Thoughts On Meredith

There are spoilers in this post for people like my sister who are saving last week's Grey's Anatomy to watch in tandem with this week's third part of a three parter. So B and others, don't read ahead.

Malia, this was originally a comment on your blog, but ze Blogghair is acting funky and won't actually accept the comment. So I'm putting this stuff here and expanding it a bit.


Is Meredith Gray dead? Part of me hopes so, because that would be different and interesting. We've already seen Wayne Fiscus wander through purgatory, so the whole 'dead for a while' thing isn't as new and exciting as Shonda would have us believe. Of course, tours of purgatory and hell are as old as Dante, even though Kyle Chandler is a lot hotter guide than Virgil would have been. I think. We've also had other shows with 'dead' characters, so that's not new-new either. (To wit: Dead Like Me, Six Feet Under, That Malina Kanakaredes show.)

But Meredith Gray has always been the weakest link of Grey's Anatomy. She's the kind of person that makes me wonder what the med school admissions criteria really are, and if med schools have a legacy admissions policy. Quite frankly I think Meredith would be a horrible candy striper--let alone a surgeon. As I said over at Malia's, I cannot believe that any person calling themselves a doctor would actually stop over the torn, bleeding body of a patient to discuss her romantic relationship with her boss.

As Malia pointed out in the original post, Meredith actually seems to have killed herself--not struggling or swimming, but allowing herself to sink into the depths. That sounds like Meredith, always sinking to the depths and not thinking of the effect of her actions on others. No concern for those who love her or for the dying people yet to be treated on the ferry pier.

The ending of the superb bomb episode (...As We Know It from season 2) featured the Anna Nalick song Breathe (2 a.m). Since then we have seen Meredith's increasing struggle to catch her breath. It's been hinted at comically throughout this season as Derek playfully teases her about her snoring. If I recall correctly we've even had tragic hints as her half-sister's baby was also unable to breathe. Season Three has been one long, building panic attack for Meredith. She can't breathe and she's slowly disappearing. She longs for family, yet refuses the family she does have.

And poor "pick ME" McDreamy is stuck perpetually saving her. From drowning in the tub, from drowning in the torrent of her mother's abusive words.

The sad thing is that I found myself agreeing with Ellis Gray in that scene. Not the way she handled herself, but her thoughts. Meredith--and the show--used to have the promise of being extraordinary. But lately it's become ordinary. It's become, as someone else pointed out, General Hospital P.M. I think more and more that if the writers don't kill Meredith I sure as heck hope they make her stronger.