Grey's Anatomy Season 19: Emotional Derek Tribute Nobody Noticed
Grey's Anatomy keeps paying tributes to its departed characters to the delight of long-time fans. However, a heart-warming homage to fan-favorite Derek Shepherd could go unnoticed if fans didn't appreciate it on Twitter.
Season 19 of Grey's Anatomy takes its hardcore fans on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The return of favorite characters Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) and Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) made many fans' hearts melt. Besides, in season 19 viewers found out that intern Lucas Adams was actually Derek Shepherd's nephew and kept it a secret from his peers. It made fans think about McDreamy and might have led to the discovery of a small detail that serves as a perfect tribute to the character killed in a car accident in season 11. Let's dive into the past to explain it.
In season 7, Derek became obsessed with the idea of finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease. He even tried to earn a grant to conduct research. This idea came from the fear for the future of his wife, Meredith Grey, since her mother Ellis Grey had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and there was a possibility that Meredith carried the gene for the disease.
Grey's Anatomy Completely Ruined Fall Finale By Spoiling the Hell Out of It
Besides, another major character in the show, chief Richard Webber, was affected by the disease since his wife Adele was diagnosed with it. At the time, Derek started a clinical trial, but Meredith rigged it by interchanging the envelopes to make sure that Adele was given the medication instead of the placebo.
Twelve seasons later, the topic of Alzheimer's was brought up again by Meredith's daughter Zola. The girl got really worried over the possibility of her and her family carrying the gene for Alzheimer's. The love for her daughter led Meredith to the dream of finding a cure for the disease. She is even considering moving to Boston, where she can start her own research. Neither Meredith nor any other character on the show mentioned that Meredith follows in the footsteps of her late husband. But fans see everything, so one of them took to Twitter to write about this heartwarming homage.
"They have the same dream," the fan wrote and added two screenshots depicting both Derek and Meredith talking about their dream to cure Alzheimer's (via).
This might be a simple coincidence, but many fans feel happy seeing that Derek's legacy lives on in Meredith's work even many years later.