Fans of the ever-popular ABC show “Grey’s Anatomy” were devastated last March, as the production of the shows’ sixteenth season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, however, production resumed for the creation of the seventeenth season, which premiered its first two episodes on November 12. 

The beginning of the season takes place in early April of 2020, just a couple of weeks after historic numbers of COVID-19 cases prompted shutdowns across the country. The first episode, titled “All Tomorrow’s Parties”, centered around the struggles that doctors and other hospital workers have been facing during these times, and the devastating effects of this pandemic on their well-being. The doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital represent the millions of healthcare workers across the world who are struggling during these unfortunate times, and the episode depicted multiple characters breaking down with the pain and pressure of not being able to truly help the hundreds of people that are dying on their watch from this disease. This episode was meant to generate sympathy for these individuals who face this reality each day and was effective in both seriousness and portrayal. 

The second episode, “The Center Won’t Hold”, began to revolve around the personal lives of the doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, bringing back the shows’ appealing dramatic flair that was absent in the seriousness of the first episode. Most prominently noted in this episode was the return of Patrick Dempsey’s beloved character Derek Shepherd, who was killed off in the shows’ eleventh season after Dempsey’s rumored affairs with coworkers. Since then, the relationship between Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo, his character’s love interest, has been rather shaky, and the two had reportedly not spoken following Demsey’s departure. Fans were overjoyed and surprised to see the return of Derek Shepherd as he appeared in a dream of Pompeo’s character, Meredith Grey, and were even more delighted to see the multiple pictures of the pair that were posted on Instagram by both actors. “Let’s love, let’s heal, let’s wear a mask..”, reads Pompeo’s Instagram post depicting her and Dempsey on the set of the show, suggesting that their year-long tensions have finally been resolved. So far, the historic seventeenth season of this groundbreaking show has overjoyed audiences around the world, and many are anxiously awaiting the arrival of more episodes featuring the romanticized couple.