Every Grey’s Season 1 Throwback In Season 19

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Grey’s Anatomy season 19!

As Grey’s Anatomy looks to return to its roots, season 19 has been full of references and throwbacks to season 1. With the tagline on the season 19 poster reading “begin again,” the first six episodes of the season have done just that, particularly with its new intern group. The many throwbacks to season 1 have provided Grey’s Anatomy viewers with a blast from the past to the original five interns and the storylines that revolved around them in the show’s beginning.

There have been multiple intern classes since the original five also known as M.A.G.I.C. (Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie, and Cristina), but the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 intern class mirrors the originals in many ways. Each of the five new interns (Blue, Jules, Mika, Lucas, and Simone) have their own distinct personalities and storylines while retaining a sense of familiarity to long-time viewers through parallels to season 1. Here is every Grey’s Anatomy season 1 throwback in season 19.

Related: Every Callback Song In Grey’s Anatomy’s Season 18 Finale

The Interns Hangout In The Basement

Both the Grey’s Anatomy pilot and the season 19 premiere follow the interns on their first 48-hour hospital shift. In the middle of the pilot, the exhausted interns took a moment to eat from the vending machine, rest on old hospital beds, and bond with each other in a back hallway in the basement. This became a regular hangout spot for the characters in season 1 of Grey’s Anatomy. The end of the season 19 premiere showed the newest intern class making the hangout spot their own in a sweet throwback.

An Attending Sleeps With An Intern Before She Starts

The opening scene of Grey’s Anatomy took place in Meredith’s house on the morning of her first shift as an intern and the night after a hookup. Meredith doesn’t even remember the name of the stranger she hooked up with, so it’s a shock when she discovers at work that she slept with Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd, head of neurosurgery. It’s the first of many major Grey’s Anatomy twists and marks the start of Derek and Meredith’s relationship.

Similarly, Jules learns on her first shift in the Grey’s Anatomy season 19 premiere that she had previously slept with one of her attendings, the head of orthopedic surgery Dr. Atticus “Link” Lincoln. However, unlike Derek and Meredith, this hookup is not the start of a long, epic relationship as Jules makes it clear that it was just a one-night stand, and she has no interest in pursuing anything further with him. Whereas intern-attending relationships are a focus of season 1 with Derek and Meredith as well as Burke and Cristina’s story, season 19 ultimately went in a different direction.

An Intern Has A Relative With Alzheimer’s

As aforementioned, Grey’s Anatomy is filled with plot twists, and the pilot was no exception. The episode ended with Meredith visiting her mother, the award-winning general surgeon Dr. Ellis Grey, who had retired, having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and was living in a nursing home. It is a secret that Meredith managed to keep from most of the other characters until season 2, episode 3 when Ellis is admitted to the hospital.

Related: Grey’s Anatomy: Why Meredith Didn’t See Her Mother On The Beach

New intern Simone was raised by her grandmother and has become her caretaker following her own diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Like Meredith, Simone’s secret is revealed to Lucas and Meredith when her grandmother shows up at the hospital in Grey’s Anatomy season 19, episode 3. Many have predicted Meredith’s ending will be tragic because of her mother’s death from the disease and her own genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s. This also makes her perfectly suited to offer support to the young intern, which she does in a touching moment between the pair.

An Intern Tries To Hide A Famous Surgeon Relative

The relationship between Meredith and her mother Ellis in Grey’s Anatomy was always a complicated one, and Meredith wanted to make a name for herself in her medical career outside of her mother’s legacy. Thus, despite working at the same hospital in which Ellis Grey first made a name for herself, Meredith did not tell her new colleagues of their familial connection. However, it was only seven hours into her first shift that Cristina made the connection between her and the Harper Avery Award winner and told their fellow interns.

In Grey’s Anatomy season 19, Lucas is revealed to be the nephew of Derek and Amelia Shepherd and interim chief of surgery Meredith through her marriage to Derek, something he does not want the other interns to know. He even goes as far as to let the interns believe that he is sleeping with his aunt Amelia when they become suspicious of his interactions with the neurosurgeon. It isn’t until episode 6 that the other interns learn of his secrets when Amelia makes him tell them the truth in a comedic scene.

An Intern Has Embarrassing Past Revealed

In season 1, episode 4, Izzie earned the nickname “Dr. Model” after Alex spread pictures of her modeling for a lingerie company. While it’s unlikely Katherine Heigl’s Izzie will return to Grey’s Anatomy, a similar storyline took place in season 19, episode 4 with Simone when a video of her trashing an on-call room at her previous hospital is discovered by the other interns. Both Izzie and Simone are teased and mocked throughout the episode before they shared the deeper reasons for their embarrassing pasts. Izzie had modeled to pay her medical school debt while Simone’s meltdown was a result of racial discrimination from her white colleagues.

Related: Why Grey’s Anatomy’s Alex & Izzie Choice Was A Total Betrayal

The Interns Solve A Mystery Case

The Grey’s Anatomy pilot also included one of the most interesting and memorable patients, teenage rhythmic gymnast Katie Bryce who was suffering from seizures with no known cause. Earlier in the episode, George had been called “007” because of his failure as the first intern to scrub in on a surgery. Derek decided that the first intern to properly diagnose Katie would get to be the second intern to scrub in, which wound up being Meredith. In season 19, episode 2 of Grey’s Anatomy, it is Meredith who assigns the interns to a mystery case, sending them scrambling before Simone ends up diagnosing the patient.

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