Grey’s Anatomy just brought back six dead characters in a heartbreaking episode

2 November 2018, 14:07

By Katie Louise Smith

The episode also featured an emotional Spanish version of Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars that was commissioned specially for the tear-jerking scene.

Episode 6 of Grey's Anatomy season 15, 'Flowers Grow Out Of My Grave', just managed to reduce an entire fandom to tears as they surprised us all by bringing back some of the most beloved gone-too-soon characters in one of the most emotional and poignant scenes to date - along with a brand new heart-wrenching Spanish version of 'Chasing Cars'.

While the departures of Arizona Robbins and April Kepner left fans feeling a little bitter last season, the fifteenth season of the medical drama has managed to deliver on all fronts. We've already seen blossoming romances, good ol' show-stopping surgical scenes and Alex Karev has even been promoted to Chief after all these years (can you believe?!)

Fifteen years later and the show is still finding ways to impress - and emotionally destroy - its viewers.

The sixth episode of the season features a patient who teaches Meredith about the traditions of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and tells her about how people believe that they can be visited by their deceased loved ones on that specific day (Nov 1.)

As Meredith leaves the hospital, she reflects on those she's lost in her life. And then, behind her appears the ghosts of six of the people she loved the most; her friend George O'Malley (T.R. Knight), her sister Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), her mother Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), her dog Doc, her friend Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) and of course... her husband Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey).

To make matters even more emotional, the scene was set to a brand new Spanish version of Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars' (performed by Moon & Sun feat. Israel De Corcho and specially commissioned for the episode) that literally no one was prepared for.

Honestly, there wasn't a dry eye in the house and fans are overwhelmed with the surprise return of all those characters we lost too soon.

But, as much as we all wished it was real and that those actors had actually returned to Grey Sloan to reprise their roles... there was actually a pretty sneaky way that that the show managed to pull it all off without getting the actors back in.

Speaking to EW, showrunner Krista Vernoff explained how it all came to be: "We talked about it for four months with the visual effects people. You have to really plan a sequence like that. What I love about that sequence is that we have combined some old footage that aired, some old footage that didn’t air — we pulled old dailies — and we shot some new stuff. Doc, we shot. Ellis, we shot. And the idea of that, for me, is that we don’t know if this is in Meredith’s imagination or memory, or if it’s actually happening."

Of course, long term fans of the show will instantly recognise that short footage of Derek from the iconic 'Elevator Love Letter' proposal scene. The footage of Lexie and George were from past seasons. The footage of Mark was from a scene that never went to air and Kate Burton actually returned as Ellis Grey to film that in real life. (So did Doc the dog, bless.)

In an early version of the scene, both Dylan the bomb squad guy (Kyle Chandler) and the iconic Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) were also included but in the end, didn't make it. And thank god because that would have surely destroyed us forever.

Honestly, I'm emotional. I'm going to lay down for a week and cry about this. Grey's, how could you? And without warning?