We knew going into Grey’s Anatomy season 21 that there would be a couple of exits. Levi was the first to go, and the Grey’s Anatomy season 21 fall finale just brought us the second. Midori Francis had her swan song as Mika, and it was a powerful episode about grief.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 8.
The hour focused on a heatwave that led to a packed hospital. Among the patients was a man who needed ice to cool down after heat stroke. However, when he started coding, Mika, who went into work for a distraction from her grief, had a breakdown. She screamed at Bailey to save the man, and then switched to saying “save her” and “take me.”
It was clear to Bailey that this was a matter of grief. In fact, toward the end of the episode, Bailey shared something personal about how she threw herself back into work after the death of her mom. If she could do it all over, she’d take the time to grieve properly, and she shared Mika should do that.
Mika realized she couldn’t work at Grey Sloan Memorial in Grey’s Anatomy
While Mika admitted in a way that she came back to work too early, she also realized that it wasn’t just work. It wasn’t just the fact that she was supposed to save lives. It was the place that she was in.
Everything reminded her of Chloe. Mika loves all her sisters, but Chloe was her favorite. She was the sister Mika didn’t initially want but got to name, which made Mika much closer to her. That connection made it so much harder for Mika to lose Chloe. While Mika wasn’t awake for when Chloe died, she knew the room that it happened in and that allowed her brain to wander. The unknown is always worse.
And so, Mika realized that she couldn’t work at Grey Sloan Memorial anymore. As much as Bailey didn’t want to lose a great intern, she had no choice but to accept her resignation.
This doesn’t close the door on Francis returning to Grey’s Anatomy. After all, Mika isn’t giving up on being a doctor. She just can’t do it at Grey Sloan Memorial. We could find out that, like Izzy, she ends up working elsewhere. We could see her return later to show that she’s made it.
I still resent that we’re just getting some decent storylines for characters as they exit the show. However, when it comes to realism and importance, Mika’s storyline brings all that. Grief is terrible. As Simone said, it is the new normal and we just get easier dealing with it. Like Bailey said, death doesn’t make sense.
Of course, the ending to the Grey’s Anatomy season 21 fall finale left us with a major cliffhanger that has us wondering whether other lives are on the line.
Grey’s Anatomy returns on Thursday, March 6 at 10/9c on ABC. Catch up the following day on Hulu.
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