Taryn Helm has been on Grey’s Anatomy for over 5 seasons now, but she has yet to have the storylines and development her character deserves.
Grey’s Anatomy first introduced Taryn Helm as an intern in season 14, and while she hasn’t reached her full potential yet, Grey’s Anatomy season 20 offers the chance for the medical drama to finally do the returning resident justice. Helm was one of six members of the Grey’s Anatomy B-Team intern class that spawned their own web series that followed heir first day at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Of the six interns in their class, only Helm and Schmitt remain. Schmitt has historically received more attention and development than his new co-chief resident, but Grey’s Anatomy season 20 could mark a positive change for Helm.
At the end of Grey’s Anatomy season 18, the residency program at Grey Sloan Memorial was shut down, leaving Helm and others without a job. The program was reinstated at the start of Grey’s Anatomy season 19, but only Schmitt had returned to the hospital. Between seasons, Helm left the surgical world behind to become a bartender at the Emerald City Bar, better known as “Joe’s Bar” to Grey’s Anatomy viewers. Fortunately, Jaicy Elliot took on a recurring role and appeared frequently as doctors visited the bar, with Helm eventually returning to the hospital at the end of Grey’s Anatomy season 19.
Meredith’s Absence Is Good For Helm In Grey’s Anatomy Season 20
When Helm first appeared in Grey’s Anatomy season 14, one of her few distinctive traits was that she had an intense, unrequited love for Meredith. Helm is one of Grey’s Anatomy’s few lesbian characters, following in the footsteps of Arizona Robbins, but rather than getting a proper love interest for her first few seasons, her character was wrapped up in her obsession with Meredith. While Meredith has reasons to return in Grey’s Anatomy season 20, her move to Boston and Helm’s budding romance with fellow resident Yasuda are good signs that Helm and her love life are finally going to be taken seriously.
Helm Becoming Co-Chief Resident Will Finally Allow Her To Shine In Grey’s Anatomy
The biggest storyline that will be explored with Helm in Grey’s Anatomy is her becoming Schmitt’s co-chief resident. The reinstatement of the residency program in season 19 highlighted how much change still needed to happen at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in order to produce brilliant surgeons who don’t burn out. Helm was a big agent of the changes that are currently underway, as her standing up for Yasuda to Teddy not only got Yasuda a grant to help her stay at the hospital but also forced the department heads to reevaluate the workloads residents face.
Now that Helm is returning to surgery in Grey’s Anatomy as a doctor who has gained the respect of her superiors without having to further sacrifice her mental and physical health, she can finally shine in ways she was never able to before. Helm clearly has strong potential as a surgeon as she was named co-chief resident even after months away from work and was able to train Yasuda in a surgical technique that won her a hospital contest. Grey’s Anatomy season 20 will allow Helm to reach her full potential professionally as well as properly explore her romantic life as one of the show’s few LGBTQIA+ characters.
