Teddy Altman has just joined SGMW as the new cardio attending. Yang, however, is unimpressed and impatiently refers to her as "Private Benjamin" - an allusion to the 1980 movie Private Benjamin starring Goldie Hawn about a sheltered, high society woman who joins the Army on whim only to find herself in over her head.
This episode marks the first appearance of Teddy Altman. A character by the same name appears in the comic book series "Young Avengers." Both this episode and that comic were written by Allan Heinberg.
Every episode is named after a song. "New History" is a song by Caseiopia