You’d think from the title that I’d be musing over how awesome tonight’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy was. And I’ll get to that. Mostly. Probably.
But I have to say I’ve been rethinking some things — and by things, I mean my opinion of Dr. Meredith Grey.
I’d been becoming increasingly less sympathetic toward Meredith as the season progressed. I thought she was whiny and selfish and was being way too dramatic about the whole McDreamy being McMarried thing.
But at the end of “Yesterday,” which aired three weeks ago, I loathed and despised her with a depth of emotion usually only reserved for Marissa Cooper. Or, you know, Satan. And also Hillary Clinton.
I mean, come on. Meredith broke George’s heart. George. The sweetest, most awesome guy ever. The kind of guy I desperately-hope-but-am-not-holding-my-breath is out there for me. George. George! From the moment in the pilot where he remembers what kind of shoes she was wearing at the intern mixer thing, we all knew he was truly, madly, deeply in love with her. (And also, hey! the name of a Savage Garden song. Whatever happened to them, anyway?)
Meredith was pretty much clueless because she was all about the McDreamy. Which, to cut her some slack, c’mon, is pretty easy to do. McDreamy. Sigh. The name says it all. She was clueless when George moved in with her and Izzie and was her shoulder to cry on countless times after the whole McMarried thing. He bought her tampons, he brought her coffee in the morning, and he let her crawl into his bed and vent when she was upset, all the while nursing this humongous — and let’s face it, so obviously doomed — crush.
Finally, he gets up the nerve — after some unintentional encouragement from Cristina, of all people — to confess his feelings at the very end of “Yesterday.” Meredith uses that moment, and all of his heart-felt honesty, to do what she does best — sleeping with inappropriate people. Alex said it best: when Meredith gets upset, she gets drunk and sleeps with inappropriate people. There was McDreamy in the pilot. Then a string of other random guys in that one episode. Now George.
Back to the loathing. I hated Meredith so much…it…the…it…flames…on the side of my face…heaving…breathless…heaving breaths…
Ahem. Anyway. The loathing only intensified in “What Have I Done to Deserve This,” which, very fittingly — and brilliantly — began with a George voice-over rather than Meredith’s. We got to see the horrible aftermath of George’s confession and Meredith’s impulsive decision manifest in painful awkwardness that eventually sucked Cristina, Izzie, and Alex in as well.
But here’s the thing. All along I’ve been hating Meredith and blaming her. And yet, at the Paley Festival last week, T.R. Knight, who plays George, said someone came up to him on the street and said, “Shame on you. You knew she wasn’t in love with you. You shouldn’t have said anything at all.”
While I don’t fully agree with that — I think George needed to say something, so that he could get past it and move on — that random person-on-the-street had a point. George didn’t see Meredith as an actual person. Rather, he had elevated her to this impossible level of adoration and his love for her didn’t allow him to see who she really was.
As for Meredith, while I still think she did a crap thing, I love the fact that she did it. Wha? Yeah, I know, me too. It’s just that the writers are so frakking awesome on this show, because all along, from the instant in the pilot that she brought McDreamy home for a one-night stand and then tried to kick him out the next morning without even bothering to learn his name, they have been so incredibly faithful to her character.
She was hurting. She’d just had a really crappy day, and she was an emotional wreck — even more so than she normally is. And George — George is the type of person that anyone wishes she could be in love with. I think at that moment when George told her those beautiful words that culminated in, “I will never stop loving you,” she wanted to believe she felt the same way. She wanted the pain McDreamy was causing her to be over, she wanted to feel safe and loved and secure, and George was there offering up all of that unconditionally.
And then, in the, erm, moment, if you will, she started crying because she realized she’d just made the biggest mistake ever and had ruined their friendship.
So yeah. While I still hate what happened to George, I’m glad it happened. I’m glad the writers didn’t try to romanticize the crush and have it magically turn into this grand love affair. They were brutally true to their characters.
I love that Meredith Grey is one of the most flawed characters on television. I do. And now George can move on with his life and he’ll never have to wonder what would’ve happened if only…
But back to tonight’s episode. Good grief. Just when I think I cannot possibly love this show any more, Shonda Rimes works her magic yet again. Cristina spending the whole hour babysitting Bailey’s baby was priceless. “Awesome. Awesssssome. Shut it? Shut it.” (Trying to get the baby to stop crying.) “Feces. It’s baby feces.” (Trying to change the diaper.) Sandra Oh was perfect. As usual.
I loved that George cut his hair, albeit badly. After all, he’d started growing it out for Meredith. And this, as well as moving in temporarily with Cristina and Burke, as well as flirting with the hot Latin orthopedist signify that he really is moving on. And his expression in the elevator after Meredith finally cornered him to apologize (as the wonderfully emotional “Flying High” by Jem was playing in the background)? Painfully awesome.
There’s more to say, I know there is, there always is. I could go on about this show about as much as I could go on about Buffy or Veronica Mars or my new favorite, Battlestar Galactica. But I’ve said enough for now.
If you’re one of the very few who is not watching this show, I honestly worry about your level of sanity, your discretion, your intelligence, even.
Seriously. This show has got to be just about the best show on television right now. (BESIDES, of course, Veronica Mars. Don’t worry, Rob Thomas. I caught myself.)
