Fear not, Gray’s Anatomy continues to be steady and in good situation after shedding a significant artery: its titular character, Dr. Meredith Gray.
Season 19 of the ShondaLand medical drama on ABC returned Thursday evening for a bittersweet but gracious send-off to Gray, who has been performed by Ellen Pompeo for practically 18 years.
In typical Gray’s Anatomy style, Pompeo’s ultimate episode is a cocktail of drama, despair, love, heartbreak, and (ultimately) hope that ends in Gray and her youngsters flying to Boston, the place they’ll now stay whereas she researches Alzheimer’s illness.
Notably — and fortunately — Gray wasn’t killed off, which leaves open the potential of a return, though dying has by no means stopped beloved characters from coming again to the present in dream sequences.
Nonetheless, Gray’s Anatomy with out Pompeo feels unimaginable, and a number of other forged members (in addition to followers) are actually tasked with embracing a brand new period on one in all ABC’s longest-running and most reliable scripted reveals.
“I’m probably not positive how the present goes to work out with out her, as a result of she’s been there for the reason that very starting,” Mariana Maciel, a fan from Mexico, instructed BuzzFeed Information forward of Thursday’s episode.
Luckily, the present stays in good palms with Chandra Wilson (who performs Dr. Miranda Bailey) and James Pickens Jr. (Dr. Richard Webber) taking on the reins because the longest-running authentic forged members.
“Her presence is not essentially gone. [Pompeo is] nonetheless very a lot part of the material of every day Gray’s Anatomy life,” Wilson instructed BuzzFeed Information. Nonetheless, she admitted, “It’s form of bizarre. It is like we’re saying goodbye, however are we?”
To be clear, no, they — and followers — usually are not. Pompeo will proceed to carry out the voiceovers that play originally and finish of virtually each episode to supply that sense of normalcy, however she’ll now not act in each episode.
