Meredith’s Grey’s Anatomy Goodbye Had A Season 2 Easter Egg

Spoilers ahead for Grey’s Anatomy Season 19, Episode 7. Meredith’s Grey’s Anatomy farewell episode, which aired Feb. 23, didn’t feature any goodbye montages, nostalgic songs, or cameos from the surgeons of past seasons — which, naturally, left many fans searching for closure. The episode did, however, feature a major nod to a Season 2 moment that shows just how much Meredith has grown since starting at Grey Sloan (then Seattle Grace).

Though Meredith’s move to Boston have been in the works for months now, it wasn’t clear how (or if) Nick Marsh would factor into her plans. During the latest episode, Meredith and Nick discussed their relationship status outside of an operating room, and Meredith made her feelings clear. “I’m a grown woman with a big life, and a big career, and three kids, and this move is what my daughter needs,” she says. “I want you in my life, if you want to be in my life. But if I have to choose, I pick me, I pick my kids, and I pick what’s best for us. And I’m not going to beg you to love me.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it directly parallels a conversation — yes, that conversation — between Meredith and Derek all the way back in Season 2, Episode 5. Back when Derek was ambivalent about his lingering feelings for Addison, Meredith approached him and made the case for why she should be Mrs. McDreamy. “Your choice? It’s simple: her or me,” begins the iconic speech. “And I’m sure she’s really great. But, Derek, I love you. In a really, really big pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me. Choose me. Love me.”

In the latest episode, Meredith uses the same vocabulary to send a completely opposite message — proving just how much she’s grown since her early days at the hospital. Even in an exit episode fairly low on nostalgic callbacks, this was one that several fans couldn’t help but celebrate.

Probably celebrating more than anyone, though, is Ellen Pompeo herself — because she was not a big fan of the original MerDer scene, to put it lightly. “When I read that scene, I was horrified,” she said in a 2021 episode of her podcast, Tell Me. “So, I’m gonna beg a man? ... I’m bawling my eyes out, but not for the reasons in the scene. I’m bawling because I was like, I can’t believe that I’m on TV begging a man to love me.”