The announcement of Kate Burton returning to portray Ellis Grey in Grey’s Anatomy season 18 had many speculate Meredith was close to being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but the reason behind her presence actually pointed to how bad Meredith’s Ellis curse still is. Ellis and Meredith’s relationship with her were much more central in Grey’s Anatomy seasons 1 to 3, although Ellis reappeared regularly throughout the show. As Meredith’s career progressed, though, despite her success being increasingly compared to her mother’s, it’d be easy to think Meredith was finally freed of the expectations to obtain Ellis Grey’s greatness.
While viewers always saw Meredith as a character in her own right and her successes and mistakes as a product of Meredith’s choices rather than overplaying Ellis’ influence on them, Grey’s Anatomy season 18 showed how firm the grip Ellis’ image had on Meredith still was for her daughter. Despite going to Minnesota to meet with David Hamilton (Peter Gallagher) to see the newly built Grey Center in Ellis’ honor, Meredith’s nightmares of Ellis were almost nonexistent when she started her work in Minnesota, while much more present in Seattle. Meredith’s fear of not doing useful work with the extra time she had been given after her Covid-19 illness was voiced by her at the start of Grey’s Anatomy season 18, but it seemed that her problem with dreaming and seeing Ellis had less to do with that and more with comparing her life and career choices to those of her mother’s.
The Grey’s Anatomy season 18 finale ending showed the true width of Ellis’ curse on Meredith. No longer banished only to the realm of dreams, Ellis appeared as if she were real to Meredith during a difficult surgery in Grey’s Anatomy season 18 episodes 19 and 20. While the surgery couldn’t be completed and led to the patient’s death because of the national blood shortage, which was particularly severe at Grey Sloan Memorial, the impact Ellis’ harsh words had on Meredith while operating was indisputable. Although many years went by since Ellis’ death, Grey’s Anatomy season 18 showed how Meredith still felt judged by Ellis’ standards and viewed herself as not enough.
The overwhelming weight of Ellis’ standards on Meredith wasn’t something new, only highlighted by Ellis’ return to Grey’s Anatomy. The medical drama’s season 3 episode 14 had Ellis scold Meredith in one of her few lucid states because her daughter focused on her personal happiness rather than work-related success when updating Ellis on what was happening in her life. Ellis’ ruthlessness in sharing her opinion of Meredith’s choices no matter how Meredith felt about it, urging her to be extraordinary in her career rather than ordinarily fall in love with someone, highly impacted Meredith at the time and later.
Grey’s Anatomy season 18 showed how bad it had impacted her by having Meredith’s insecurity about making the right choice for her career by leaving Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital take the form of Ellis’ disparagement of Meredith’s every decision, even during surgery, as Ellis had always been Meredith’s harshest critic. It’s unknown whether Kate Burton’s Ellis Grey will be as present in Grey’s Anatomy season 19 as she was in season 18. Still, whichever path Meredith might choose for her career, whether it be research, leading Grey Sloan Memorial, or something else entirely, she will need to face her demons that present themselves in the form of Ellis Grey. After all, Grey’s Anatomy aptly defined the grip Ellis’ opinion always had on Meredith’s choices, making Meredith finally be free of it the best possible happily ever after for her.