Grey's Anatomy Brings Back Meredith's Very First Patient to Help Reinstate Her Medical License
Warning: The following article contains spoilers from the Nov. 14 episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
Grey’s Anatomy giveth, and Grey’s Anatomy taketh away.
The hit ABC show celebrated its 350th episode by revisiting its origin story — from revealing a surprising truth about Meredith Grey’s place as an intern at the hospital to the return of her very first patient — as Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) fought to have her medical license reinstated after she was caught committing insurance fraud in order to save a young patient.
And the gifts kept coming in the form of the return of the doctor who failed to save her husband, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and letters of recommendation from former characters, Drs. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), April Kepner (Sarah Drew), and Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw). The soundtrack even included an Easter egg: a cover of Tegan and Sara’s “Where Does the Good Go,” which originally played in the fourth episode of the series.
But, alas, it wasn’t all joyful. This is Grey’s after all, and like Meredith herself, it can be “dark and twisty.” Meredith’s relationship with Dr. Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) took a tumble after he saw how she spoke about Derek — and they’re now on a break.
And now that we’ve given you the broad strokes, let’s break down the seven biggest moments of this milestone episode.
1. Meredith Wasn’t Originally Supposed to Be an Intern at Seattle Grace
Grey’s Anatomy kicked off with Meredith, Cristina, Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), George O’Malley (T. R. Knight), and Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) on their first day as interns at the hospital. But, as we learn in episode 350, Meredith was not originally matched with Seattle Grace (now known as Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital).
Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickins Jr.) was the Chief of Surgery at the time, so his former executive assistant appeared to answer some questions in Meredith’s medical board hearing from prosecuting attorney Ashley (Marin Hinkle). And she revealed that when Meredith wasn’t on the initial list of applicants matched at the hospital, she set up a call between him and president of the NRMP, “and the next thing I knew, I was adding Meredith’s name to the roster.”
“There is a history,” Webber explained to Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) later, referring to Ellis Grey, Meredith’s mother with whom he’d once had an affair. “Meredith is family.”
2. Meredith Faces the Doctor Who Killed Derek
Meredith has been a nightmare client for her lawyer, and the episode began with the good doc promising to keep her mouth shut no matter what during the hearing. That quickly became a promise at risk of being broken when the fourth member of the board ran in a bit late: It’s Dr. Dan Castello, the doctor who failed to give Derek a CT scan following his car crash — an error led to Derek’s death. And making matters worse, Dr. Castello looked at Meredith like he’d never seen her before in his life.
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But Meredith managed to keep her mouth shut… that is, until he started questioning Alex about Meredith and Derek’s daughters. That’s when she jumped up and began listing the names of the spouses of patients she’d lost.
“I remember every single one of them,” she said. “You don’t get to sit up there and ask questions about my daughter. If you want to take my license and make sure I never see another patient again, then you do that. But you have absolutely no right to ever mention my daughter’s name because you are the one who killed her father. You don’t remember me, but I remember you.”
She continued to describe the ways in which he failed Derek and, just as she finished, Dr. Castello keeled over with a brain hemorrhage and eventually died.
3. Meredith’s Patients Return En Masse
When the three remaining members of the board declared that the hearing must be postponed while Dr. Castello was in surgery, Alex insisted that they couldn’t because “these people have come from all over to speak for Meredith.” In filed a horde of Meredith’s former patients, including the probation work site officer she helped and her very first patient from the very first episode of the show.
“I guess I met her on her very first day as a doctor, and it showed,” the blond woman said. “I mean, somebody had to help her unlock the wheels to the gurney. She was green and I was just awful. But on Dr. Grey’s very first day as a doctor, she was the only one who could figure out what was wrong with me, and because of her, I am sitting here with a newborn baby girl at home, and I just hope that I could give her back a little of the help that she gave to me.”
(Are you crying yet?)
4. Letters From Your Faves
Because we know you want to relive this moment without commentary: “Dear Medical Commission, People who know me would describe me as selfish to a fault. After that, they’d say ‘honest.’ I can honestly tell you that if I were ever dying and a surgery stood between me and death, Dr. Grey’s hands are the only ones I would want inside my body. Taking away her license is signing the death certificates of countless future patients. She is a light in a broken system that she will fix — whether you want her to or not. She is the sun, and she is unstoppable. Sincerely, Dr. Cristina Yang.”
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After Alex finished reading that letter, he shuffled through many others, namechecking Callie Torres, Addison Montgomery, April Kepner, and Arizona Robbins.
5. Bailey Makes Peace With Everyone
When Bailey, who fired both Webber, Alex, and Meredith amid the insurance fraud scandal, first took the stand, she was ice-cold. Asked about Meredith naming her son Bailey after her, she simply acknowledged that her former protege has a son named Bailey. Later, she confronted Webber about his giving her special treatment over the years — “Meredith Grey could commit murder and you’d hide the body,” she declared bitterly — and how his and Meredith’s actions affected her run as Chief, not to mention her friendships.
“I lost more than my job. I lost my hospital, I lost my best surgeons and my best friend. All because someone I thought I raised betrayed me. Do you know how that feels?” she asked him.
“It hurts pretty bad, doesn’t it?” Webber responded pointedly.
But the conversation eventually led to Bailey doing the most Bailey thing she’s done all season when she insisted on speaking once again to the commission.
“Ever since I first met Meredith Grey, I knew she was going to be a thorn in my side,” she began. “She broke a law to save a life, so she deserved to lose her job, she deserves to pick up trash. No one should be questioning her license. She’s too good at what she does. She’s worked too hard to get to where she is. And with all that she has survived, it hasn’t made her hard. It hasn’t made her mean or cold. It hasn’t made her not care. It’s made her better than anyone in this room.”
“Well, except me,” she added. “I’m Dr. Miranda Bailey, Chief of Surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and I approve this message.”
6. Meredith Gets Her License Reinstated
Duh. And Bailey offered for her to return to Grey Sloan. Yay.
7. Meredith and Andrew Are on a Break
Ahead of the hearing’s outcome, Meredith admitted to Andrew that she didn’t think their relationship would survive if she could no longer practice medicine. And then he saw how Meredith spoke about Derek. None of it left poor Andrew with a good taste in his mouth.
The episode wrapped up with Andrew coming to Meredith’s house to talk. “I love you and I’d do anything for you. Because that’s what you do for your partner. But, I’m not your partner, am I?” he said. “The look in your eye when you spoke about Derek today made me realize what I’ve been feeling this whole time. You didn’t just love Derek, you respected him…. There’s not some small part of you that wonders if I’m not your equal, at your level, or if I ever will be?”
He concluded by urging Meredith to “take some time” to figure out what she wants — and if he’s part of it.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
