Meredith Grey has been a Grey's Anatomy staple since Day 1. And she has mostly remained so over the past two decades. Even though Ellen Pompeo's renowned character left the show as a full-time cast member several years ago, the end of Season 21 has confirmed she's sticking around a little longer.
Even despite appearing in fewer episodes per season since her full-time departure, Meredith has continued to play a pivotal role in holding the show together. It no longer needs her; episodes without her still feel as Grey's as any other. But when the show wants to use her, it makes sure her presence counts.
The evidence is clear even in last week's finale, when Meredith stepped in -- literally -- during a hostage situation to help calm the distraught mother of a high-risk patient. Meredith is no stranger to putting her life on the line to save other people -- sometimes her self-destructive tendencies end up working out quite selflessly, and conveniently. But that's not the only thing the finale revealed. We also learned that Meredith will be back, at least for the summer -- what might equate to the very beginning of the show's next season, premiering this fall on ABC.
Try as it might, the show can't seem to let Meredith go. And that's fine with me. Pompeo took a step back, starred in a true-crime Hulu drama, and got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She appears to be living her best life. If she wants to return -- regardless of the capacity -- no one's going to tell her no. Especially not Shonda Rhimes. Many of the show's fans don't want to see her gone for good, either. Can we really have Grey's Anatomy without the one remaining Grey? (I'd argue that we can, but that doesn't mean we should.)
Even in-universe, she remains tied to Grey Sloan Memorial partly by choice but mostly by guilt. The moment she tells Richard she's selling her shares of the hospital, he goes rigid. And guilt trips her time and again throughout the episode until she changes her mind. Even Catherine Fox doesn't seem too sorry to see her stay, and that's pretty impressive for Catherine Fox.
As much as I didn't need the show to trick me into believing she was leaving for good -- of course I believed it; I'll believe anything as soon as a new episode of this show starts rolling in front of me -- I'm glad she's here to stay. She grounds me. I love the show's remaining cast and am confident any new additions will even further improve the upward trajectory in the show's quality recently. But just because we don't need Meredith doesn't mean I don't feel at home whenever she's around.
No matter how long she stays, how long this show continues, and how closely tied together those two things may still be behind the scenes, for now, I'm happy we don't have to say goodbye just yet.