‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Reveals How Teddy and Owen Will Exit Show in Finale (Recap)

Ever since the announcement that Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver were departing Grey’s Anatomy in the Season 22 finale came through, we’ve been wondering how exactly the show would write their two longtime characters — Owen Hunt and Teddy Altman, respectively — off. Now, the show has presented a couple of possibilities for that answer. Warning: Spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Episode 17, “Through the Fire,” ahead!

In the penultimate episode, the two seem to be getting along as well as ever. Teddy checks in on Owen’s mother, who’s doing well with rehab, and sister, who’s been helpful. And Owen helps Teddy with her fancy blouse for a day out with her former mentor, who flew in from Paris. All is well.

Later, though, Owen treats a patient who is still desperately in love with his wife, who is now in memory care, to the point that he’s willing to risk his own wellbeing to save the glass sculpture impaling him because she used to love it so. After the patient coos about how he wishes he’d done and said things differently while he still had the chance, Owen heads to talk to Teddy — presumably, to profess his continued love for her.

However, Teddy has something to say first. As it turns out, her mentor isn’t just in town for a friendly visit; she wants Teddy to come back with her and head up a fancy research incubator she’s running in the City of Lights… and Teddy is considering it.

This sends Owen into an angry tizzy, as he does, and he lashes out at her with biting words: “Do I have to be the bad guy who tells you not to go?” he challenges. “Just do what you want, like you always do.”

Later, as Teddy is running the ER and gets word of a bridge collapse, she listens to a voicemail from Owen, who is, as he does, profusely apologizing for his reaction: “Teddy, I owe you an apology for last night. I had something I wanted to say, and your news kind of threw me. Let’s talk when I get in, if I ever get in. There’s a ton of traffic on this bridge…” That’s when she hears noises of honking, crashing, and Owen yelping as the call cuts off.

So what does this mean for the two? Well, the look-ahead preview for this episode and the next already told us Owen is going to be in danger. In the video, he’s shown passed out in a car that’s quickly filling with water. So, there’s definitely a chance that Owen could be facing mortal danger.

Considering how Shonda Rhimes teased a “happy ending” for the two, though, it seems more likely that he could have a near-death experience here and decide to embrace the new opportunity he and Teddy could have to move their family to the romantic city and start fresh. A third possibility, of course, is that Teddy is the one who gets the “happy ending” in Paris, while Owen becomes the latest casualty of Hospital Hell. We’ll find out next week!

Disney / Anne Marie Fox

Elsewhere in the episode, Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) spends the day with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) judging medical students’ research proposals for the Fox Foundation, and, after coming in with a bit of cynicism, gains a sunnier outlook about the future of medicine. Her joy, as she might call it, is soon interrupted, though, when Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) reveals that the IRP report is in, and he now knows that it was Benson Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) who administered the experimental drug to a patient against FDA orders and not her. She’s going on administrative leave, and Kwan is being fired as a result. Yikes.

Ben Warren (Jason George), however, got some good news on two fronts. After Maya Bishop (Danielle Savre) is badly burned on a call, he successfully argues for debriding her in the OR while she’s having her broken leg and nerves repaired. Even when the main procedure is done, he fights to finish his work while she’s still under anesthesia. The effort is successful, and his tenacity on the case impresses Toni Wright (Jen Landon) enough to earn an instant spot in her plastics fellowship. Win-win.

Meanwhile, Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane) and Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) are still going strong — even if their plans to have a hotel date fell through, literally, with the fire; Simone (Alexis Floyd), who unsuccessfully attempts to follow Jules’ lead in freezing her eggs, hooks up with Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) again, whoops; Toni still hasn’t made a decision about whether to choose her ex or Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone); and Jo (Camilla Luddington) is now considering returning to general surgery instead of obstetrics.

Grey’s Anatomy, Thursdays, 10/9c, ABC