Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s trailer raised the stakes by showing a handful of characters reacting to the explosion’s aftermath, adding to the speculation about who might die through their shock and the pointed absence of key Grey’s Anatomy characters. However, the latest updates about Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s confirmed cast and episode guide hide the character death in plain sight.
Monica Beltran Dies Based On Grey’s Anatomy Season 22’s Official Cast & Photos
The release of Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s key art, episode guide, and cast confirmations on Deadline clearly hints at Monica Beltran’s death, after all the cast was confirmed to return except for Natalie Morales, who plays the pediatric surgeon and is notably absent from the list of Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s main and recurring cast.
Monica’s death is also indirectly confirmed by Grey’s Anatomy season 22, episode 2’s synopsis, which mentions Meredith spending time with Amelia. Considering how Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s trailer showed Amelia being visibly distraught and physically kept away by Winston, who also looked very affected, it would be reasonable to interpret those scenes as a reaction to seeing Monica.
Why Monica’s Death Feels Like A Cop Out After Grey’s Anatomy Season 21’s Cliffhanger Finale
Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s finale was masterfully built to wield the biggest emotional reaction after pressure kept building regarding the hostage situation, only for it to be seemingly resolved easily. The explosion in Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s last moments upended that certainty by putting several characters in danger, delivering a shocking cliffhanger precisely because of what led to that resolution.
Between Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s ending and season 22’s trailer foreshadowing a massive tragedy, Monica Beltran being the one to die feels like too little, too late. While important to Amelia and Winston, Monica was never a particularly central character in the context of Grey Sloan Memorial and Grey’s Anatomy.
More worryingly, choosing to kill off Monica basically confirms that Grey’s Anatomy season 22 is set to follow its terrible four-year trend of refusing to kill central characters, too, instead opting to put secondary ones in harm’s way. This feels exceptionally disingenuous after Grey’s Anatomy season 22’s trailer dropped clues that let viewers think a more important character might die.
Monica’s Death Has 1 Major Upside Compared To Other Characters Dying
Monica Beltran dying will inevitably be hard on Amelia and Winston, who genuinely connected with her in different ways since she became an attending surgeon in Grey’s Anatomy season 20. However, Monica being the victim of Grey Sloan Memorial’s latest explosion also has its unexpected advantages.
Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s cliffhanger ending did everything in its power to make it look like it was Link who perished, showing him about to use a cautery in an OR, thus implying he triggered the explosion. Monica’s death lifts the burden from other characters who have been perceived as in danger since Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s finale.
This means that characters like Link, Bailey, Lucas, Webber, and Jules, whose future showed great promise based on their Grey’s Anatomy season 21 storylines, are effectively safe. Monica having spent two seasons in Grey’s Anatomy also makes her death more impactful than if it were a character with even less screen time to die, making her death an acceptable compromise.
