Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is back in charge of the interns at Grey Sloan Memorial!
The season 20 premiere of Grey’s Anatomy saw Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman) leave the interns in the “very capable hands” of Bailey after he decided to move to Boston to be with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo).
Longtime fans of the series know this isn’t her first go around with interns, and she even introduced herself to the new class with her iconic line from the pilot: “I have five rules.”
In the 2005 episode, Bailey wasted no time with pleasantries when introducing herself to the OG interns including Meredith, Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and George O’Malley (T.R. Knight).
“I have five rules, memorize them,” she told the interns. “Rule number don’t bother sucking up, I already hate you, that’s not gonna change, trauma protocol…nurses will page you, you will answer every page at a run. A run, that’s rule number two.”
“Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You’re interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain,” she continued. “You run labs, write orders, work every second until you drop and don’t complain. On-call rooms, attendings hug them, sleep when you can where you can, which brings me to rule number three if I’m sleeping, don’t wake me unless your patient is actually dying.”
“Rule number four, the dying patient better not be dead when I get there, then not only would you have killed someone, you would have woke me for no good reason, we clear?”
Once she was done with her speech, Meredith noted, “You said five rules, that was only four.”
“Rule number five, when I move, you move,” she responded as the group ran to respond to a page.
New Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis opened up about the throwback moment on Thursday’s premiere, telling Parade, “We talked about where does Bailey go from [winning a Catherine Fox Award] in her career. It’s the highest award of awards in our world. What a lot of people don’t realize is that she won that award for her teaching reproductive care. She’s the teacher of all teachers.”
“Based on where we left our interns at the end of last season, they have to come back from this,” she continued. “It made sense when we looked at the stories that there was only one person who could bring them back. She helped raise Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Isabel Stephens, Alex [Karev] and George O’Malley. She was responsible for turning out these great surgeons. She’s the only one who can help the interns come back from this low they’ve had.”
Marinis also teased the show’s historic 20th season will be a return to OG Grey’s Anatomy.
“It’s a celebration of the 20th season,” she explained. “We’re kind of nodding to the foundations that Shonda [Rhimes] built. It’s nostalgic. It’s going to be a nostalgic Bailey, but she’s evolved.”
She added: “She’s taking on this job and this role that she had the very beginning of the series, but with 20 years of experience.”
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.