In the midst of a pretty depressing episode, the return of Grey's Anatomy brought hope for Meredith and Derek's relationship. We last left them after a huge fight in which Derek told Meredith she was just like her mother, and Meredith screamed at Derek to just go ahead and leave already. Things looked bad, and I was sure that Derek's move to Washington, DC would signal the end of the show's flagship couple.
But I was pleasantly surprised that at the end of Thursday's episode, Meredith swallowed her pride and did the unthinkable. She called Derek up and apologized. Perhaps it was the stress of trying to find a nanny and realizing the support she needed was her husband's, not a stranger's. Or maybe it was tending to a patient who was so overtaxed as a (basically single) mother that she drove herself off a bridge. (There was a tumor involved, but the stress probably didn't help.)
Whatever it was, I'm glad Meredith made the first step because she's notorious for giving the silent treatment and letting her anger fester. But I think she and Derek were really meant to last. After all, as the episode's flashback reminded us: their Post-it wedding was adorable and honest. They promised to love each other even when they hated each other and to never run away.
So Meredith's phone call to Derek on Thursday's episode was simply upholding the vows they'd agreed on. "I don't want to fight anymore, and I don't want you gone," she told Derek as he waited for his flight. "This isn't us. This isn't how we end it, is it?"
Derek readily agreed saying, "I don't want it to. I'm trying." He even offered to give up the job again. "I could come home right now," he said. But Meredith learned her lesson from last time. She can't hold him back, just like she wouldn't want him to hold her back. "No, go. But in a good way," she told him. "We can do this."
So Derek is still going to DC, and like creator Shonda Rhimes said, we're not going to see him on the show for awhile. But at least the couple left off on good terms. I'll miss Patrick Dempsey, but I can accept his temporary absence since Meredith and Derek seem like they're going to work things out after all. And thank goodness, because without that piece of hope, this would be a really depressing season.
Image: Richard Cartwright/ABC
