Ellen Pompeo Reveals Shonda Rhimes' Heartfelt Email Over Emotional Grey's Anatomy Episode

Creator of the long-running ABC soap praises her cast for their performances in last night's especially emotional episode

By Billy Nilles Nov 11, 2016 5:51 PMTags
Grey's Anatomy, Season 13ABC

Are you still feeling some type of way after last night's heartbreaking episode of Grey's Anatomy? Don't worry, we are too. And, as it turns out, we just might be in the company of the show's creator Shonda Rhimes.

Ahead of the episode hitting the airwaves on Thursday, star Ellen Pompeo shared a heartfelt email she and the small group of Grey's stars who appeared in the experimental episode received, rightly praising them for their work in the touching episode.

"The performance you all gave, the work you clearly put in, the choices, the direction, everything...it's spectacular," Rhimes gushed.

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When @shondarhimes gives you the feels... Happy Greys Day! We appreciate you and give it our all always ??????????

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"I am so proud to work with you and seeing the outcome of an episode like this makes me even prouder," the Shondaland commander-in-chief continued.

In a rare break from form, the episode stayed in one O.R. the entire time, focusing on a single surgery involving Meredith, Owen (Kevin McKidd), Stephanie (Jerrika Hinton), and Richard (James Pickens Jr.), while showing us flashbacks from each doctor's lives in a uniquely abstract way that involved the operating room fading away behind the doctor experiencing the memory, only to have that memory to come to life instead.

Through the device, we met Richard's mother, Stephanie as a young girl, and—finally—Owen's sister, played by the ever-busy Bridget Regan. (Seriously, is there a TV show that she hasn't been on the past few years!) Oh, and we got to witness the moment Mer had to tell Zola and Bailey that Derek had died for the first time. And no, we're not crying again just thinking about it. You are!

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.