“Final” episode: Season 10’s “Fear (of the Unknown)” (May 15, 2014) And no, we’re not counting characters like Ellis Grey who came back several times over the years, or characters who only re-appeared through old footage, like everyone in that Day of the Dead episode where Mer saw the ghosts of half the show’s starting cast.
Seeing as some of those returns were far more welcome than others, however, we’ve decided to rank them all. Whoever it is (Ellis? George? Lexie? Joe the bartender?), they’ll be the latest in a long line of significant characters who’ve re-appeared after years away from Grey Sloan Memorial. What we’ll get, instead, is a nail-biter of a COVID-19 plotline featuring several instances of a passed-out Meredith dreaming of seeing Derek on a beach - and, according to the promos for December 3’s episode, the return of at least one more person from her past.
Since this is Grey’s Anatomy, though, and the titular Grey, Ellen Pompeo, is happy to keep cashing her $20 million paycheck, don’t expect the world’s unluckiest Dartmouth grad to actually kick the bucket anytime soon. Sure, McDreamy didn’t do much more than smile and wave (and his follow-up cameo in last week’s “My Happy Ending” wasn’t any more involved), but considering that the last time fans saw him he was being removed from life support after a car accident, his re-appearance is still wholly welcome - even if it does mean that, once again, Meredith is one medical complication away from meeting her demise. Even by Grey’s Anatomy standards, the return of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) in the season 17 premiere was a genuine shocker.