Grey’s Anatomy season 16 episode 9 preview: A reunion, a baby, and a tragedy

In this week’s fall finale, Meredith finally returns to her job at Grey Sloan. But the good times, at least on Grey’s Anatomy, never stay good for long.

Meredith is finally back to her old job on Grey’s Anatomy, but not everyone is offering her a warm welcome. And that’s not even the most anxiety-inducing thing about this week’s upcoming episode.

Not all of it looks dark. In the background you can see Jo holding a baby, which makes zero sense until you take the episode synopsis into consideration. Jo is volunteering as a safe haven, and when a baby is left at Station 19, she comes to its aid.

Whether or not this means Jo and Alex are about to become parents is unknown — but we hope so, one way or another, because Dad Alex is long overdue and they already make a great team.

That’s not where most predictions are focused on this week, though. Most people are actually worried about the one character they thought they couldn’t have sympathy for again.

The very end of the promo shows Ben (Bailey’s husband) sprinting toward something. Could that something be Bailey? And is Bailey’s life in danger?

It’s not likely that a main Grey’s Anatomy character — especially one who has been around since the beginning of the show — will die during the fall finale. And Chandra Wilson has said in the past that she plans on sticking around until the end of the show. It’s possible, but not likely, that this may have changed.

Bailey also makes an appearance in the promo for the new season of Station 19, so unless the two shows’ timelines are no longer going to be in sync, it’s not likely we’re going to lose her anytime soon.

However, she is pregnant, and it’s possible Grey’s Anatomy didn’t introduce two pregnancies during the same season with the intention of allowing both of them to move forward without problems. Amelia has been through enough and doesn’t need any more stress or tragedy in her life, so let’s assume she’s going to be fine and it’s Bailey and Warren are possibly headed for heartbreak.

Maggie’s brief appearance in the promo is what has some convinced Bailey’s heart is somehow involved in what’s to come. If she, a skilled heart surgeon, is freaking out in the middle of a procedure, whatever is about to go down has to be serious.

Taking Bailey’s story in this direction wouldn’t be all that surprising. Many fans have spent the entire season finding it difficult to understand or accept her behavior. Even though Richard finally called her out on her jealousy and things between her and Meredith seem to be on the mend, the writers have sure spent a lot of time making it easy to almost hate her. Why?

Could it be because they needed to find a way to break our hearts and then quickly put them back together again — only to break them again by placing a long beloved character in the path of tragedy? Probably. They’ve done it before. They’ll likely do it again.

Regardless of how big of a cliff we’re left hanging from after Thursday night, fingers crossed it’s going to make the last eight episodes worth it. They haven’t been all bad, but it’s definitely been a slow build to (hopefully) something big.

It’s time. Give us something big. Make us cry — go ahead. We can handle it.

Grey’s Anatomy’s fall finale airs Thursday, November 21 on ABC.