Warning! SPOILERS for Grey's Anatomy season 19, episode 3 ahead.Grey's Anatomy season 18 had Bailey so fed up with Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital's problems that she quit both as a chief and a surgeon, however, she couldn't stay away long enough – and Grey's Anatomy season 19 is actually making her return even better. Grey's Anatomy season 18 finale didn't take it easy on Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), as she had to try and save the residency program, manage the doctors' shortage, and take care of Pru after Ben's impromptu adoption of her following the death of his colleague Dean Miller, Pru's biological father. As Bailey also had to take care of her stress as it impacted her heart problems, she decided she had had enough when not only she received the news that Grey Sloan's residency program was being shut down, but also learned of Owen Hunt's crimes.
Considering how central Bailey had always been to Grey Sloan, it would have been impossible for her not to come back. However, as Grey's Anatomy season 19, episode 3 confirmed her return, it also made it better, establishing it as entirely on her terms. While Webber, hearing the news, assumed she'd be back as chief, Bailey cut him off, explaining that the main reason she decided to finally come back was the state of reproductive rights following the overturning of Roe v Wade, making her want to reopen the clinic for that. Not only did this particular storyline once again remind how Grey's Anatomy always shined when dealing with timely topics, but it also made it possible for Bailey to return only when she felt it was right and when she could focus entirely on what she wanted rather than sacrificing her time just for the sake of the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
Why It Took Longer for Bailey To Decide To Come Back
Miranda Bailey had always given her all to Grey Sloan, working tirelessly to make it a better teaching hospital. After Covid-19 left the hospital with fewer and fewer doctors, she did her best to recruit new ones, but without succeeding. When that impacted Grey Sloan's status as a teaching hospital, Bailey tried everything she could to fix the hospital's problems and save the residency, and yet, she still failed.
However, the last straw for her came with the realization that while she might have done whatever she could to save Grey Sloan Memorial, her attendings were stealing drugs to help patients (Owen) or thinking about job offers out of state (Meredith), effectively jeopardizing all her attempts to save Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Considering Bailey's anxiety had come back and made her heart problems worse, her quitting and refusing to return straight away entirely made sense. After all, not only she had to take care of her health but also a new daughter, and wasting time for a hospital she didn't feel that it deserved her would not have been the most rewarding use of her time. However, when she fully realized the state of what she referred to as a "humanitarian crisis," it didn't take Bailey long to decide she had to return to Grey Sloan to try and change things for the better.
Bailey's Leaving Storyline Mirrors 1 Karev Storyline From S16
While the premise was different, as Bailey quit in Grey's Anatomy season 18's ending while Karev was fired, Bailey's storyline still mirrored Alex's leaving storyline in Grey's Anatomy season 16. Although Alex was fired for covering Meredith's insurance fraud, he still tried his best as chief of the Pacific Northwest General Hospital. Just as Alex's departure from Grey Sloan for Pac-North was his first step to realizing he needed to leave Seattle, Bailey's staying away from Grey Sloan for longer let her understand she didn't want to swear off her job and role. Instead, Bailey's experience made her realize how much she could do even away from the hospital, making her return to Grey Sloan her true free choice as she could have done anything else, but she still chose to do her part as a doctor, making her return in Grey's Anatomy season 19 truly better by being on Bailey's terms.
New episodes of Grey's Anatomy air every Thursday on ABC.