Grey’s Anatomy: How Meredith Said Goodbye to Seattle Amid Heartbreak and Hope and Built the Series’ Future

DEVASTATION WARNING: The story details the midseason premiere on February 23rd Grey’s Anatomy.

On March 27, 2005 Grey’s Anatomy debuted on ABC with its pilot episode chronicling Meredith Gray’s (Ellen Pompeo) first day as Seattle Grace’s new resident. Nearly 18 years later, tonight’s episode of ABC’s medical drama follows Meredith’s last day at the hospital, now called Gray Sloan Memorial, where she oversees the new group of residents.

The episode is titled “I’ll Follow the Sun” written by Outgoing Grey’s Anatomy Executive producer/showrunner Krista Vernoff and showrunner Debbie Allen marked Pompeo’s final role as a full-time cast member, filming a limited Hulu series and other projects — but for the Season 19- finale will return this season and may happen after that when the show is renewed for season 20, something that is fully expected, Deadline reported.

Meredith’s last day in Seattle was a heartwarming moment when Maggie and Winston successfully performed a unique, risky partial heart transplant on a newborn, and the surgical staff later gathered to toast Meredith and say goodbye.

But most of all, the day was sad – for Maggie and Winston, who shortly after Absorbing the Miracle had another bitter argument about their future, for Lucas, who beat himself up for not trying to patiently save one anymore and for Meredith. She had one last operation to perform when famous author Tessa Hobbes (Patricia Richardson), who had undergone whiplash in the previous episode, returned from picking up groceries in severe pain and rushed into the operating theater with massive internal bleeding. is. Meredith and Nick worked together on the operation, but were unable to save Tessa, who died on the operating table.

The unlucky lovers could not save their relationship either. Nick first went to Meredith’s office to confront her about not answering calls and planning to move across the country without talking to him. Meredith brings up a previous meeting at the office where she told Nick “I love you” and he didn’t say it, blaming his desire to take things slow for not consulting with him when she decided to go to Boston. Nick felt that Meredith was responsible for their fight, and stormed out.

After more teasing from Meredith about a woman living alone, stuck in her habits and having a hard time changing and asking for help as she and Nick reviewed Tessa’s CT scan, the two were alone immediately after Tessa’s death.

“I hate that day, I hate everything about that day,” Nick said, to which Meredith replied, “Me too.”

Nick tried to explain why he was taking it easy: “I’m a transplant surgeon. I was trained to wait.”

But Meredith wasn’t there. “I want you in my life if you want to be in my life, but when I have to choose, I choose myself, I choose my children and I choose what’s best for us, and I won’t let you ask for it . “wait for me,” she shot back.

The final act of the episode played out like a rom-com trope – Nick is sitting at a bar, with a pal – in this case, the doctor-turned-bartender telling him what a fool he was and pushed him to go girl.

He obliged and rushed to the hospital only to hear that Meredith had gone to the airport. He followed her there, but his mission was thwarted by traffic, so he ended up calling Meredith when she and her children had already boarded the plane.

“I love you. I fell in love with you the first day I met you, I fell in love with you the second I met you and I loved you every minute of every day I knew you did,” Nick deadpanned, silence on the other end .

Meredith heard every word clearly, but decided on a cold one: “I can’t quite understand you. We’re going to take off. I’ll call you when we’re done” before hanging up.

A dejected Nick sitting in his car may be the last we see of Scott Speedman, at least for now. But Grey’s Anatomy could take a page from his own script and give fans a Meredith nickname update when Pompeo returns in the season 19 finale.

last season, grey Veteran Jesse Williams also left the show mid-season with Jackson’s potential new romance with ex April up in the air. Williams then returned to guest star alongside Sarah Drew in the season 18 finale, where they confirmed that Jackson and April rekindled their relationship by kissing in Gray Sloan’s elevator.

In another possible allusion to the grey Pilot, whose first scene took place at Meredith’s house where she woke up after a one night stand with Derek, tonight’s episode took place in the same house that Lucas, Simone and Mika all moved into, making the ending feel thought it was a hoax.

Additionally, the traditional end-of-episode montage primarily featured the five new interns introduced this season. Rejecting her physical appeal, Mika, as well as Lucas and Simone, became roommates in Meredith’s partially burned house, which was completely soaked. grey Lore, when Benson and Jules had a heated encounter in a dark hospital office, another long one grey Tradition. Aside from her numerous encounters with Nick, Meredith’s only one-on-one scene in the episode was with Simone, as the newcomers are positioned as the series’ new backbone and prepare for a future without the title character.

During editing, Meredith read Tessa’s latest book, “Tessa and the Rising Sun,” to her children on the plane after a USB stick with the manuscript was found in Tessa’s bag. The lecture replaced the traditional one Grey’s Anatomy Voiceover at the end of the episode. And although it was written by Tessa, the excerpt is very applicable to Meredith.

“I flew rockets and slayed dragons, I saved lives and my life was saved. I’ve been through broken bones and a broken home and the death of people I love, but I’m still here,” it said. “I’ve had adventures most people only dream of and I’ve had losses I still dream of. happily ever after, unless happy simply means that we are still alive, that the sun will rise another day, because with every sunrise comes the possibility of happiness and also the possibility of sadness. And sometimes everything is rolled up.”

Tessa’s book, Meredith’s chapter in Seattle, and Pompeo’s 18-year-old ash Grey’s Anatomy‘s star ended it all on a hopeful note: “As long as the sun rises in your life, there will be new dragons to slay. So the end of my story is not forever, because I’m still alive, I’m still here and the sun still shines on my life.”