‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Another Character Makes Surprise Return, and Fans’ Tears Are Flowing

During this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, another beloved character dead for several years made a cameo in Meredith Grey‘s beach dreamscape. Meredith has been battling the coronavirus and remains unconscious in a Grey Sloan hospital bed. In the Season 17 premiere, Meredith saw Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) in her dream and Ellen Pompeo has been teasing more returns ever since. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” followed through with that promise. Do not proceed if you still have not watched the episode!

This week, Meredith met Dr. George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), one of the original Grey’s Anatomy characters, notes Entertainment Tonight. Knight last played the character in the Season 5 finale, “Now or Never.” He got into an accident in the episode, and he died in the Season 6 premiere, “Good Mourning.” In “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” Meredith saw a shadowy figure near the lifeguard’s station on her beach. As she got closer to the person, it became clear it was George.

Meredith was confused to see him at first. The two started talking as if nothing had happened. Meredith told George that Derek told her the sand was not real. “Yeah, nope,” George said, crushing Meredith’s hope that this was not a dream. “It is nice though,” George continued. “I wouldn’t want to leave either.” Meredith then caught George up on everything that has happened in the past 11 seasons.

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The two friends then had a discussion on the afterlife. “Do I choose? Do I get to decide?” Meredith asked him. George reminded Meredith that he did not get a choice and would have stated if he could have. “I was devastated hen you died,” Meredith told George, who pointed out that she laughed at his funeral. “I was devastated and then I was OK. Even with Derek, eventually, you go on. And the kids would go on,” Meredith explained.

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Meredith later told George that she did not dance much anymore because Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) was not around. “She didn’t die,” George told Meredith. “It’s what I miss about being alive. Dancing… laughing ’til you cry, food… the crunch of cereal when you eat it out of the box… the feel of clean sheets at the end of a long day.” Weber (James Pickens Jr.) appeared with George and Meredith as she was going in and out of her coma. “If you stay here, it might break him,” George told Meredith. Fans will have to wait until Thursday at 9 p.m. ET to see what will happen next at Meredith’s beach.

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