Before Grey’s Anatomy’s 21st season premiered on the 2024 TV schedule, I was shook when I saw the promo, which showed Miranda Bailey responding to Catherine Fox’s calling her “just another doctor” by delivering a vicious slap across her boss’ face. The whole thing turned out to be a dream, but either way, it was a shock to see an icon like Debbie Allen — who’s an executive producer on the show, no less — taking a hit like that, so how does such a scene make it into the script? Turns out, it was Allen’s idea.
Many fans thought that slap was a long time coming for Catherine Fox, who has never had a problem reminding her underlings who holds the money, prestige and power in any situation. Dream or no dream, people said as that slap went viral that Bailey (Chandra Wilson) gave Catherine exactly what she deserved. Debbie Allen would tend to agree, as she explained to THR exactly how the scene came to be, saying:
Well, it was my idea. How about that? It was totally my idea. I worked so closely with our showrunner, Meg Marinis. She is fantastic. And we were kind of picking up where we left off last season, where I had fired everybody. I was on one. And, so, she said, ‘Well, I was thinking of her having this inspiring speech.’ I said, ‘Girl, don’t nobody want to hear inspiration right now. Catherine needs to be slapped. She has acted so badly.’ And she hesitated because nobody wants to slap me. I said, ‘This is a great way for us to start the season, because everybody will be so curious about what’s the fallout of that. How does that happen? What’s next?’
By the end of Season 20, Catherine Fox had seemingly reached full villain potential, making decisions based on pride and spite, with little-to-no regard for what was best for Grey Sloan Memorial or its patients. Catherine fired multiple doctors, declaring everyone replaceable, which prompted Bailey to take a stand.
There’s no doubt that Debbie Allen’s character had the gravitas to pull off an inspirational speech when the action picked right back up in the Season 21 premiere, but the actress knew that wasn’t what fans wanted to see. She insisted that Grey’s Anatomy deliver the goods, but it sounds like Chandra Wilson was a little more apprehensive about physically assaulting the iconic actor/dancer/producer. Allen said:
It was really fun shooting and Miss Chandra Wilson also did not want to slap me. She was like, ‘I’m not slapping you, Debbie Allen’ … It’s become a really big kind of viral thing now. I guess it’s a meme right now.
Not only are Grey’s Anatomy fans feeling the satisfaction of watching Catherine get what was coming to her. However, there’s a bit of wish fulfillment involved here, too, because who hasn’t had a boss that could stand to be taken down a notch?
This season it looks like that’s exactly what’s going to happen to Catherine, and not just from Bailey’s dream slap. The first two episodes have revealed that the cancer she’s been living with has seemingly started to spread, with Bailey and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) sworn to secrecy as they try to convince their former employer (I guess they’re both still fired) to undergo tests.
That viral scene between Bailey and Catherine was a dynamic way to kick off the new season, which could feature some steamier scenes, now that it’s moved to a later timeslot. Tune in to see what happens next, with new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy airing at 10 p.m. ET each Thursday on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.