‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Caterina Scorsone Talks About Character’s Turning Point

This week, Grey’s Anatomy fans were treated to a special stand-alone episode titled “Good Shepherd,” which was focused on Amelia Shepherd, played by Caterina Scorsone. Now, the actress is opening about her character’s journey, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.

Fans of the show are aware that Amelia has had a difficult past. Throughout the show, it has been revealed that she has struggled with addiction for most of her life and has suffered several major losses, including the loss of a child, significant other, and older brother Derek Shepherd, played by Patrick Dempsey. As a result of her struggle with addiction, Amelia alienated herself from her family and they’re often guilty of giving her a hard time based on her past transgressions, despite her growth and her effort to stay sober. Amelia’s mother and sisters are particularly hard on her and these complicated relationships were recently explored.

In the April 11 episode, Amelia and Atticus “Link” Lincoln, played by Chris Carmack, are flown to New York to treat a patient. While there, Amelia runs into her sister, Nancy, played by Embeth Davidtz, who invites her and Link to dinner. Nancy assumes Link is Amelia’s husband, Owen, and the duo decided to play along. When Amelia and Link arrive at Nancy’s house, they realized they’ve been ambushed when they see that another Shepherd sister, Kathleen, played by Amy Acker, has been invited and she also invited the sibling’s mother, played by Tyne Daly.

The unexpected family reunion becomes uncomfortable when Amelia’s sisters team up to rehash her past mistakes and it was revealed that Amelia is actually divorced, and Link was just pretending to be her husband.

Amelia leaves the dinner feeling horrible about herself, but luckily, her mother reached out to make amends and comfort her daughter.

“Amelia’s mother, despite all the twisting roads that Amelia has gone down, was courageous and generous to really face and admit to her part in the broken attachment Amelia had as a child. She endured a terrible trauma at age 5 when she saw her father murdered in front of her,” Scorsone said while talking to THR.

“She hands the baton back to Amelia, now with the final piece in place, and says, ‘I’m giving it back to you; you now understand your childhood. You can do the work and can have love,'” she continued.

Now that Amelia has gained this new understanding of her past, will she use this awareness to make things right with Owen or will she decide to date Link? Fans of the show will just have to wait to find out.

Grey’s Anatomy airs on Thursdays on ABC.