Grey’s Anatomy is back and back to it’s roots with a whole fresh new class of incoming residents who very much mirror Meredith Grey and her OG class from 19 seasons ago. Every few seasons or so we get some new interns, but this year it’s clear the show is looking for a major (and much needed) revamp, and casting has spared NO expense.

First and best we have new intern Jules Millen played by Adelaide Kane aka MARY QUEEN OF MOTHERFUCKING SCOTS FROM REIGN!!! Reign is one of the best shows of all time and if you have not watched Reign please stop and do not keep reading until you do so immediately. All five seasons. Go. If you have watched Reign, Adelaide Kane plays the feisty, cunning, sexy and smart Mary Queen of Scots, who we loved fiercely for five seasons until she was ultimately beheaded at the end of the series (not a spoiler, it’s history). I have not seen her in anything since Reign ended in 2017 and I am extremely happy she is back with a big role in a major show.

Next up we have Alexis Floyd playing Simone Griffith. Alexis Floyd who is no stranger to Shondraland, having played Neff in Inventing Anna earlier this year.

Moving on we have none other than Mindori Francis of Dash and Lily (on Netflix – for which she received an Emmy nomination) and more recently the fantastic show the Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max.

We also have Harry Shum Jr. who has had roles in literally everything including Glee, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Crazy Rich Asians, and the very popular show Shadowhunters which I have never seen but have been meaning to watch.

Last but not least we have Niko Terho, who hasn’t been in anything I’ve heard of but he’s clearly being setup to be the new version of McDreamy (a nickname I always fucking loathed. Sorry not sorry for the unpopular opinion but it’s just so cringe).

Grey’s Anatomy is on Season 19 this year, but hasn’t been legitimately good since season 8 or 9. The past 3-4 seasons have been particularly painful. The long standing characters feel tired and boring, the new characters are sometimes a bright light but the room is so dim they can only do so much.

If I started watching this show for the first time ever today I would think it was a genuinely bad show. But here I am, 19 seasons in, never having missed an episode. This is by far the longest relationship in my life.

Since this show has been on, I have moved eight times, worked seven jobs, been to LAW SCHOOL, met the man I would eventually marry, dated him for 6 years, and gotten married. I remember watching the series premiere of this show when I was 24 living in a shitty apartment in Jackson Hole with my roommate Caitlin at a time all that mattered to us in life was skiing, drinking, and working at the Four Seasons. And now here I am starting Season 19, age 41, married, watching this show at 8pm in bed. We’ve come a long way, Greys!

What I am trying to say is this show has seen me at my worst and best and everything in between, and vise versa. But while I am living my best life, this show is living it’s worst. But since I am in a toxic relationship with this show I will never stop watching and I will always hold on to hope that it will make me happy again. To that effect I feel like this fresh group of interns could be the revamp the show needs to pull itself out of the gutter.

The show is clearly shoving our faces in the similarities between these new interns and the original group of interns which included Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight, and Justin Chambers. The final scene of Season 19, Episode 1 is a sweet throwback to the final scene of Season 1, Episode 2:

Look I will never stop watching this show. I find it hard to believe anyone is growing the TV listings and is like, hey, let’s watch Grey’s Anatomy for the first time EVER tonight! Point being, everyone likely has their minds made up about Grey’s. You have either made a conscious choice to avoid it for 19 years (which I respect and envy), or you are like me and in a codependent relationship with the show. For those of us already trapped, the best you can hope for is this season will traumatize us as little as possible. For this show, that’s been a tall order recently. Our hopes and dreams are pinned on you, new class! No pressure.