Maggie returns and reveals her pregnancy; The doctor leaves

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details from episode 2202 (450 total) of the ABC series. Grey’s Anatomy.

In Grey’s AnatomyThe 450th episode of , the venerable ABC medical drama paid homage to its past, kicking off the episode with a popular recurring metaphor – the carousel of Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) childhood and her mother’s famous line “The carousel never stops spinning, you can’t get off.” The line was delivered by Kate Burton, reprising her role as the late Ellis Gray who appeared to Meredith in a disturbing dream.

Ellis was one of two Gray Women to visit Meredith in the episode. Meredith’s sister Maggie (former series regular Kelly McCreary) arrived from Chicago as the two teamed up to help Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) in her struggle to deal with the grief and guilt related to the Gray Sloan explosion caused by the mother of one of her patients. The explosion left several people dead, including Amelia’s friend Dr. Monica Beltran (Natalie Morales), and nearly killed the father of Amelia’s child, Link (Chris Carmack), with the patient in the case trapped in her body with a grim prognosis.

Amelia seemed to get a little better as the episode progressed as she finally stood up and opened up to Meredith and Maggie, but in the end she took a sabbatical from Gray Sloan to go “where my people are.”

This will result in a long hiatus for series regular Scorsone. Read our story to find out how long Amelia will be gone and when fans can expect her return.

Maggie had big news: she is pregnant with her first child conceived with donor sperm. She hadn’t yet broken the news to Winston, whose love life had been in disarray since their separation.

After close encounters with Jules (Adelaide Kane) last season and their closet embrace in the season 22 premiere, Winston (Anthony Hill), somewhat inexplicably, ended up with her again. Both vowed to forget what happened in the closet while treating a patient, as Jules also had to deal with the emotional impact of Monica’s death. Whether she’s struggling to open her locker, lashing out at new interns, or freezing up in the operating room while helping Winston, she’s clearly not okay, even though she repeatedly claims to be. To help her cope with her grief, Jules led the second-year interns in a candle lighting ceremony at the end of the episode.

Lucas (Niko Terho), reeling from Simone’s (Alexis Floyd) confession in the premiere that she had slept with someone, kept arguing with her as she used the famous Friends “we were on break” defense. His hostility towards her eventually led to him being kicked out of the operating room by Bailey (Chandra Wilson). Lucas and Simone had been tasked with holding and then removing a protruding piece of a metal forklift pin impaled in the abdomen of a construction worker. Lucas’ replacement was none other than Wes (Trevor Jackson), the guy Simone slept with.

True to his overconfident nature bordering on arrogance, new intern Wes earlier in the episode failed to follow instructions and tended to patients without permission. Things got dicey, but he managed to save a man, impressing Bailey enough to earn an invitation to the operating room against Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.).

Link (Chris Carmack) spent the episode trying to understand the prospect of a long and arduous recovery from his serious injury, even lashing out at Jo (Camilla Luddington). Owen (Kevin McKidd) came to the rescue, leaving Link to vent and vent his anger on him.

Teddy (Kim Raver) and Owen are no closer to reconciliation, with Owen moving into what looked like Derek’s old trailer he once lived in. Teddy realized she missed the operating room too much and asked Richard (James Pickens Jr.) to take over the role of chief of surgery so she could focus on her role as a doctor and not an administrator. He accepted with pleasure.

Ben (Jason George) is adjusting well to his re-entry into the residency program. He took it upon himself to save the worker impaled by the forklift, even clashing with his wife and boss Bailey over treatment options. Teddy came to his side, the patient survived, and Bailey made him chief resident.

The filming of the episode, written by Grey’s veteran Zoanne Clack and directed by Kevin McKidd, featured an on-set celebration of the episode 450 milestone.