Richard Cartwright / ABC

Ellen Pompeo of "Grey's Anatomy."

By Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Thursday's ninth season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy."]

After losing Lexie (and Teddy) last year, "Grey's Anatomy" opened its ninth season with a look to its future as Seattle Grace welcomed a new batch of interns as the deadly plane crash claimed its second victim during Thursday's season premiere.

Opening with a familiar scene -- a new intern walking Seattle Grace's halls on her way to meet a feared doctor to the same Rilo Kiley song from its premiere -- the residents-turned-attendings experienced some major role reversals as everyone is dealing with the after-effects of the crash in a different way.

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"Going, Going, Gone" was (in a way) a tribute to Mark Sloan (the departingEric Dane), who became the second fatality from the crash. The episode, which interweaved flashbacks -- complete with brand-new footage -- to Derek's wedding to Addison as well as Callie and Arizona's nuptials, flashed forward to 30 days after the crash that claimed the life of Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) and found most everyone back in Seattle but with a new set of hurdles to overcome: Arizona had to have her leg amputated, Cristina has moved on to Minnesota, April left the medical industry and Derek's medical future remains up in the air.

Meet the New Interns:Gaius Charles' Shane,Camilla Luddington's Jo Wilson andTina Majorino's Heather are among the new batch of interns who must contend with a "Nazi" of their own -- Meredith. While some are ahead of the curve (Jo), others have found new friends (Heather) to spend time with. Early on, Jo is bearing the brunt of Meredith's wrath, but at the same time excelling to the point where she earns her first solo surgery (which doesn't exactly go her way).

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo):Dealing with the aftermath of the crash, Meredith has gone one beyond her former dark and twisty persona into "Medusa," an attending who instills fear in her interns. She's yet to process Lexie's death and high-tails it from Mark's bedside as a way to avoid addressing the epic losses in her life. At the airport, she runs into Alex and lets him have it for leaving without saying goodbye. "Nothing is the same, everything is different, everyone is leaving and everyone is dying," she tells him. After boarding the plane for Minnesota, she's unable to fly and instead hits the bar where she has a Facetime conversation with Cristina.

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Few happy endings on 'Grey's Anatomy'