McDreamy Returns To Grey's Anatomy

Thursday's episode of Grey's Anatomy tugged on all the heartstrings, bringing some key characters back from the dead in a series of emotional flashbacks.

Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) revived his mother after he named the patient on his table after her. It was revealed that his mother had died of pancreatic cancer when he was just 10 years old.

He wasn't the only one to channel his childhood self to save the life of a patient. Stephanie Edwards (Jerrika Hinton) was stumped about why her patient wasn't responding to treatment when she received a visit from her younger self. "If you want them to listen, like really listen, you got to be louder," the child told her, inspiring her to advocate for her patient and find a different treatment.

Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) let his mind wander as a "John Doe" suffered in his operating room. He envisioned his dead sister teasing him, hallucinating her in the room, and needing his co-worker to get his attention back on the task at hand.

Of course, it was McDreamy's return that really turned the knife in our hearts. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) connected her patient's story with that of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), painfully reliving the moment she had to tell Zola and Bailey that their father had died. "You should go in there and fix him," Zola said, not fully understanding he was dead. "I can't fix him because no one can fix him because he's dead," Grey replied. Cue the water works. As she scrubbed out, McDreamy appeared to her in a hallucination, tying on his distinctive ferry scrub cap.

It's clear the hospital is full of old memories and the characters are all haunted by the ghosts of their pasts.

This article first appeared on Womanista.com