18 Years Later, Grey’s Anatomy Is Finally Proving Ellis Grey Was Right About MerDer

Ellis and Meredith Grey’s relationship has always been complicated in Grey’s Anatomy, but season 22 is close to proving Ellis right and having Meredith fully understand why after almost two decades. Ellis’s shadow loomed over Meredith because of Ellis’s successes, which clashed greatly with her atrocious treatment of Meredith, and how harshly Ellis criticized Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy season 3.

Ellis’s last words before her death defining Meredith ordinary when she had raised her to be extraordinary continued to echo painfully throughout Grey’s Anatomy, a stain over the mother-daughter relationship that was always described as difficult. However, Grey’s Anatomy season 22 might finally bring Meredith to understand what Ellis truly meant, despite Ellis’s hurtful bluntness shaping how she is remembered.

Meredith Admits Ellis Was Right In Her Warnings In Grey’s Anatomy Season 21

Before abandoning the Fox Foundation, Meredith and Amelia’s Alzheimer’s research only struggled in the sense that they had to keep it hidden from Catherine. However, losing a medical institution’s support in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 showed Meredith how hard it was to study what she wanted and how, because funds came with strings attached, even if their findings were promising.

Meredith and Amelia’s research made strides forward in Grey’s Anatomy season 20. Leaving behind the Fox Foundation instead forced them to follow all rules to apply for grants, which never got them the funds they needed. This prompted Meredith to fund their research herself in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, episode 12’s ending, inspired by Ellis’s invectives against the system’s biases.

Grey’s Anatomy never let Meredith come to terms with the difficult relationships with her parents, not fully closing the door on them when they needed help, like with Thatcher, but also never appreciating the positive things they left her. This changed in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 through Meredith’s acknowledgment that Ellis told her about medicine being male-dominated all her life.

Meredith giving Ellis credit when it was due was a paradigm shift, even if she admitted that she couldn’t stop seeing Ellis’s gloating face. Begrudgingly acknowledging that Ellis knew and was right, no matter how unfair and cruel Ellis had been towards Meredith, meant that Meredith was able to separate the professional and the personal, even when it concerned Ellis.

Grey’s Anatomy season 21 didn’t linger too much on the consequences of Meredith’s admission, instead propelling forward the Alzheimer’s research story as it could finally go somewhere. However, it opened the door for Meredith to finally understand in Grey’s Anatomy season 22 why Ellis didn’t care about her being happy, instead wanting her to be extraordinary in season 3.

How Derek’s Death Gave Meredith The Chance To Become Extraordinary By Freeing Her

While it’s difficult to remember a time when Meredith wasn’t a successful general surgeon after her Harper Avery win and multiple death-defying achievements, she wasn’t immediately able to dedicate herself to surgery. Indeed, Derek’s death in Grey’s Anatomy season 11 kick-started Meredith’s illustrious career, as before then, she could work as a surgeon but not devote herself to her career.

Derek and Meredith didn’t struggle too much when she was a resident and he an attending, instead for their relationship to start suffering after Bailey was born, when Meredith wanted to focus on surgery and research. This couldn’t have been more evident than in Grey’s Anatomy season 10, when Derek broke his promise about his career taking a step back.

It was easy for Meredith to mistake Ellis’s cruel speech in Grey’s Anatomy season 3 for a blanket statement about focusing on the wrong things, prioritizing her happiness instead of her career. However, Ellis’s comments expressed her frustration, albeit harshly, at Meredith jeopardizing her brilliance to focus on a relationship that eventually hindered her career, foreshadowing what happened with Derek.

From the little she noticed when she was lucid, Ellis immediately understood that Derek could have loved Meredith, but wouldn’t have seen her brilliance, leading to him always putting himself and his career first if faced with the choice between that and helping Meredith’s career. Meredith and Derek’s relationship following this pattern in Grey’s Anatomy proved Ellis right at last.

Ellis’s history with Richard informed her decision to have that talk with Meredith, knowing she didn’t have much time and that nobody would have advocated for Meredith’s career like Meredith, making Derek as her partner nothing more than a distraction. This was especially true due to the power imbalance in their relationship, which directly influenced how Derek saw Meredith’s career.

Why Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Can Bring Meredith To Understand Ellis More (With A Caveat)

How their relationship developed within the walls of Seattle Grace inevitably led Derek to forever see Meredith as the resident he first got to know and not the competent surgeon she had become. Even if they shared a romantic connection before starting to work at Seattle Grace, their relationship grew when their roles were those of teacher and student.

Experiencing Nick’s support in her and Amelia’s Alzheimer’s research in Grey’s Anatomy season 22 can finally make Meredith understand Ellis was right when she admonished her about her relationship with Derek. Nick meeting Meredith when she was already a renowned surgeon led him to unapologetically believe in her, even wanting to partially fund the Alzheimer’s research.

Meredith and Catherine’s talk about the difficult future ahead for Meredith and Amelia’s Alzheimer’s research in Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s ending already hinted at the challenges they’ll face due to what they chose to focus on. Continuing to have Nick beside her could also show Meredith that the problems she had with Derek wouldn’t present themselves again.

This would simultaneously prove Ellis right about her admonishment regarding Meredith and Derek, even if she didn’t single out their relationship specifically when she reprimanded Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy season 3, while also showing Meredith that an alternative was possible through her positive relationship with Nick and her career continuing to thrive.