Tonight’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy breaks the 300-episode tradition of naming each episode after song titles — and for good reason.
In November’s mid-season finale, Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) was rushing to prevent Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) from administering the drug which she discovered would kill his patient. On her way there, she unexpectedly runs into her abusive ex-husband Paul Stadler (Matthew Morrison), and we were all left hanging.
Initially, tonight’s episode was set to be named after Crowded House’s song “Four Seasons in One Day,” but was promptly replaced with “1-800-799-7233,” the phone number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. It was first revealed in the Grey’s Anatomy Season 12 finale that Jo was married to an abusive and manipulative husband whom she has been hiding from for years.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Luddington shares that in this episode, “you see [Jo] obviously absolutely horrified that [Paul] has infiltrated her world. When she initially runs into him, she feels like everything is completely turned upside down. It picks up exactly with that same beat walking out of the elevator, and you see her paralyzed.”
Although the storyline has been in development for years, with the increased awareness of the Time’s Up campaign and retaliation against sexual harassment and abuse, Luddington feels as if the airing of this episode alongside the movement is “serendipitous.”
“This story is about a woman that is no longer feeling silenced and finding the strength to use her voice, to be heard, to be believed, to feel empowered,” Luddington said to ET. “I think that’s the heart of this story at the end of the day, and that’s exactly what’s going on right now. It just feels crazy that it’s airing during this particular moment, but now I feel like it was meant to be, too.”
This episode of Grey’s Anatomy will air tonight on ABC.