‘Grey’s Anatomy’ winter premiere: Everything you need to know before the series retu…

It’s been a long cold winter without the comforting blanket of “Grey’s Anatomy” to keep us warm — but on Thursday, Jan. 27, our old favorite medical drama finally returns. It feels like its been forever since we last saw the doctors of Grey-Sloan Memorial, and if you’re feeling like you need a refresher course of where Season 13 left off back in November, we’ve got you covered.

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After being delayed a week due to the trainwreck that is the United States government Inauguration, “Grey’s” kicks off the return of Shondaland’s #TGIT. The episode, “You Can Look (But You’d Better Not Touch),” features Bailey (Chandra Wilson), Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) and Jo (Camilla Luddington) heading to a high security prison to help a 16-year-old inmate give birth. While these doctors are merely visiting a jail, Karev (Justin Chambers) might be heading there for good…

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Did Karev turn himself in?

Spoiler alert: Viewers will not find out right away if Karev will be legally punished for trying to beat the beautiful face off DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniatti). Since the winter premiere is a bottle episode, this issue will be addressed the following Thursday (Feb. 2).

Before the hiatus, Karev told Bailey and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) — the latter of whom, of course, staunchly opposed his decision — that he was planning to turn himself in. But we didn’t actually see him enter a plea.

If he did, Karev will be spending the next two years of his life behind cell bars, and never practice surgery again. Or maybe Meredith’s last-ditch effort — an awfully convincing, powerful voicemail message about their relationship and his worth — did its magic. And the lovable prick you can’t hate because he saves sick kids on the reg will get back to normal at Grey Sloan.

The Meredith-Riggs-Maggie Triangle

This situation has lingered on long enough. We’ve been watching Meredith delay the inevitable since Owen and Amelia’s wedding — back in Season 12 — and we’re tired of it. Either she needs to tell Maggie about hooking up with Riggs (Martin Henderson) and move forward with dating him, or once and for all squash the budding romance. While Riggs seems to be an okay dude, and it’s great he’s patched things up with Owen, we don’t want to see a fight between the half-sisters — and it would be nice to see Mer date someone outside the Grey-Sloan pool of eligible bachelors.

Who’s in charge of the resident program?

It’s still Dr. Eliza Winnick v Dr. Richard Webber (Marik Dominczyk and James Pickens Jr.) — but with the entire hospital rallying behind the latter, of course, Bailey is in a tough spot as Chief to make the final decision: Neither is willing to take on a subordinate role. So who’s it going to be? Can there be a “Grey’s Anatomy” without Dr. Webber? Will Eliza’s potential romance with Arizona encourage her to fight and stay in Seattle?

Are Amelia and Owen done for good?

Because so many relationships on “Grey’s” break up — only to make up, marry, divorce, and then start happily co-habitating because it’s “best for our child,” Japril — it’s not crazy to think Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) won’t reconcile. Amelia is such a bright brain surgeon, incredibly book smart, but couldn’t be more dimwitted when it comes to dealing with emotions. She acts like a child, constantly pushing away the people that love her, and it needs to stop. The self-sabotage must end, Amelia needs to forgive herself for the years she was an addict and allow herself some happiness, or nothing will ever change.

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Because there hasn’t been any news of Scorsone leaving the show (Thank God — the Emmys should take note of her masterful performances this past season), we assume her character’s current absence is due to the actress’s maternity leave in real life, as she gave birth to her second child back in November. Hopefully we’ll get to see, eventually, where she went — if it’s anything as powerful as seeing Meredith’s lost year after losing Derek (Patrick Dempsey), we honestly can’t wait… But eventually the train needs to stop wrecking, and for that she must come home.

It’s been a long wait, all right, and in this era of the show there’s no world-shaking tragedy to hang our hats: Just a lot of people adjusting to their lives as adults, with dramatic and unpredictable results. In some ways they’ve never seemed closer to happiness, most of them, but at Grey-Sloan that’s when the bumps tend to crop up the most. So strap in, grab the wine, and have a great #TGIT!

“Grey’s Anatomy” returns on Thursday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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