Warning: Spoilers ahead.
LexieGrey and Mark Sloan
Ever since Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) showed up on Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) COVID beach in the first episode of Season 17, fans have been clamoring for one character more than anyone else: Meredith’s little sister, Lexie (Chyler Leigh). Lexie died at the end of Season 8, in a horrific plane crash that also claimed the life of Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). Grey’s Anatomy made the surprising call to reveal her return in advance of “Breathe,” putting her front and center in the promo for the episode. Fans probably could’ve guessed who was coming back this week even without the trailer, though, if they were paying attention to the episode’s title. “Breathe” by Anna Nalick was also Lexie’s big solo performance in the Season 7 musical episode, “Song Beneath the Song.” While the version used in the trailer wasn’t Lexie’s cover, the title alone should’ve been enough to tip off savvy fans. However, Grey’s Anatomy threw theorists off their scent, because she wasn’t the only Grey’s Anatomy casualty to show up on the beach in “Breathe.” Minutes after Lexie arrived, so did Mark, who was in love with Lexie while he was alive, but the timing was never quite right for the two of them to be together. In death, though, it appears the stars have finally aligned for the doomed couple to find happiness with one another; on the beach, at least, they can be together. While Lexie and Mark spend some of their time on the beach splashing in the surf together and making up for lost time, they also give Meredith some words of wisdom, about embracing change and leaning into the joy life has to offer, even in the midst of pain. They also tell her that there’s no need to miss them, because they never left, and have always been right there beside her. Mark’s final words to Meredith: “Don’t waste one single minute,” as he and Lexie share a meaningful look. They realize they never had the time together that they should have had, because they kept letting smaller things stand in their way. Their parting advice to Meredith is to not make the same mistake.
Derek Shepherd
Of course, we’ve seen Meredith’s dearly departed husband, Derek, on the beach several times by now, so it’s no surprise when Meredith voices her frustration to Mark and Lexie that she keeps seeing him, but she can’t touch him and he won’t help her get back to her life. However, there’s also a later, more tender nod to Derek when Meredith is sharing a happy memory with Lexie of her son, Bailey, making the whole family laugh on his birthday. “And when I looked at him and I saw that light in his eyes, he looked just like his dad,” Meredith says. “That same sparkle. That same delight.” It’s a lovely reminder not just of the fact that Derek is gone, but of the type of person he was: someone whose favorite phrase was, “It’s a beautiful day to save lives,” and who passed that joy and optimism on to his children.
Cristina Yang
Sandra Oh may be sticking to her guns that she isn’t returning to Grey’s Anatomy, but that hasn’t stopped Cristina Yang from occasionally popping back in somehow. In a brief scene in “Breathe,” we see that Cristina has apparently been regularly texting Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) from Zurich, demanding updates on her Person. Cristina: “Update???” Owen: “No update, she’s good.” Cristina: “That’s still an update. Send pic of her monitors.” Owen: “Cristina, I know how to read her monitors.” Cristina: “I don’t care.” As nice as it would be to see Cristina back in the flesh (and we have to believe that the only thing keeping Cristina from Meredith’s bedside is COVID-related international travel restrictions), it’s reassuring to know that even from the other side of the globe, Cristina is still on the case. Truthfully, it’s impossible to imagine a world where Meredith is in a coma and Cristina isn’t micromanaging her care, even if it has to be via text message.
Arizona Robbins and Callie Torres
Ever since Meredith had her near-death experience during Season 3 of Grey’s Anatomy, we’ve known that those who die on the show sometimes stick around to be close to the people they love; Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) told Meredith as much when he met her in the in-between. Mark confirms this version of the afterlife in “Breathe,” telling Meredith that for a long time after he died, he tried to talk to those he left behind. He mentions by name his daughter Sofia, along with her mother, Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), and Callie’s ex-wife, Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw). “I try to warn them sometimes,” Mark says. He explains that it’s hard to let go of life when you have a young child, so he sticks around for Sofia’s sake, and tries to warn Callie and Arizona when he sees something bad coming. “Like the divorce,” Meredith guesses, referring to the messy dissolution of Callie and Arizona’s marriage in Season 12. It was one of the uglier splits in Grey’s Anatomy history, with the two engaging in a cutthroat legal battle for Sofia that ended in Arizona being granted full custody of their daughter. However, Grey’s Anatomy implied that the two eventually got back together following the conclusion of Season 14. Although Callie left for New York at the end of Season 12, Arizona’s final episode in Season 14 shows the two conversing via text message, and Arizona preparing to move across the country to be close to her again. In “Breathe,” Mark hints that he may have been responsible for pushing the two of them back together, saying that he was yelling at the two of them to wake up, lest they miss the best parts of life. “I never get the credit though,” he complains, in true Mark fashion. “They think it’s their own idea.” It adds a bittersweet layer to the off-screen happy ending of Callie and Arizona, especially considering that the plane crash that killed Mark also marked the beginning of their demise as a couple. After Callie made the tough call to amputate Arizona’s leg following her injuries in the crash, Arizona held it against her for years, and the two were never the same after that. But now, it sounds as though in death, Mark may have been at least partially responsible for mending the rift that his death and the events surrounding it caused.
April Kepner
This is one of the deeper cuts in the episode, but the romantics in the audience no doubt sat up a little straighter when Mark told Meredith, “When you love someone, you tell them.” This isn’t just post-death beach wisdom; it’s a direct callback to one of Mark’s most memorable lines on the show, which he said to Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) while on his deathbed at the beginning of Season 9: “If you love someone, you tell them. Even if you’re scared that it’s not the right thing. Even if you’re scared that it’ll cause problems. Even if you’re scared that it will burn your life to the ground, you say it, and you say it loud and you go from there.” Jackson repeated this quote later, in the Season 10 episode “Get Up, Stand Up”–shortly before he interrupted April Kepner’s (Sarah Drew) wedding to declare his love for the bride. While no one mentioned April by name in the episode, Mark repeating the line that prompted one of the most dramatic declarations of love on Grey’s Anatomy feels particularly significant given the news that Drew will be returning to the show laterthis season. It can’t help but call to mind April and Jackson’s sweeping and heartbreaking love story, and begs the question of just what could lie ahead for them once April returns.
Andrew DeLuca
While Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) has only been dead for a few episodes now, he still counts as a departed cast member who got a shoutout in “Breathe.” With his murder still fresh on all of the characters’ minds, Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) gives Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) some tough love by pushing her to get therapy to help her deal with his death. Although Teddy has been beating herself up for multiple episodes for failing to save DeLuca, Amelia reminds her that she didn’t do anything wrong, and his loss was felt by everyone who knew him.
George O’Malley
Although he showed up earlier in the season, George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) doesn’t get more than a passing mention in “Breathe.” But his name did pop up toward the end of the episode as Meredith reminisces about the people she’s lost and how much she misses them. As we heard earlier in the season, although George wasn’t around for long in the grand scheme of Grey’s Anatomy, he changed Meredith’s life for the better. And now that we know that the deceased loved ones on Grey’s Anatomy are still hanging around out of sight, perhaps Meredith will have a little more peace knowing he’s always nearby.
Ellis and Thatcher Grey
Of course, Grey’s Anatomy wouldn’t be the show it is without Meredith’s ongoing parental issues, so “Breathe” is hardly the first time Meredith has mentioned her late parents. But in an episode packed full of callbacks to departed characters and long-ago storylines, it’s still worth acknowledging the callouts to her mother, Ellis (Kate Burton) and father, Thatcher (Jeff Perry). Ellis died of Alzheimer’s in Season 3, but her shadow still loomed large over Meredith’s life for years afterward as the world-class surgeon she was always trying to live up to. Thatcher, meanwhile, managed to hang on until Season 15, but was absent for most of Meredith’s life, only attempting to finally make amends on his deathbed. Meredith mentions her complex relationships with both of her parents while talking to Lexie and Mark at the end of “Breathe,” musing about how both Ellis and Thatcher caused her quite a bit of pain even before their deaths. But Mark and Lexie, both a little wiser in the afterlife, point out to her that the pain she felt all stemmed from love. Lexie tells her big sister, “The depth of grief that you felt with all the losses, it’s because of the depth of love, and as long as you’re alive, you get to do something about it.” Additionally, earlier in the episode, as Mark tells Meredith not to miss the important parts of life, he’s pushing her on a carousel, which is also a subtle nod to her mother. Ellis used to tell her daughter, “The carousel never stops turning. You can’t get off.” Ellis seemed to mean the phrase to drive home the almost cruel relentlessness of life, calling back to her memory of when she had her heart broken by Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). Yet on Meredith’s beach, the carousel takes on a different meaning, as Meredith contemplates not whether she can get off, but whether she wants to try to get back on. Is this the last season of Grey’s Anatomy? Read what the showrunner had to say about Season 17 being Grey’s Anatomy’s final season.
