Grey’s Anatomy season 16 episode 6 preview: A not-so-happy Halloween

We’re not sure what’s scarier: an unexpected enormous mass grave or Meredith Grey trying to talk her way out of jail.

Grey’s Anatomy is pretty well known for putting doctors through moral dilemmas, having them make the worst possible choices, and not having them face severe consequences after the fact, allowing them to return to life as normal because, you know, the show (literally) must go on.

Izzie almost killed a patient (who she just so happened to be romantically involved with) so he could get a new heart. She was punished, but got to come back as if nothing had happened.

More than one unauthorized surgery has been performed since season 1. These are things you don’t get to come back from when you’re not living inside a series that’s part medical drama, part romantic dramedy.

But this season, our own Meredith Grey seems to be facing (mostly) realistic consequences for committing insurance fraud at the end of season 15. This episode will feature Grey behind bars, while everyone else she almost dragged down with her (though maybe not intentionally) has plenty of their own scary situations to deal with.

You can’t have an episode air on Halloween without a little horror, after all.

Remember last year, when an episode that was supposed to be fun and holiday-themed turned into a sob fest — complete with “Chasing Cars” and the ghost of Meredith’s dog? Yeah, we’re definitely not getting another scene like that this year. On with the spooks!

(But it is so, so good to see Jo genuinely happy — and the silly kind of tipsy — for a minute. Let’s hope she continues to heal and we can have more moments like this.)

Grey’s is taking on a much lighter tone this season, which some fans are fairly happy with, considering the last few seasons really did get dark and twisty there for a while.

Thus, we get season 16, which feels a lot like a romantic comedy set in a hospital, but it’s actually still Grey’s Anatomy. Except everyone is working (or not) in different places and everyone is pregnant and we still can’t decide if we’re supposed to love or hate Tom.

Following in previous weeks’ footsteps, this episode will most likely crank up the humor while also reminding us that Meredith is in serious trouble. Also, someone’s pregnancy is probably going to have some kind of complication, and, uh, did we mention the grave?

Pacific Northwest is haunted, everyone. Maybe it’s the ghost of the person Richard “accidentally” unplugged.

Whether serious or not, let’s just hope the Halloween theme isn’t totally forced. Sometimes, when shows do holiday episodes, it just doesn’t mesh well.

It was nice to have a holiday (Day of the Dead) smoothly incorporated into the storyline last year as opposed to making it “festive” simply because the episode aired at or around a certain date. Season 16 has definitely seen some cringe-worthy moments so far, but maybe the show will really step it up and impress us this week.

There’s only one way to find out, of course. Will you be watching? While you eat all the “leftover” Halloween candy in the bowl (a.k.a. the stash you secretly saved for yourself)? Count us in.

Grey’s Anatomy returns Thursday, October 31 at 8 p.m. on ABC.