SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read if you haven’t watched the March 11 crossover episodes of “Station 19” (“Train in Vain”) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (“Helplessly Hoping”) on ABC.
RIP, Andrew DeLuca: surgical attendant at Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital, ex-boyfriend of Meredith Gray, brother of Carina DeLuca, and, from the crossover episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Station 19 ″ on Thursday night, victim of murder by the hand of a thug in a trafficking ring. Yes, DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) was stabbed by one of the human traffickers that he and Carina (Stefania Spampinato) had chased him through Seattle and, despite receiving care at his own hospital, he died. But their efforts were not in vain, we learn: the traffickers are all under arrest.
It was the culmination of a “Grey’s Anatomy” story that was interrupted by the production stoppage of COVID-19 in March. In what turned out to be one of the final episodes of season 16, DeLuca suspected that a patient was being trafficked by his so-called “aunt”, who brought her to the hospital, but because he was in the middle of a manic episode, no one believed him. At the end of the “Gray” half-season in December, DeLuca – medicated for his bipolar disorder, well rested and with clear eyes – spotted the drug dealer, Opal (Stephanie Kurtzuba), and this time, he wouldn’t let her get one. way.
In an interview with Gianniotti, who has been on “Gray” for seven seasons, he said that when he learned how his character was going to die, he wanted to make sure it was clear that DeLuca – “a very brave and noble person ”, in Gianniotti’s words – come out as “one pillar of representation for people struggling with mental health. “
“It is not that he was not medicated and was not detained, and that was what led him to put himself in a dangerous situation, ” Said Gianniotti. “Tit was the most DeLuca thing that DeLuca has ever done. “
In the episode, while DeLuca hovered between life and death, he communicated with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) on the beach where she spent most of the season, also in an injunction, having been dropped by COVID at the season premiere. There, Meredith has been dating Derek (Patrick Dempsey), her dead husband, and George (TR Knight), her dead friend – as well as characters who are still alive.
Regarding his beach scenes with Meredith, Gianniotti said: “You see DeLuca happier and more relaxed than ever on the show, because all the stressors are gone. And he is with the person he loves, which leaves them even more at peace. “
“Grey’s Anatomy” – now 17 years oldº season, and still the most watched program on television – is itself in limbo, according to showrunner Krista Vernoff. With negotiations with Pompeo for an extension of the contract in progress, Vernoff said Variety she has to “plan for both contingencies” while she and the writers room map the end of the season – or the series.
Although DeLuca is dead, Vernoff revealed that we didn’t see him for the last time – it seems that this is what the beach is for. And Gianniotti, coached by “Gray” executive producer / director Debbie Allen, recently returned to direct an episode that will air in the spring. He will miss the fans, Gianniotti said: “I’ve never seen a show so dear. Feeling that love and feeling it over the seven seasons was really remarkable. “
As Vernoff said, “He’s still in the family.”
In an interview, Vernoff talked about how she conceived DeLuca’s death, the difficulties of not knowing if the show is ending and how filming during COVID changed “Grey’s Anatomy”.
And what in the name of God is happening on the beach!?!
You killed DeLuca.
I am the worst.
How did this story come about?
Honestly, the story was told to me. I went for a walk on the beach to make my proposals, and these episodes came in one piece, like a vision. And I was like, “Oh, no! Seriously, is that the story? ” And it was. We knew when I set it up that it was the story of the end of the middle of the season.
Sometimes the stories tell you and your heart breaks. You’re like, “This is not what I want the end of this story to be!” But this is a lot of life this year.
Giacomo Gianniotti as Andrew DeLuca.
ABC
You can talk about killing an important character this season and having the cause of death no be COVID?
This was born, I am sure, of my psyche struggling with all the tragedies and traumas going on in the world, not stopping due to COVID. There is this feeling of injustice, like, no, COVID is enough. But sometimes you are going through it all at once.
Can you talk about putting DeLuca on the beach with Meredith, and the bigger meaning of the beach as a storytelling device this year?
The beach was born from the desire to escape the pandemic.
We came back before almost everyone. And the actors were scared, and no one was sure if all the security protocols were going to work. Making the pandemic seemed like the right thing creatively, but it also felt like the thing that would make the actors feel safe to go back to work, because they could all be wearing masks. And if they weren’t, they would be outside. And once the decision to make COVID was made, and then the decision to give Meredith COVID, it seemed like a way to get Meredith to leave without a mask and in a world without a pandemic.
If you are a magical thinker like me, that beach is a real magical place in between. But if you are not, if you do not believe in magical things – if you are an atheist, a scientist, anything, my stepchildren do not believe in a magical place – we designed it very carefully so that it can also be just a dream. So, whenever someone is on the beach with Meredith, they are also in her room, so she is hearing their voices in her hospital bed.
When DeLuca visits her on the beach, for me, DeLuca is between life and death. To my stepchildren, Meredith heard in her hospital room that something happened to DeLuca. So now she’s dreaming DeLuca! I really wanted the theme to work regardless of what you believed.
It seems to me that everything you believe is right.
DeLuca has been on the program for a long time. What did you want his final episode to say about him?
I think he came out as a hero. I think he went out fighting for what he believed. And he was going through a mental health crisis. He became a very productive member of the hospital staff. And he wasn’t going to let that woman go again.
How was it when you told Giacomo Gianniotti what was going to happen to DeLuca?
He was so relieved that I wasn’t letting him kill himself, or go out in a manic frenzy. And he was excited to play – he threw the hell out of it. He actually appears in a few more episodes this season. And he is directing an episode.
I will assume that Meredith wakes up and finds that he is dead. Do you see the beach as a place that she will be aware of or memory in some way?
yea.
OK!
I don’t have much more to say about it, because I don’t want to spoil it too much. And also: sometimes I change my mind. But for the moment, yes.
It’s been such a heavy season for “Gray” and “Station 19”, reflecting the world now. But I know it’s not necessarily where your heart is as a storyteller. Can you talk about where is the thought of continuing “Grey’s Anatomy”?
When you’re going through a pandemic and you’re coming back in the middle of a pandemic and you decide to do the pandemic, the nature of the narrative becomes a little bit darker. And then, in this moment, that’s where my heart is.
And I also feel that my heart as a storyteller, my sense of light and my sense of hope and beauty and joy that infuses most of what I do is expressed through that beach. The joy, the collective joy for all of us to be able to see Derek Shepherd again, to see George O’Malley again, to leave the hospital and go to the beach, and see Meredith’s relief there – I know we’re ‘concerned with her, but there is also joy.
And in terms of whether or not it’s the last season of “Grey’s Anatomy,” I don’t know. And that is the truth. I would like to know. It is a source of frustration at this point. It kind of doubles my work, my workload, because I have to plan for both contingencies. But I am. And God willing, I’ll know soon.
It can’t end like this! Can you reveal how many episodes there will be this season of “Grey’s Anatomy”?
17
This is too much.
Is very. Yes it is very, considering what we’re browsing.
Will anyone else join Meredith on the beach?
Yea! But I will not tell you.
Returning cast or current members?
There are some surprises in store.
Now that you’ve filmed more than half the season during COVID, can you talk about what you’ve learned over the year?
The crew is exhausted because they are behind masks and visors all day. Masks and visors are dehydrating and narcotic and, as a result, you need more breaks. You need to send everyone off the stage to take off their masks and visors to get hydrated. You cannot ask everyone to stay there for 12 or 13 hours straight. So, we’re shooting 10-hour days. And this is a really significant change from what we are able to do and film.
What I learned, and continue to learn, is how to write the series in a way that makes it productive – we can’t have scenes with so many characters. And we can’t have that many scenes. And we can’t have that many locations! Because we cannot have so many company changes. All of this has to become smaller, and it changes the stories we tell. If you used to have five or six people in one scene, and now you usually have two people in one scene, sometimes the entire cast is not in the episode. You look at an episode and think, “Where’s Amelia?” Well, she’s at home with the kids! We didn’t move the company.
I think there are silver friezes: deeper and richer scenes are really beautiful things sometimes. But they are different for “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel, both for these fictional characters and for all of us?
Yes I want! I feel like we’re all living in the light at the end of the tunnel right now, while our parents and grandparents are vaccinated. And when we start to emerge, hopefully, from this cocoon year. I feel like we’re living in some light, and I see a light at the end of the tunnel for these characters, whether this is the end of the series or the end of the season.
There is so much coming! I know this is going to be devastating for the fans. And I feel it too. I cried more seeing this episode, this cut, than I cried since I saw the episode in which George O’Malley died. And this is a really powerful tribute to the character we built and the actor.
This interview was edited and condensed.