Grey's Anatomy is giving Mika a good storyline too late

Grey’s Anatomy is finally giving Mika some good material, but it may be too late for the actress playing her!

Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for the Grey’s Anatomy season 21 premiere

The season 21 premiere picked up a few weeks after the season 20 finale, where Catherine had fired…well, almost half the staff as she was ticked at Meredith using hospital funds for her Alzheimer’s research. Bailey wasn’t fired but is now working at the clinic and was replaced by our old friend Sydney Heron, who, incredibly, was perkier than ever. To the point the interns preferred being yelled at rather than Sydney’s constant chirpy jokes. 

We had various subplots abounding, such as Link finally learning Jo was pregnant, Blue’s fiancee finally remembering him, and Lucas turning down a job in Chicago to reunite with Sloane. Meanwhile, Meredith discovered that Catherine’s health was getting worse due to cancer but Catherine refused both surgery and telling Richard and Jackson about it. Somehow, this led to them cutting a deal where all the doctors were rehired while Merdith’s research “was going in another direction.”

As for the interns, Mika and Jules were busy tracking a climate change protester who was hiding in the hospital from the cops. The pair were also trying to avoid talking about the kiss they’d shared in the finale. 

The two finally discussed it, saying it was just the tension of the moment and they were better as friends. They shared a handshake…and then Jules pulled Mika into an even longer and steamier kiss before walking off. It was a wild turn that finally gave Mika some meaty material. Too bad it may be too late for the character. 

Why is Mika only now getting good storylines on Grey's Anatomy?

It’s been announced that Midori Francis will be leaving the series. She’s expected to be around for a few more episodes to wrap up her arc, which makes it annoying to see just how the character has been wasted.

Introduced with the rest of the interns in the season 19 premiere, Mika Yasuda was quickly shown as a super-dedicated intern, all about results and getting herself noticed. She had a brief relationship with Taryn Helm that ended as she wanted to focus on her life. She was known for having a sharp tongue and being a bit overconfident, yet she was doing her best. 

That’s about all we knew about her, as the character somehow never got the attention of other interns. All we knew of her background was her being one of eight siblings, and so she “used to be overlooked and underestimated.” Sadly, that went for real life, too, as the character just wasn’t given that much good material or storylines. 

Granted, season 20 had only 10 episodes, so we didn’t have time to delve more into the characters as usual. Yet, in many cases, Mika’s role in a storyline could have been taken by anyone else, and the character seemed to digress into being just about her career. 

This possible romance with Jules would be a great direction for Mika. It helps that Francis and Adelaide Kane have always had a great chemistry on-screen and it sparks up their scenes together. Jules has her own rough background and seeing them connect in this new way while working together would have been fun. There’s also how another LGBTQ couple on Grey’s is a good thing. 

It just seems a shame it took Francis leaving the series for Mika to get a good storyline finally and it’s hard to see where this can be going. Maybe Mika moves on or has a harsher fate, but it’s going to be rough to see her go when the character finally seems to be clicking. It’s happened before on TV shows, but it is always annoying as it shows how the Grey’s writers fumbled the ball with Mika and waited too long to give the character the love she deserved.

Grey’s Anatomy season 21 airs on Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.