Ever since Meredith left Grey Sloan Memorial in Grey’s Anatomy season 18, she was seldom at the center of the story, but the actions of a patient’s carer in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 stressfully brought Meredith back to it. Meredith leaving Seattle for Boston, to help Zola’s anxiety and study Alzheimer’s was the perfect leaving story for her. Indeed, her intentions were good, as Meredith was doing what was best for Zola, and was studying the illness that took so much from Meredith and her family, effectively hinting at the possibility of Grey’s Anatomy’s ending positively when the time comes.
After Grey Sloan’s doctors’ trip to Boston for the Catherine Fox Awards and Meredith’s research’s bombshell revelations in Grey’s Anatomy season 19’s ending, Meredith’s Alzheimer’s research and the lofty goal of curing it became Meredith’s main story in Grey’s Anatomy. Between Amelia and Meredith’s findings and continuing their research against Catherine’s wishes, it only became bigger, and Meredith and Catherine’s fight over it in Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s premiere proved it still the case. However, Tasha and Evynn’s story brought Meredith back to the story’s center in Grey’s Anatomy not through her research, but by hinting at something much darker.
Tasha Can Restart Meredith & Amelia’s Alzheimer’s Research With The Fox Foundation
Multiple Hints About That Were Dropped In Grey’s Anatomy Season 21
Evynn hiding Tasha’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis from the team at Grey Sloan Memorial led by Meredith and Nick nearly cost Tasha the liver after they discovered it and realized the transplant committee had approved Tasha as the patient to receive the liver under false pretenses. How advanced Tasha’s Alzheimer’s was rattled many, especially Meredith and Nick, but Evynn and Tasha being at Grey Sloan Memorial might have also provided Meredith and Amelia with the missing piece to restart their research at last, after they had spent their time since Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s premiere looking for grants to fund the research.
Indeed, after Nick advocated for Tasha and called Amelia for a consult, she confirmed the diagnosis, but Amelia also revealed how studying patients diagnosed earlier than most could have provided more answers about the illness. Meredith and Amelia not being able to find funding to continue the research, coupled with a patient that could help them understand Alzheimer’s more clearly and the fact Catherine introduced Evynn and Tasha to them could finally reunite them all under one roof, studying Alzheimer’s like in the beginning, using the Fox Foundation’s funding, something Jackson wanted and suggested in Grey’s Anatomy season 21’s premiere.
Tasha’s Story Could Be Foreshadowing Meredith’s Darkest Future
Meredith Has Known For Some Time She Has Several Alzheimer’s Genetic Markers
Learning about Tasha’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis visibly upset Nick and Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy season 21, leading the former to advocate for Tasha, while Meredith tried to do right by those waiting for a transplant by having the transplant committee decide again on the case. Meredith seemingly reacted to the news by sticking to the facts, like saying how life expectancy would be considered, but it was evident Meredith was affected by Tasha’s case, both by how advanced Tasha’s Alzheimer’s already was and by Evynn accusing her of not caring about the patient, only seeing them as parts of a study.
With Grey’s Anatomy season 9 confirming that Meredith tested positive for several genetic markers for Alzheimer’s, seeing its effects on Tasha was yet another reminder of what Meredith’s future could be.
Meredith’s devotion to studying Alzheimer’s was always personal because she knew what the illness did to patients, having seen it in Ellis. Evynn accusing Meredith of not seeing Tasha as a patient hurt because that was never the case for Meredith, and also because it would be difficult not to see Tasha’s tragic present in Meredith’s future, especially as Tasha was a leader in her field, just like Meredith. With Grey’s Anatomy season 9 confirming that Meredith tested positive for several genetic markers for Alzheimer’s, seeing its effects on Tasha was yet another reminder of what Meredith’s future could be.
Grey’s Anatomy’s Alzheimer’s Storyline Will Inevitably Heavily Involve Meredith
Whether Curing It Or Getting It, There’s No Alzheimer’s Story Without Meredith
Tasha’s story thus worked as a reminder of what the stakes for Meredith and Amelia’s study are, for patients at large and Meredith specifically, as the likelihood of her getting Alzheimer’s was already established relatively early in Grey’s Anatomy. The focus on the immediate need of Meredith’s research in Grey’s Anatomy season 21 thus put the titular character back at the center of Grey’s Anatomy’s story. This is true whether Grey’s Anatomy pursues Meredith’s big story as solely her Alzheimer’s research or her diagnosis too, which would put even more pressure on Meredith and Amelia to understand the illness quickly.
