"Grey's Anatomy": Are You There, God? It's Me, Meredith.
By Sarah Carlson
February 23, 2007
Viewers who trudged through the three-part "Grey's Anatomy" ferry disaster/suicide case study should get a prize. After all, we not only endured Izzie's forced optimism about life and death and her cruel behavior toward George, but we had to watch a dead Meredith come to terms with her "lack of kicking and fighting" in the ocean that led to her demise. Oh, and our departed Denny had to talk her through it while the girl who was impaled kept bleeding out and the guy from "Early Edition" stood by and watched. Awesome.
To recap: After being accidentally knocked into the ocean while helping a wounded civilian from the ferry fiasco, Meredith, already dark and twisty and still smarting from being called 'ordinary' by mom, gave up on kicking and chose to head toward the light. She spent the better part of the second installment drifting gracefully through the water until the Demon-Possessed Child, whom she had been helping, lead a worried McDreamy to the water, pointing out to sea and implying that Meredith was swimming with the fishes. Derek goes in and gets her, but she's pretty much dead. While her fellow surgeons are trying to revive her in part three, Meredith is hanging out with Denny, Bomb Squad guy and two other deceased patients. They are there to help her come to terms with the fact that yes, she did give up, asking herself after a few moments in the water, "What's the point?"
Good question.
What is the point in dying, in creator Shonda Rhimes' world, if when we die we're doomed to watch those we love at a distance, reliving our pain of not being with them and watching them try to muddle along without us? Denny apparently haunts the halls of Seattle Grace, sometimes feeling Izzie's presence when they're in the same spot at the same time. Izzie can feel him, too, and while this might have been intended to be touching, I couldn't help but be depressed. We live in pain, die in pain, spend our afterlife in pain. Dark and twisty, indeed.
Meredith wasn't the only Grey woman dying: Ellis, the acerbic, genius mother suffering from Alzheimer's, flat lined after Derek berated her for breaking Meredith's spirit by calling her ordinary and a disappointment back when she had a few cognitive hours before she relapsed. Ellis showed up in the eerie afterlife, telling Meredith that she isn't ordinary after all and that she should start running away from the light. Meredith does, and her surgeons (on the encouragement of Christina) revive her. Hours of being dead and no brain damage -- impressive.
The non-afterlife sequences of "Grey's" were back to normal, with the ferry disaster under control despite all of the surgeons focusing on Meredith, and Christina's and Derek's devotion to Meredith was the best part of the show. But the sweeps gimmick/depressing look at the hereafter? Not worth our time. Rhimes' world is one where she's believed her own sensational press, and with the show being on such shaky ground plot-wise, I'm not sure it can pull of a spin-off (not to mention lose one of its strongest characters, Addison).
I'll stick with the show -- breaking addictions isn't easy -- but this season has left me a tad numb, longing for the smart, non-soap-opery "Grey's" of season one. If the show is only going to become more ridiculous, and one of our favorite characters is leaving, what's there to stick around for?
What's the point?
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Comments
This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below -- responsibility lies with the relevant reader alone.
Posted by: Pats on February 23, 2007 5:10 PM
Can you say "Jump the Shark?"
Yikes!
Posted by: Daddy Vegas on February 24, 2007 9:37 AM
She should have died.
I love how the whole world is collapsing aroudn them and they are saving life after life, until Meredith gets hurt. Then every doctor in the hospital/MASH unit stops to hug and otherwise embrace. Don't they still hear the screaming of dieing ferry passengers?
Posted by: house fan on March 1, 2007 7:29 AM
The sure fire cure for dsappointment in Grey's Anatomy is another Dr. - House MD. If you have not watched this amazing show, then you should give it a try (or two or three). The writing, the wonderful Hugh Laurie, the beautiful cast and Dave Matthews on the March 6 episode is icing on the cake. Add to that a gorgeous TV Guide cover (on news stands Friday) and you have a sure cure for GA blues. At least IMHO.
Posted by: Sarah on March 1, 2007 10:58 PM
I also love "House." You'd think his shtick would get old, but I go back for more, week after week. -- Sarah
Posted by: Insanity on October 2, 2007 5:39 AM
Who knows that song, when Meredith is going under the water?