‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is back with a heartbreaking return to the beach

This week’s news that Grey’s Anatomy (Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV) may be coming to an end already had us in our feelings. Thursday’s episode did nothing to leave viewers with warm fuzzies either. In one of the most emotionally devasting episodes ever, which is saying A LOT for Grey’s Anatomy, the death of TWO characters, including one beloved regular, has left viewers wondering how much more pain we take. Oh Grey’s, we wish you didn’t think we were so strong.

After 17 seasons and several major character deaths, Grey’s Anatomy has firmly established two ways a surgeon can leave the series feet first. There’s the drawn-out death, like Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) growing increasingly sick until his LVAD wire was cut, and there’s the shocking death, like George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) being hit by a bus. On Thursday, Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) joined the latter. 

In a Grey’s death that will undoubtedly go down as one of the most tragic, DeLuca had finally completed his redemption arc. His mania, which has led to some brilliant medical breakthroughs, was under control. He and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) had found their way back to friendship and his relationship with his sister Carina (Stefania Spampinato) was stronger than ever. They were two halves of a whole! On Thursday, the woman he had accused of sex trafficking had been caught by DeLuca and arrested, but he was stabbed in the process.

After being rushed into surgery with Owen (Kevin McKidd), Teddy (Kim Raver) and the new resident Dr. Kahn (Nikhil Shukla), it appeared that DeLuca would be okay, which was a relief for many reasons, including not having to see Weber (James Pickens Jr.) whisper “Please don’t take this boy” again in the gallery. Our heart cannot handle a devastated Weber. 

Of course, DeLuca’s surgery went a little too smoothly, which means after Carina was reunited with her brother and the hospital staff collectively breathed a sigh of relief, DeLuca went into disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), which means the proteins that are supposed to control blood clotting become overactive. Thank you, WebMD. We thought looking up the thing that killed DeLuca would help ease the pain. It didn’t.

Thursday’s episode ended not with another cliffhanger, but instead the very devastating finality that DeLuca had died on the operating table. Being reunited with his mother on the beach gave viewers some sense of peace that we will need to hold onto next week when the aftermath of the brilliant surgeon’s death is accepted by his friends and colleagues.

On the surface, this season of Grey’s Anatomy has been one big lesson in how important it is to take COVID seriously. But it’s also made us hate the beach during a year when we can’t travel anyways, so there’s that too.

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As if DeLuca’s death wasn’t enough heartbreak for one episode (it was), Jo’s (Camilla Luddington) patient Val, who had already survived so much, died only seconds before getting to meet her daughter Luna for the first time. The final image of Jo crying over Luna’s tiny body is possibly a signal that she may adopt the child. Or, like the rest of us, Jo has had enough.

The rest of the hospital didn’t fare much better on Thursday’s episode. Schmitt (Jake Borelli) was already on the verge of an emotional breakdown after spending months treating COVID patients and his distress was only heightened when he realized that he treated the woman who was responsible for DeLuca being stabbed. Schmitt made the wise decision to not scrub in for DeLuca’s surgery, instead suggesting Dr. Kahn, who has more experience and less personal attachment to the patient.

Tom (Greg Germann) is still in the hospital with COVID and has decided that his best form of treatment is to force Teddy to say she never loved him, which seems to cause more suffering for both. Doctors make the worst patients, amirite?

Outside the hospital, Link (Chris Carmack) and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) are trying to raise four children while Meredith’s life (and inadvertently their lives) hang in the balance. Link makes the very honest statement that he’s terrified Meredith will die, and he’ll be left raising her three kids. Is that a terrible thing to say? Maybe, but it’s also honest and something anyone who has cared for young children can understand. They are the greatest and toughest things in the world.

Maggie (Kelly McCreary) is ignoring the pandemic and enjoying room service and bed service with Winston (Anthony Hill), until Jackson (Jesse Williams) shows up to bring her to Amelia. Ain’t no buzzkill like an ex-boyfriend/stepbrother buzzkill. Maggie is literally never allowed to have fun.

Maggie and Amelia force themselves to tell Zola just how bad things are with Meredith, which reiterates Maggie’s good decision to keep her phone off. 

And Bailey (Chandra Wilson) slept through the entire episode because she is the smartest person in the hospital. 

Watch new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.

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