Grey’s Anatomy Is Holding Meredith Hostage In The Hopes Of Having The Perfect Ending

One of Meredith’s storylines in Grey’s Anatomy’s latest seasons has the potential to be the perfect ending story for the medical drama, but its introduction years ago stifled where Meredith’s story could go in general. This was especially visible in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, where Meredith appeared in seven episodes, more compared to season 20, and despite that, her most important storyline seemingly kept her stuck, being marginally addressed and not really making the progress it had made in Grey’s Anatomy season 20.

Meredith’s presence and her storylines’ centrality changed greatly depending on the episodes in which she appeared after she officially left Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular in season 19, episode 7. The reasons Grey’s Anatomy gave for Meredith’s departure from Seattle were noble and worked perfectly to highlight her character development, as Meredith moved her entire family to support Zola. However, after virtually disappearing for 11 episodes as the medical drama didn’t update on what Meredith was doing, Grey’s Anatomy season 19’s finale put her back at the center when it revealed Meredith’s plans to revolutionize the Alzheimer’s research field.

Why Grey’s Anatomy Season 21 Couldn’t Advance Meredith’s Alzheimer’s Study Story Too Much

Meredith’s Alzheimer’s Research Is Inevitably Connected To Her Chances To Cure The Illness

Grey’s Anatomy season 21 seemingly struggled with what to do with Meredith’s Alzheimer’s research story. Provoking Catherine’s ire by publishing her findings for everyone to read in Grey’s Anatomy season 20’s finale effectively stopped Amelia and Meredith from momentarily continuing their research, giving the medical drama a good enough reason not to progress the Alzheimer’s research story as quickly as it did in Grey’s Anatomy season 20. Still, the change couldn’t have been more noticeable between Grey’s Anatomy season 20 and 21, with the latter having Meredith not explain to Amelia nor the audiences what her Alzheimer’s research plans were.

While focusing on the difficult compromise Meredith and Catherine reached, Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episodes 1 to 3 felt entirely different from Grey’s Anatomy season 20’s finale in regards to Meredith’s Alzheimer’s research, as the topic felt like an elephant in the room that nobody wanted to really discuss, when in season 20 it was Meredith’s main storyline that progressed steadily. Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 12 finally revealed Meredith’s direction with her research, but it’s impossible not to think that the story’s previously uneven pacing had to do with Meredith curing Alzheimer’s being the perfect Grey’s Anatomy ending storyline.

Meredith’s Alzheimer’s Research Story Is Grey’s Anatomy’s Perfect Ending (Introduced Too Soon)

It Would Let Grey’s Anatomy Come Full Circle

Meredith’s Alzheimer’s research was introduced coincidentally with her departure from Seattle, as, together with getting Zola to the best possible school for her, moving to Boston also meant Meredith could study Alzheimer’s with the help and funding of the Fox Foundation. While Meredith’s actions regarding where to steer her Alzheimer’s research made her relationship with Catherine immensely more difficult, it’s undeniable how Meredith curing Alzheimer’s would be the perfect ending storyline for Grey’s Anatomy.

Meredith curing Alzheimer’s would work on more levels as a perfect Grey’s Anatomy ending story. It would let the medical drama come full circle, as the illness cut short Ellis Grey’s career and life, and curing it would also mean concluding the storyline introduced in Grey’s Anatomy’s series premiere when it showed how everything Meredith had told people about Ellis was a lie because her mother was ill and not on a sabbatical. At the same time, Alzheimer’s directly threatened Meredith, as several genetic markers came back positive for Alzheimer’s in Grey’s Anatomy season 9 when Meredith tested for it.

Meredith undertook plenty of projects that changed medicine, some that paid off like Megan Hunt’s surgery, which also won Meredith the Harper Avery in Grey’s Anatomy season 14, and others that led to the death of Meredith’s patients, like in Grey’s Anatomy season 18’s finale. Meredith researching Alzheimer’s, doing incredible progress only to cure the illness at the end would be the greatest pay-off and the biggest thing she could ever do as a doctor, thus making it the best possible ending for Grey’s Anatomy as it would end Meredith’s story by making her a legend.

However, introducing Meredith’s research with her move in Grey’s Anatomy season 19 inevitably meant that Meredith couldn’t cure Alzheimer’s before the medical drama’s end, or it would have been entirely anticlimactic. Grey’s Anatomy season 21 couldn’t do anything but slow down Meredith’s research, showing an odd pacing, to recalibrate from the incredible progress in Grey’s Anatomy season 20. Meredith’s story in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 paid the price because the show’s perfect ending storyline was introduced too soon, making Meredith its hostage, but it also tried to fix the problem by indirectly putting Meredith at Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s center.

How Can Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Fix Meredith’s Story Without Stagnating Her Story

Letting Her Research Progress While Focusing On Other Reasons For Meredith’s Appearance Could Work

Trying to continue focusing on Meredith’s Alzheimer’s research in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episodes 1 to 3, let Meredith’s story stagnate. However, her return in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episodes 10 and 11, showed that the medical drama could focus on Meredith by telling other storylines that deeply involved her without the research being at the front and center. Another good example was Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s ending, which set up a new framework for Meredith’s return onscreen in the future.

Indeed, Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 18 establishing Meredith’s wish to be closer to her family in Seattle gave her a new reason to return to Grey Sloan, one that didn’t have anything to do with her feud with Catherine or her research. This makes it easier for Grey’s Anatomy season 22 to tackle any of Meredith’s storylines without having to always mention her Alzheimer’s research, slowing it down without affecting Grey’s Anatomy’s whole pacing as a result.