New Chief, Which Doc Quits & Pregnancy Stunner

And we’re back! After a long summer off air, Grey’s Anatomy returned for a Season 23 premiere packed with surprises. Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy Season 23 Episode 1, “Collide.”

Things start off on a semi-celebratory note for the surgeons of Grey-Sloan Memorial — er, at least one of them. Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) was ecstatic to cut the ribbon on her fancy new VIP wing and introduce her newest hire, Dr. Seth Norton (James Wolk), but not everyone was pleased with the snazzy new offering. In particular, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) wasn’t happy that she got signed up to do the first on-demand surgery for a donor’s daughter right when she was trying to help with the ER trauma and treat a 17-year-old with a painful hernia that turned out to be so much worse.

For Richard Webber’s (James Pickens Jr.) part, he defended the new luxe life offering, citing financial downturns for the hospital, but he was visibly happier when visiting the trauma ward to see how his residents were doing than holding some debutante’s dog.

In particular, Richard walked in on Simone Griffith (Alexis Floyd) giving treatment to a French teacher with signs of a stroke — and, ultimately, a rare condition in diagnosis — and applauded her find. However, it was really Benson “Blue” Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) who spotted the madame looking feeble in his video-conferenced-in home class and rushed her in for treatment under Simone’s name. He was hiding behind the door to avoid Richard finding him in the hospital. He was still fired, after all, and he didn’t seem to have any hope that things would get better even after such a successful save.

Simone had bigger things to worry about, though. After her hookup with Lucas Adams (Niko Terho), tensions between them were at an all-time awkward high, especially since she chose to keep her relationship with Wes Bryant (Trevor Jackson) going instead. However, a positive pregnancy test result left her aghast about what it might mean — could it be Lucas’ baby?!

That wasn’t all the relationship drama, oh no. After two planes collided on a runway due to an FAA officer being overworked and experiencing an aortic aneurysm complication during his instructions, Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) and Toni Wright (Jen Landon) played a game of chicken over which of the patient’s needs was more pressing — the bleeding on her face or the potential spinal issues in her neck. Amelia won that fight when it turned out the patient had internal decapitation, but Toni was right that her bleeding was an issue.

Ultimately, the patient, a first-day pilot, died on the table after being rushed to surgery, despite a successful neurosurgery. Afterward, Amelia came to Toni’s apartment with proverbial hat in hand and apologized for hooking up with Cass Beckman (Sophia Bush), explaining that she thought Toni was choosing her ex, and she was still madly in love with her. Ultimately, Toni caved, and the two ended up making out and up in the hallway.

Disney / Raymond Liu

The FAA agent, who was also in bad shape, came through thanks to Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) walking Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane) through a cardiac surgery until things became emergent and Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) took over. Miranda had been having doubts about whether she could handle pursuing a master’s degree in public health while maintaining her status as a surgeon, mother, wife, mentor, and more, but seeing the government’s failure in caring for this FAA agent’s wellness helped her decide: She’d give Ndugu her job as residency director. It’s good news for him, but it’s not good news for Ndugu and Millin’s relationship!

Another couple in very big trouble in the premiere was Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) and Atticus “Link” Lincoln (Chris Carmack). Jo, struggling with PTSD as a result of her traumatic birth experience with the twins, was horrified to see a rush surgery in action on the elevator and ran off as soon as she possibly could from the gory scene. Meanwhile, Link, who was still clearly in pain from his shoulder injury, was hiding his medication needs from his wife and seemed stunned when she walked in to say that she quit her job. That can’t be good.

Last but not least, let’s talk about the new doc in town. Seth was introduced as Catherine’s partner in the VIP wing development, but by the end, she announced to Meredith that Dr. Norton would become the new chief of surgery — and his opinion will count more than Meredith’s because she’s not a full-timer at the hospital anymore. Could Meredith have a new nemesis to contend with in Seattle?

Grey’s Anatomy, Thursdays, 10/9c, ABC