Although season 16 came up short due to the Covid 19 virus this past spring, season 17 of Grey’s Anatomy is finally here! With quarantine, many people had been binge watching this show, written by Shonda Rimes, and were caught up to the point they were waiting for this season to premiere. However, it was different from previous seasons.
One thing that really stood out that was different was the mask. Yes, the point is to keep the actors safe and make it so they could actually air the show although, it would have been nice to escape reality and watch a show that wouldn’t remind you of the troubles we are facing. However the plan was the exact opposite. According to Patrick Dempsey (Derek Shepherd) on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen Pompeo (Merideth Grey), suggested to Dempsey in July that he along with other stars that got killed off or are no longer on the show, should reunite to “get people to wear their mask,” along with making an impact on their audience.
How they put this all into play in the first episode is quite interesting to say the least. After working long hours and multiple shifts taking care of the Covid patients among the hospital, the ending gives the audience that surprise. You have Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary) who is in a tent in her backyard due to the fact she can’t go in her home because she could affect her family that hasn’t been exposed to the hospital. This part alone makes a connection to the audience that works in the medical field because at the beginning of the outbreak, many parents of kids were cautious about exposing their children and significant others.
Lastly, the final scene is where Dempsey makes his appearance after being killed off five 5 years ago. When Grey is found on the ground in the parking lot of the hospital being surrounded by multiple people who then get asked to get a oxygen and a gurney as she drifted off in a dream to a beach where Sheperd is found and is yelling back to his wife, Grey, as she first yells that she misses him. This part of the final scene is what viewers thought was Grey experiencing Covid which was also confirmed by Dempsey in his interview with DeGeneres and how he made his first appearance in five years in her “Covid dream.”
I highly recommend watching this because along with the other seasons, give you that emotional roller coaster effect and although this might however be the last season of Grey’s Anatomy, there are other shows that run off this such as Station 19 and Private Practice.