Long-time Grey’s Anatomy season 18 is currently on hiatus, with midseason finale episode 8 airing on December 16. Despite proving once again the show hasn’t lost its shock value, there are a few indications Pompeo’s pleas to the rest of the team for the show to reach its end may be founded on different elements, ranging from season 18 storylines to its most recent ratings.
Grey’s Anatomy season 18 got off to an odd start, with Meredith (Pompeo) deciding to start dividing her career between Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and David Hamilton’s clinic in Minnesota. While life went on similarly for other characters in Seattle, except for Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) following in Meredith’s steps, the vibe from Grey’s Anatomy season 18 was very different from previous seasons, as if everything was in some way suspended. This change of pace may be ascribed to the end of the long-running medical drama closing in—or at least that’s what the show star Pompeo hopes for.
In a recent De Luca’s storyline about human trafficking in season 17—but it didn’t have the same grip of its earliest work.
The ratings have been reflecting the show’s decline. Although they have been declining since the middle of Grey’s Anatomy season 17, they reached an all-time low with season 18, episode 7. Viewers do not seem interested in seeing where the story is going, and Pompeo is right to question what story the series is even trying to tell. There have been newer storylines that have interested viewers, such as Amelia’s relationship with Dr. Kai Bartley, but there isn’t one overarching theme or threat in Grey's Anatomy season 18.
In the past there have been threats looming over Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital: the Avery foundation takeover; Meredith risking losing her license; the Covid-19 pandemic in season 17. However, Grey’s Anatomy season 18 does not have anything like that. Viewers had been promised big returns, and coming out of the midseason finale, the only characters that have returned only did so for one episode each, with the sole exception of Megan Hunt (Abigail Spencer), who appeared more often than the others. These returns may have been another hint of Grey’s Anatomy nearing its end, but with them not being satisfying for viewers, it raises a valid question: why push the show forward for another season if there isn't anything more to say?
Grey’s Anatomy season 18’s state of uncertainty storyline-wise may reflect the difference of opinion behind-the-scenes, divided between those who, like Pompeo, want it to end and those who still want to reap its benefits no matter what. The show has still not been renewed for season 19, so Pompeo’s appeals still might be heard. Until then, viewers can only hope Grey’s Anatomy season 18 shapes up to find some kind of overarching theme when it returns.