Grey's Anatomy
Series makers remember hundreds of corona victims
Chandra Wilson plays Doctor Miranda Bailey on Grey's Anatomy.
© imago images / Cinema Publishers Collection
The 17th season "Grey's Anatomy" is about the corona pandemic. With a silent act of remembrance, real Covid victims were now thought of.
The fifth episode of the 17th season "Grey's Anatomy" ended with a moving farewell. The US television network ABC showed the episode on December 10, 2020. Doctor Miranda Bailey, played by Chandra Wilson (51), accompanies her mother in her last hours before she loses the fight against the corona virus. The pandemic is an important topic for the creators of the series.
Bailey made it clear in Thursday's episode: people who are dying are "not faceless, not nameless". The voice of the actress can be heard off-screen as she calls several names: "They are sons, brothers and uncles who speak five languages and run restaurants: Wade Klein, 66. They are great-grandfathers who love Broadway: Jacob Lappin , 92. They are baseball loving nurses with a light hearted smile: Dane Wilson, 45. They are the world's best mothers and most beloved wives: Elena Rose Bailey, 84. " Then several hundred names flicker across the screen. Names of people who fell victim to the coronavirus in real life.
Stories from your own life
The idea for the silent act of remembrance came from the author Zoanne Clack (52), who is responsible for the episode. The US magazine "People" quotes from its statement: "When my mother fell ill with Covid-19 and almost died from it, I was so angry that she could go down in history as one of the nameless, faceless victims of this disease." Clack's mother, a woman with "an infectious smile," is much more than that. As a teacher, she "influenced many successful lives," says the author. "That was the story people should remember. Not that she was a victim of a pandemic."
Clack's mother survived her Covid-19 illness. "So it doesn't have to be one of many," the 52-year-old explains. "But there are so many who belong to the crowd and who deserve to be more than just numbers or statistics."