I am thrilled that Kelly McCreary’s Maggie Pierce was given a wonderful Grey’s Anatomy send-off, but what about Ellen Pompeo, who has been the heart and soul of the show since day one? Krista Vernoff said Meredith Grey’s send-off was more of a see you later since she’ll be back in the season 19 finale. But Kelly will also be back for the season finale.
The actors aren’t leaving permanently like they used to. Look at Kate Walsh. She’s visited Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital several times this season. She’ll even be back again next week. Jesse Williams has also shown up a few times. Jackson Avery also got an excellent farewell. But we didn’t know we would see him again after that episode.
Regardless of whether the actors will return if Grey’s Anatomy advertises it as a farewell episode, it should be constructed as one. The Shondaland medical drama has done many incredible send-off episodes, so fans expect them to be good. ABC heavily promoted “I’ll Follow the Sun,” season 19, episode 7, as Meredith’s farewell episode. There was even a bittersweet tribute video to Meredith on social media. That was actually a better farewell than the episode.
There were some good moments of “I’ll Follow the Sun.” It showed how much Meredith had grown when she told Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman) that she wouldn’t beg him to choose her. That was a call back to Meredith telling Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) to pick her.
Warning: Spoilers
For Maggie Pierce, Grey’s Anatomy gave her a 2-hour episode highlighting what fans love about her. She’s an ambitious cardio surgeon that’s great at her job. It highlighted the qualities of Ellis she got but also the ones she got from Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). She even chose a different path for herself than both of her mothers did.
Many things were going on, but Grey’s Anatomy “Shadow of Your Love,” season `19, episode 14, and “Mama Who Bore Me,” season 19, episode 15, took good care of Maggie’s storyline. The storyline with her and Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) was getting tiring. It brought out the not-so-great qualities in Maggie. Ones that had fans disliking her when Maggie was with Avery. These two episodes closed that storyline well.
It had them working in the OR together on a tumor shaped like a heart. They work so well together when it comes to surgery, but they could never keep that sync in their romantic relationship. Grey’s Anatomy ended their love story on a high note and will let them both move on.
It was also an empowering ending for Maggie. She’s moving to Chicago to save so many lives. She’s reached the next step in her career, and I hope we get to see some of it or at least get updates on her.
I always loved Maggie because of her ambition. We also got to see her do some incredible surgeries. I especially love that they gave her one final one. Romantic relationships were never her strong suit, but family relationships were good. I’ll miss the sisterhood between Maggie, Meredith and Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone). It was one of my favorite relationships on the show. Grey’s Anatomy kept it going with Maggie and Amelia, but now it’s the end of an era. We at least got one last moment with Maggie and Amelia, with Shepherd telling her she deserves this and should go.
The relationship between Richard and Maggie started rocky, but it’s now a heartwarming one. We also got a nice moment between the two of them. Grey’s Anatomy gave us everything with these episodes. I just wish it could have done the same with Meredith’s farewell episode.
