredith and Jackson bickered over how to proceed. “You made your point,” he told her. “Too bad you can’t publish that.” It was an incredibly childish move, so we were relieved when Jackson apologized to Meredith for his poor behavior later in the episode. Seeing how happy the patient is, he admitted that Meredith was right, and he even offered her a ride back to Boston… which she accepted for some reason. (Why? To fight the whole time?! Lady, just get on a plane.)

That’s right, Meredith is headed back to Boston — not that Richard was at all surprised. He started reassigning her planned surgeries the minute he read Koracick’s report, knowing she’d eventually be driven back to the lab.

It’s unclear exactly how long Meredith will be away from Grey Sloan this time around, but when TVLine spoke with showrunner Meg Marinis ahead of Season 22, she sounded hopeful that “Grey’s Anatomy” fans would get to spend plenty of time with the titular doctor moving forward.

“Well, she’s definitely splitting her time between Boston and Seattle,” Marinis said at the time. “But hopefully, we’ll get to see her in Seattle more. If that plan comes to fruition, “we can get to see her in the O.R. and interacting with our characters more frequently. … The more we get Ellen, the happier I am. So if we can get her more, I’d love it.”

As always, there was plenty of drama outside of Meredith’s immediate orbit this week. Here’s a breakdown of what happened:

* After getting to know Katie while helping her find a clinical cancer trial, Lucas asked Bailey if he could remain on her care team. (You just know that her wanting a piece of New York cheesecake is going to resurface in the most emotionally devastating way. We don’t know how yet, but it’ll happen!)

* Bailey also learned of Ben’s strong interest in plastics, encouraging him to take on three more years of residency to pursue his dream position.

* Simone was initially offended when Jules said she didn’t want to move in with her and Kwan, but Jules later explained that she’s a heavy sleeper, and her (multiple!) loud alarm clocks have been known to drive her roommates crazy. For now, she doesn’t want to ruin the friendship she’s building with Simone.

* To make up for his awful first impression last week, Kwan pretended he had food poisoning during Avery’s big surgery, allowing plastics fellow Kavita to take his place. After being welcomed into Avery’s plastics posse (the highest of honors!), Kavita warmed up to Kwan — and that flirty look he gave her on her way out of the room tells us he’s also getting plenty warmed up.

* Owen lashed out at Link for involving himself with a patient before he was approved to return to work, but he ended up apologizing. After all, Link might be the only person who has asked Owen how he’s doing lately, and he appreciates their friendship.

* Owen also bumped into Nora, who mistook a bad case of indigestion for more serious chest pains. Having heard about his split from Teddy earlier in the hour, Nora offered Owen her condolences, then accepted his invitation to go talk over dinner. Hey, if Teddy can move on before the ink is dry on their divorce, why shouldn’t Owen?

* Speaking of Teddy, she had to apologize to Cass after making it seem like she only wants to spend time together behind closed doors. Teddy explained that she’s losing control over her life, and those moments in bed with Cass make her feel safe. Rather than break up with her, Cass suggested that a more public relationship might actually give Teddy a stronger sense of control — and she agreed.

“Grey’s” fans, how are you feeling after this week’s episode? Were you glad to see Jackson again? Do you miss Meredith already? And are we rooting for Owen and Nora to make it work? Drop a comment with your full review of the episode below.