‘Grey's Anatomy’ Season 17 Episode 2: Will Derek and Meredith reunite again or was that just a dream?
Hold your breath! The day just got a little more beautiful as McDreamy came back in one of the biggest twists ever on ‘Grey's Anatomy’. One of the most beloved characters, Patrick Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd — who died in a tragic twist in an April 2015 episode — makes a surprise entry after 15 long years. Meredith Grey's lover appeared in a dream sequence on a beach seconds after Meredith collapsed in the parking lot of Grey Sloan Memorial.
Is Meredith Grey dead? Will Covid-19 take her life? And will she reunite with Derek in heaven with flashes appearing in more episodes in the future? It's quite possible that the deadly virus got to her as she struggled to cope with the ever-increasing Covid-19 deaths at the hospital. There are too many questions and not many answers. But, we'll tell you what we do know... here are tidbits from Pompeo, Dempsey and Krista Vernoff's exclusive Deadline interview.
Is it just a dream sequence?
Talking about how dreams have played an intense role during the lockdown, Vernoff said, "I had this imagining of a beach motif throughout the season, and I called Ellen, and I said, what if we bring back, I don’t know, some dead character that you could dream of on the beach, that would be so fun for the fans. And she said, let’s get Patrick. Even in my most excitable dream life, that thought hadn’t occurred to me as an option, and there it was."
Dempsey dished out how it was filming the scene and said, "Well, I have less eyesight than I used to, so (laughter). It was great. It was really fun, very special. it felt really comfortable, incredibly safe. The whole process, I have to say, from getting tested before even showing up to the set, the whole process in which we shot, I felt safe the whole time. You felt the crew was protected. We had the outdoor space, and it was easy."
How did Patrick Demsey agree?
"Patrick and I both have homes in Malibu, and we went for a hike one day. I had known that Krista wanted to do a beach thing, and I was at the beach. Patrick and I weren’t hiking on the beach, but we were hiking in Malibu, which, you can see the beach... And the idea just struck me so I just said to him, would you ever consider coming and being a part of the storytelling this season?" Pompeo revealed. Luckily, the actor said yes!
He added, "We hadn’t spoken or been together for a while. It was a great opportunity to catch up and say, OK, what can we do for all the frontline responders? I’ve been tracking what Grey’s had been doing with giving masks, and making sure that people had the right equipment, and it came from that place — OK, what can we do to make people feel better, to give some comfort in this time of uncertainty, and that’s how it began. And it was really a wonderful experience to go back, to work with [director/EP] Debbie [Allen]."
Is their love here to stay?
"It felt great," Pompeo said. "Patrick and I have this chemistry, where I think, even from when we first met, for some reason it just felt like we’ve known each other for a hundred years, and it’s just the same feeling. It’s like riding a bike, we just have a chemistry and a dynamic that’s always served us well, and I think we have a genuine affection for each other." She added, "And it was very healing to come back, and know that we’re doing something good, putting out a positive story, a healing story, going to make people smile, and I think, for me, I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be able to be at this place in the show where we can do this. We constantly get to rewrite, I don’t want to say the ending, but we get to keep the rewrites going, which, I guess, you writers love, right?"
Will McDreamy come back again?
"It’s more than the one scene you saw..." Vernoff revealed. "Patrick and Ellen and I were all there at the beginning of this; I wasn’t there for the pilot, but I was there for the first seven seasons, and that was 17 years ago. That was, like, a lifetime ago; my kids weren’t alive. It was so wild to walk out on that beach, and just be together again as these different people that we are now. But I can’t overstate how joyful and healing an experience this was." Dempsey agreed: "It was really special. It’s really hard to believe, 17 years, that’s remarkable."
How did they keep Derek's comeback a secret?
Vernoff reveals: "I put the name “Ellis Grey” in the script that we read at the table, and I had Meredith say “Mom” at the table, so we got there on the day, and no one had been told what was happening. So, also watching the crew react, and [producer] Linda Klein, who’s been there from the beginning, we got Norman back, who was our amazing hair guy from the beginning [Norman T. Leavitt was makeup department head on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy for the first 14 seasons]. I was like a crazy person with this secret. And Ellen and I were texting at all hours of the night, like, who knows, I think this person."
Is Meredith dead?
"You can’t read into anything. Really, that’s dangerous territory. I think that, collectively, we, or creatively, it’s the same this year as it always is. Is there a reason to continue? What stories do we have to tell? What characters do we have to bring back that gives us story to tell? I said in another interview last week, we’re always in this incredibly sweet spot with this show, for whatever reason," Pompeo said. Maybe she is alive and she will keep having these dreams about Derek!
So, what's going to happen in the next episode? Titled ‘My Happy Ending’, the summary reads: "The Grey Sloan doctors continue to face their new Covid-19 reality and deal with a familiar and stubborn patient. Koracick is put in charge of the interns who recently joined the hospital ranks and Link operates on a sex therapist. Elsewhere, Maggie finds comfort in Winston's virtual presence." No mention of Meredith or McDreamy, sigh! But, everyone will wait for the next episode with bated breath, won't they?
The next episode of ‘Grey's Anatomy’ Season 17 will air on ABC from 9 pm ET to 10 pm ET on November 19, 2020.