[Warning: The next accommodates spoilers for the Season 17 premiere of Gray’s Anatomy. Learn at your individual danger!]
Grey’s Anatomy returned on Thursday night with a two-hour blockbuster premiere that showcased how medical professionals are combatting the COVID-19 pandemic head-on and, as promised, ended with a jaw-dropping ending. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) returned on the very finish of the Season 17 premiere in what seems to be a dream, after not being seen on the present for the reason that character’s loss of life in Season 11.
Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) collapsed on the finish of the premiere episode and located herself staring out on the seaside, solely to listen to Derek calling her title from a methods down on the sand. The preview for subsequent week’s episode confirmed that whereas Meredith could also be hallucinating, we weren’t imagining McDreamy on our screens. Because the Gray Sloan group investigates what made Meredith collapse, it seems that she and Derek can be communing in her psychological limbo.
“Crucial activity we had this season was to honor the truth of this international pandemic and the impression it is having — notably on healthcare employees. Together with that, we needed to provide you with artistic methods to permit our present to nonetheless be enjoyable and romantic and supply some escapism. Enter Patrick Dempsey,” Gray’s boss Krista Vernoff stated in an announcement to TV Information. “The seaside motif — which can proceed past the premiere — supplied a means for us to reside outdoors the pandemic, even for a short while right here and there. And Derek’s return supplied pure pleasure for us, for Meredith, and for the followers. Season 17 has been a Herculean effort by our solid, our crew, our writers, and our companions at Disney and ABC — and we’re happy with it. However our effort is nothing in comparison with the work of our frontline healthcare employees to whom this season is devoted. We hope our present evokes you to put on your masks to guard them and one another. As Derek Shepherd would say, ‘It is a lovely day to save lots of lives.'”
Elsewhere within the premiere, flashbacks caught us up on how Gray Sloan was coping with the pandemic in April 2020, in addition to what’s modified since we final noticed the medical doctors. There have been some burning questions answered in some storylines, main developments in others, and naturally the episode-ending shocker. Here is every part you must learn about what occurred earlier than that cliffhanger put us on the sting of our seats.
Owen and Teddy
They actually made folks wait till the second hour of the premiere to seek out out concerning the fallout after Teddy’s (Kim Raver) humiliating sex voicemail. Within the flashbacks, Owen (Kevin McKidd) pretended to not learn about Teddy and Tom (Greg Germann) till the right second arrived for him to play the voicemail again to Teddy. It was savage however satisfying, and Teddy spent a lot of the episode shunned by remainder of the hospital employees. Teddy tried her finest to enchantment to Owen on the finish of the episode, but it surely would not appear like he is in a mindset to forgive her anytime quickly.
Meredith and DeLuca
The final we noticed of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti), DeLuca had miraculously discovered what should be blamed for issues with Richard (James Pickens Jr.) after which admitted he had his personal psychological well being points to confront. The Season 17 premiere confirmed what Station 19 said in Season 3, DeLuca has Bipolar II dysfunction. Within the present timeline, DeLuca is seeing a therapist and sleeping often, but it surely took one other intervention and an emotional break for DeLuca to get the assistance he desperately wanted. On the finish of the premiere, it was nonetheless unclear the place he and Meredith stand romantically. Clearly, he’ll be by her facet making an attempt to determine what’s fallacious together with her following the collapse.
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Jo and Jackson
By no means in 1,000,000 years did we count on to place these two collectively, however Season 17 is outwardly making an attempt to make Jo (Camilla Luddington) and Jackson (Jesse Williams) a factor. Jo, in a determined try and recover from Alex (Justin Chambers), hit up Jackson for some no-strings connected intercourse, or as she put it, to be the “bridge” between the husband that deserted her and a girl prepared to maneuver on together with her life. Jackson truly stated sure (as a result of clearly), however Jo ended up drunkenly sobbing into his mouth somewhat than them getting all the way down to the Kenny G playlist Jackson had curated for the event. After some awkward morning-after pressure, the 2 determined to overlook the entire thing and agreed to be buddies. Is that this who Pompeo was referring to when she teased that she has a new favorite couple this season? Yeah, we do not assume assume the e book has closed on this one but, however it’ll be a minute earlier than we all know how we really feel about it.
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Richard and Catherine
Richard is formally cobalt-free after his disastrous hip substitute and confirmed up simply in time to assist Gray Sloan work out a a lot wanted cleansing hack for his or her private protecting tools (PPE). Nevertheless, he and Catherine (Debbie Allen) spent a lot of the premiere at odds, with Richard nonetheless indignant that Catherine did not get up for him when he was fired from Gray Sloan on the finish of Season 15. This battle has been occurring for a very long time. Nevertheless, some chiding by the appropriate folks led to a reconciliation, and Catherine demoted Tom with a purpose to make Richard the Chief of Chiefs at Gray Sloan.
Amelia and Hyperlink
The pair are caring for the Gray-Shepherd brood, together with a new child, whereas they’re on parental go away. That they had some 10 p.m. broadcast-standards-level intercourse to rejoice Hyperlink’s (Chris Carmack) birthday. Oh, and the child’s title is Scout Derek Shepherd Lincoln.
Gray’s Anatomy continues Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.