Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Episode 3 Review: Let’s Talk About Sex

Leave it to Grey’s Anatomy to tackle the most timely, important topics with the perfect combination of humor and emotion.

On Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Episode 3, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” Bailey returns to the hospital and takes over the interns to make a series of sex education videos for social media. And she’s brought in a special guest to help: Addison Montgomery.

Her motivation for this is rooted in the recent Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Because of that decision, Bailey wants to find a way to help teenagers, in particular, at least understand how to be safe. That’s Addison’s motivation as well.

And while at times the dialogue feels a bit heavy-handed, especially at the beginning of the episode, the way this is incorporated is really well-done and important for audiences to see. 

It’s also another fun opportunity to get to know the new group of interns. This conflict, where they struggle with a set of boring facts and uninterested teenagers, then eventually find their rhythm and wind up offering a very entertaining sex-education class, is one that lets us learn some nuances about each character and provides a bit a comedy along the way.

It really does feel like the early days of Grey’s Anatomy.

These interns all bring such a great energy to the show. Each character already feels important, and I’m invested in seeing them all learn and grow — possibly the most I have felt that way since the original group that included Meredith Grey.

The focus on the medicine is another reason the episode feels that way. Once again, we’re actually spending most of our time in the hospital, with doctors taking care of patients and drawing parallels to their own personal lives. 

Is it a bit too coincidental that the patients come from the sex-education class? Yes. That one of them is pregnant and the other has to have surgery on her ovaries? Absolutely.

But this is television, after all, and I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of a well-written episode that keeps tightly to its theme throughout the episode.

Both cases are emotional, and both cases speak to the message of reproductive rights. And this all connects to the main characters. Levi is clearly affected by his patient, and he shows a level of compassion that also speaks quite a lot to his character development. It really is great to see him acting now as Chief Resident.

Addison, however, is the one most deeply affected. She notes that what’s happening in the country actually makes her feel erased — with all the work she’s done over the years feeling a bit like a waste. 

It’s perfect that this is the episode Addison comes back for, and if you watched her on the early years of Grey’s or on Private Practice, her emotion over all of this feels even more poignant. 

Speaking of drawing connections to the early years of Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith is in a unique position to be a mentor to Simone, whose grandmother is suffering from dementia.

It’s heartbreaking, and Marla Gibbs gives an incredible performance as she desperately looks for her daughter at the hospital. Her daughter, though, is Simone’s mother who has passed away. 

Simone tries to handle it, and even gets a little help from Lucas, but when Meredith witnesses Simone’s grandmother becoming emotional, she steps in to help in a way that only someone with personal experience could do.

Then, she has a chance to bond with Simone over it and gives her the advice of staying in her grandmother’s reality. It’s beautiful to watch, and there’s really no better way to show Meredith’s character development after 19 years of the series.

She’s now able to use her experience as a way to help someone else, and she’s doing so in a leadership role. I don’t expect Meredith to continue to be Chief of Surgery, but it really is wonderful to see her do that job.

It’s also nice to see more of Zola, who is hanging out at the hospital and should be doing homework in Meredith’s office. Bored of that, however, she goes wandering and runs into Nick, who takes her to the skills lab to show her some of the equipment.

I do think it’s a little odd that he’d made that choice, but it provides an opportunity for Zola to learn some new things, and for Nick, Kai, and Maggie to observe how very gifted she is.

This feels a bit obvious, that Meredith’s child would be so smart, and I’m curious to see where the story is going to go from here. Regardless, I hope it means we’ll see Zola hanging out at the hospital more often.  

Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 really does continue to feel like a reboot of the series, despite the fact that it was never canceled. But this season feels lively, new, and a way to honor what the show was always meant to be. 

Other thoughts:

• Teddy offering up sex advice that Owen is surprised to hear is a great moment, and it’s one that certainly ends well for them on this episode!
• Of course, an episode with this title has to end with lots of hookups, including one in an on-call room. It wouldn’t really be Grey’s Anatomy if it didn’t.
• I’m so glad to see Kai return. I’d been wondering when we’d see them again.
• Lucas is still trying to keep his family history a secret, much to the surprise of Addison, who is excited to see him all grown up. I do like being reminded of her history as Derek’s wife.
• Richard dancing for an Instagram Reel is a moment I will never forget. I love that everyone from the hospital gets involved in that part.

What did you think of this episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

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