Warning! SPOILERS about Grey’s Anatomy season 20, episode 4 ahead.

Summary

• Bailey's controversial decision at the end of season 20, episode 4 can unite the interns and promote collaboration.
• The interns haven't been able to move past their personal dislikes and grievances in Grey's Anatomy season 20, hindering their ability to learn from the hospital.
• Bailey's choice to foster cooperation can finally turn the new class of interns into a group willing to move past their hostilities to each other.

The events of Grey’s Anatomy season 19’s finale have yet to stop impacting the interns’ lives in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, episode 4, but Bailey’s controversial decision at the episode’s end pushes them in a direction that can help them do so. While it was Grey’s Anatomy season 19 that introduced the new class and with it a new focus on five interns in particular, their arrival coinciding with the residency program restarting guaranteed them freedoms that previous interns didn’t have. Instead, Grey’s Anatomy season 20 finally placed them in the same situation as previous interns who had slipped up.

Throughout Grey’s Anatomy, plenty of surgical intern groups engaged in practices dodgy at best and illegal and unethical at worst, with many doing whatever they could if it meant they could practice their surgical skills. However, while motivated by their ambition to spend as much time as possible in the OR, all groups of interns eventually developed a kind of alliance among themselves, because only those who were interns could know what they were going through, and that was especially true if they also belonged to the same class. This has nevertheless yet to happen to the new intern class.

Bailey's Decision Brings The Interns Together Like In Grey's Anatomy Season 1

MAGIC's Unity Despite Their Ambition Made Grey's Anatomy Season 1 Great

Grey’s Anatomy season 20, episodes 1 to 4 were marred by fights among the intern class, whether because those involved were trying to avoid each other due to unresolved feelings or because they stole credit for another intern’s diagnosis. The intern group is not only ambitious and focused on completing their procedure logs and little else, but also generally unwilling to lend a hand to each other, letting division seep into every aspect of their career. Bailey’s decision to reintroduce them to the OR only when all logs are completed thus forces them to collaborate to achieve a common goal.

The new intern class solely focusing on their individual progress impaired their ability to learn, something that never happened in Grey’s Anatomy season 1. MAGIC’s ambition made Grey’s Anatomy season 1 enjoyable, but it was their coming together to solve unusual and impossible medical cases that made it great, as the interns managed to overcome their dislikes to cooperate and save lives. This already happened in Grey’s Anatomy’s series premiere with Cristina and Meredith working to save Katie Bryce, but it was even more evident when George and Alex performed open heart surgery in an elevator despite hating each other.

Bailey's Surprise Choice Can Finally Foster Among The Interns

Her Decision At Season 20, Episode 4's End Won't Be Liked But Will Benefit Them

Bailey’s decision to let them in the OR only when everybody had their procedure logs filled enraged Yasuda because she had just completed hers in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, episode 4, but despite the interns’ hesitancy to accept help, it will likely benefit them. Having let their personal grievances affect how willing they were to collaborate to work on patients had already increased their workload, but it also removed the joy they could have had by witnessing Arizona, Amelia and Jo perform groundbreaking surgery in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, episode 4, as they were only preoccupied with completing their logs.

Since becoming director of the residency program, Bailey only tried to impart knowledge to the interns, whether that happened through punitive tasks or interesting opportunities to witness surgical innovation happening. However, Lucas, Blue, Simone, Jules and Mika were often unable to see the bigger picture, fixating on getting back to the OR without paying attention to what they should have done, learning. Bailey forcing the interns to help each other thus stimulates the group to collaborate past their current hostilities, getting the interns to a point where they can finally focus on their education in Grey’s Anatomy season 20.

Grey's Anatomy airs new episodes every Thursday on ABC at 9pm ET.