Can’t say that I blame Ellen Pompeo for being “deeply against” the Grey’s Anatomy storyline in which legendary rule-breaker Meredith followed protocol to the letter upon learning that Catherine’s protegé Evynn had lied about wife Tasha’s Alzheimer’s in order to obtain a liver transplant for her. But, as the actress tells our sister site Variety, “I don’t always have a say in the choices the character makes. And writers will initially service a plot before they might stop to think, ‘Would the Meredith Grey that [Ellen] built… make that choice?’”

Case in point: the Season 21 two-parter in question.