*This article contains spoilers on the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy*
Well, Grey’s Anatomy did it again. They killed off yet another main character, causing us all to bawl our eyes out. The precious Andrew DeLuca has been killed off the show after an extremely intense 2-hour crossover return of Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy. Since Grey’s Anatomy’s break in December, we’ve all been excited for our favorite show to return. We certainly were not expecting the twists and turns that Krista Vernoff, the head writer and executive producer, had in store for us, though. Let’s break down this heart-wrenching episode.
For this particular episode, it is crucial that you watch Station 19 because the episode picks up from where Station 19 left off. At the end of Station 19, we find out that Dr. Andrew DeLuca (played by Giacomo Gianniotti) has been stabbed by a man that Opal has been working with. Opal (played by Stephanie Kurtzuba) is a child trafficker that DeLuca has been after since the end of Season 16 and is finally caught and arrested at the end of this Station 19 episode. We see that DeLuca and the man collide with each other and at first, we think that they simply bumped into each other but then we find out that this man actually stabbed DeLuca and left him bleeding on the floor of the train station. Carina, DeLuca’s sister played by Stefania Spampinato, finds her brother bleeding out on the floor of the train station and the episode ends with her screaming for help.
Then, the episode of Grey’s Anatomy begins with DeLuca on a stretcher in the ambulance being rushed to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. We are given his POV of his sister standing over him in tears and Ben Warren (played by Jason Winston George) trying to stop the bleeding. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) then comes into the picture and is right where we left off. She was just put on a ventilator because she has COVID and her condition is worsening. She can no longer breathe on her own. We see Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) sleeping by her side.
The episode also picks up where we left off from a patient perspective. A few episodes ago, a patient named Val was forced to deliver her baby prematurely and she also is in septic shock so she has not been able to see her baby once. She tries to lie to Dr. Jo Wilson (Camila Luddington) and says that she is feeling better but Jo knows she is only lying so she can see her baby Luna for the first time.
The ambulance pulls up to the front of the hospital and Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Dr. Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli) quickly discover that one of their own is badly injured. Dr. Hunt and the trauma team place a chest tube so that DeLuca gets better airflow. The team then transports DeLuca to the OR and Carina asks to go with him but Dr. Hunt does not let her because the rule is to keep family out of the OR. Dr. Taryn Helm (Jaicy Elliot) watches all of this happen and then immediately runs to tell Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) who rushes to help DeLuca.
Now comes the Season 17 staple: the beach. So far, we have seen Patrick Dempsey aka the iconic McDreamy come back to her on the beach and they have shared a few scenes together which fans have absolutely loved. Dr. Derek Shepherd died back in Season 11 after being hit by a semi-truck. We have missed our Merder scenes and the one amazing thing about this season is that they are back. In addition to Dempsey returning, T.R Knight who played George O’Malley who tragically died in Season 5 after being hit by a bus, returns to Meredith on the beach as well. So when the beach comes, we know that this is certainly a sign of death. Andrew DeLuca is standing next to Meredith on the beach and as soon as I saw this, I knew it was over for DeLuca. A lot of people shipped Meredith and DeLuca (Merluca) however I was never for this couple. The scene is very touching though and definitely brought tears to my eyes.
Dr. Schmitt soon learns that he actually treated Opal the night before this incident and she lied to him saying that she was mugged. He believed her because he did not know she was the sex trafficker and gave her the treatment she needed. Schmitt starts freaking out because now he feels that DeLuca’s stabbing was all his fault. Had he not treated Opal, DeLuca would not have gotten stabbed. If I’m being completely honest, I have never been a fan of Schmitt. I have always seen him as an immature intern who serves no purpose and only makes things worse. Just my opinion though.
It then cuts to a scene of Teddy Altman and Tom Koracik (Greg Germann). I am gonna share my opinion and say that I absolutely despise Teddy Altman. She cheated on Owen Hunt and also had an affair with her friend’s girlfriend which we learned in an emotional episode back in season 16. In addition, she named her child that she had with Owen after her girlfriend that died, Allison. I have absolutely no respect for her. However, I do heavily ship Tom and Teddy. I think that they are both disgusting people but they work well together as a couple.
Dr. Jo Wilson and Dr. Cormac Hayes (Richard Flood) both learn that baby Luna’s condition is worse and she needs another surgery. Dr. Hunt updates Dr. Webber on DeLuca and Webber demands to scrub in on DeLuca’s surgery because DeLuca was the one that diagnosed Richard’s condition at the end of season 16, that he had cobalt poisoning from his decaying hip replacement. However, Webber has not operated in months because he has been in recovery and Hunt tells him this is why he cannot scrub in and demands that Richard go get Teddy Altman to do the surgery. Well, this is awkward… putting Owen Hunt and Teddy Altman in a room together and needing them to be serious and put their conflict aside to save one of their own. Hmmm….
Dr. Hayes and Dr. Wilson decide to tell Val that Luna needs another surgery and let’s just say that Val does not take it lightly. Dr. Wilson feels so bad and decides to jump in without Dr. Hayes’s permission and tells Val that she will bring Luna to her before surgery so she can see her. Dr. Hayes tells Wilson that this was completely out of line but we cannot help and feel touched by how big of a heart Jo Wilson has. She is personally one of my favorite characters.
Dr. Altman and Dr. Hunt do the surgery on DeLuca and before we find out if it was successful or not, we see Carina and her girlfriend Maya in the chapel praying for DeLuca. She tells a heartwarming story about how their mother used to call them “two halves of one whole” because she knew they “couldn’t breathe without the other.” This is extremely touching yet devastating at the same time because all Grey’s fans know that normally when they reveal a sad and touching story, it does not end well. Things start looking up when Dr. Hunt tells Carina that the surgery was successful and Carina is allowed to see DeLuca (for what we soon learn is the last time they will ever see each other). Carina gets to tell her brother that Opal and her partner who stabbed him were arrested and that by going after Opal, he has now saved countless children’s lives. Andrew DeLuca is officially a hero. This seems familiar to Grey’s fans… a character dying a hero’s death. George died a hero’s death in season 5 when he jumped in front of a bus to protect a random stranger and Derek died a hero’s death after saving a mother and daughter from a car crash on the side of the highway in season 11.
Dr. Hunt is with DeLuca when he codes and starts bleeding out. Looks like things are not looking good for DeLuca. He is opened back up and rushed to the OR immediately. Owen tells DeLuca that he has got him and this seems extremely familiar to when Derek told O’Malley back in Season 5 that he has got him and that he was not going anywhere. What happened? He died. Was this parallel on purpose? Or purely a coincidence?
To make it an official episode of Grey’s Anatomy aka extremely depressing, right when Val is about to see her baby for the first time, she also codes. Maggie and Amelia decide to tell Meredith’s oldest child, Zola, what is happening to her mother. We then see that Val has died and her baby Luna has successfully made it through surgery. Jo feels for Luna and reaches through the incubator to hold her tiny little fingers. Something feels different this time. It seems as though Jo shares a special connection to Luna and I am predicting that Jo will adopt Luna and raise her as her own. We shall see…
Finally, we see Dr. Hunt and Dr. Altman rushing to stop DeLuca from bleeding out and as soon as it cut to a beach scene, we all knew what was about to happen. DeLuca is shown building a sandcastle however the tide is coming in too quickly for him to finish. I thought that this symbolism was absolutely beautiful, and I loved how they used the tide as a way to show that DeLuca’s time was coming to an end. “I had more to do! I had plans!” DeLuca tells Meredith as he tries to save what he has just built. This is absolutely heartbreaking yet it seems like DeLuca is finally able to find peace. He tells Meredith how being with her made him a better person and tells her how much she inspired him. “I’ll miss you,” she tells him. We hear a voice in the distance calling out to him that at first sounds like Carina but we then see that it is DeLuca’s mom! He says goodbye to Meredith, runs across the sand to his mother, and is reunited with her in peace. I absolutely bawled my eyes out, especially when DeLuca gave Meredith one final wave goodbye. Grey’s really does have a way of pulling at the heartstrings. Teddy and Owen cannot revive him after trying to restart his heart for 40 minutes. They call time of death and DeLuca is officially dead.
Although DeLuca was not my favorite character, his death really touched me and broke my heart. He will be greatly missed as he was such an inspirational character who showed that it was possible to overcome extreme struggles in mental health and who stood up for what he knew was right. He died a hero and I think that by having him die, the writers wanted to show that not every person’s story has a happy ending and that there are other serious issues still going on besides COVID that the world has seemed to forget. They were really able to shed light on how much sex trafficking has affected the lives of so many. What do you think about Season 17 so far? Do you think it is important to showcase these issues through television or do you think we need television to give us a break from the depressive world that we are currently living in? Do you think that Meredith will make it through the season or will they have her die from COVID, officially ending the show after 17 seasons?