Grey's Anatomy: Meredith Decides to Save the Hospital After an Addison Visit

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Thursday's episode of Grey's Anatomy. Read at your own risk!]

The residents at Grey Sloan Memorial can breathe a sigh of relief. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is going to defer her very lucrative offer to work at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in order to stay behind and save the hospital from losing its resident program and teaching hospital status. The decision is also good news for Grey's Anatomy fans wondering how the show would continue if the eponymous character was no longer working at the central hospital. 

Meredith staying in Seattle is great for fans and great for the residents, but it's maybe not so great for Meredith, who was pissed off that she was cornered into this decision. All of the higher-ups have gone nuclear over the idea that she might leave, even though everyone else in her resident class left, as Meredith pointed out multiple times. It did seem unfair to Meredith that she be expected to stay at the same hospital forever when no one else was held to the same standard. However, the hospital was in crisis after the residency program was put on probation and it's unlikely that the situation would be solved if Grey Sloan lost their star surgeon, no matter how much she's earned the right to make her own decisions. 

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The decision came after a visit from Addison (Kate Walsh), who actually didn't push Meredith either way. Addison did call out everyone for being so childish while she was trying to create medical history and it was a relief to see an adult finally take over the ER, and Addison definitely had an effect on the other attendees and Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) who were ruthless in their dismissal of Meredith's free will. However, it was actually Nick (Scott Speedman), who had the most to gain from Meredith moving to Minnesota, who convinced her to stay. He temporarily relocated to Seattle to give her time to help Grey Sloan get back on its feet, so they could make a decision about where she wanted to go after things were fixed. 

Nick's decision was also good for fans, who could see how well Nick can ingratiate himself into Meredith's life rather than the heart-eyed couple constantly absconding off in their own little bubble. It will also be really great for the residents to have an all-star transplant surgeon in the hospital to help Bailey with her doctor recruiting. 

The question remains: Will saving Grey Sloan endear Meredith enough to get her to stay on a permanent basis, or will being forced to give up Minnesota sour the taste of working at the hospital that raised her? 

Grey's Anatomy continues Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.