I watched this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “Wishin’ and Hopin,’” when I got home from work last night. I wanted to post about it immediately, but, as it seems with every Grey’s episode, I’m never sure what to say. It seems as though I can never articulate exactly what it is about the depth of the writing, the emotional depths that are explored every week, that really make me identify with this group of not-very-likeable characters.
I’m not sure the people who dismiss Grey’s Anatomy as merely a companion to Desperate Housewives, or gush over the superficial frivolity really get it. I’m not sure they really watch it for anything other than Patrick Dempsey’s hair or whatever seems to thrill them the most.
Sure, it can get kind of soapy. Sure, there’s a lot of sex appeal and plenty of hot docs (minus McSteamy) over whom to drool. But that’s not what keeps winning it awards. That’s not why Chandra Wilson so awesomely won a SAG award for her portrayal of Miranda Bailey. If Grey’s Anatomy were nothing more than a Desperate Housewives copycat, its ratings would not continue to soar 50 episodes later. Desperate Housewives was a novelty when it premiered, and its popularity has quickly waned. It has no real substance to it, and that’s why Grey’s Anatomy has continually beat it ratings-wise since that first season.
“Wishin’ and Hopin’” was absolutely heart-rending in places. The fourteen-year-old motherless girl having sex that ended up being Bailey’s only patient at her new clinic — and yet was, as she put it, “$8 million dollars’ worth of one.” George finally standing up to Meredith, Cristina, and Izzie for their juvenile and catty treatment of Callie. (And man, I usually like Izzie, but she can be an enormous bitch.)
What affected me most, however, was the conversations between Meredith and her mother. By the time Ellis Grey told Meredith, “I raised you to be an extraordinary human being, so imagine my disappointment when I wake up five years later to find you are no more than ordinary,” I was bawling.
I relate. Oh, my mom’s not the kind of cold, uncaring person that Ellis is, but I’ve never felt as though I measured up; I’ve always felt “no more than ordinary” in her eyes, and so yeah. That conversation cut straight through my heart.
And I may have cried even more later that episode when Meredith finally returned to confront her mother:
Meredith: I’m not sure refusing treatment is what you want to do…
Ellis: Apparently, what I want doesn’t matter! It isn’t even legally binding! So it’s really about what you want, Meredith. You’re in charge!
Meredith: You think that I like making these decisions for you? You think it’s fun to get calls from the nursing home asking whether I was planning on giving the nurse, who changes you every morning, a Christmas tip? But I do it. Because you have managed to alienate everybody else in your life and I am the only one, so I have to step up and do it. You wanna know why I’m so unfocused? So ordinary? You wanna know what happened to me? You! You happened to me!
Ellis: Then let me refuse the heart surgery.
Meredith: No!
Ellis: Why not?!
Meredith: Because killing my mother is not gonna be another thing that happens to me.
There are times that I’ve felt Ellen Pompeo was a little overrated, and I’ve said before that I’ve never been extremely fond of Meredith. But tonight, she gave her best performance yet. I was impressed. And moved.
This show continues to deliver week after week and proves why it’s among my favorites.
In other TV news:
**Ed Helms has been made a series regular on The Office; Rashida Jones is still listed as a recurring character, but she was on Carson Daly last night, so I doubt they’d have her promoting the show if she were about to take off.
**Lost returns with a two-hour spring premiere Wednesday night. The first hour is one of those clips shows, but there are exclusive interviews with Damon Lindelof (whom I adore) and Carlton Cuse, followed by “Not in Portland,” the Juliet-centric episode I am dying to see. No fewer than three of the TV critics I read have *all* raved about Elizabeth Mitchell’s performance and have even thrown around the “Emmy” word. I am slowly gravitating toward the Juliet/Jack camp, even though I still hate Sawyer/Kate.
**Grey’s Anatomy kicks off a three-part arc Thursday with part one, “Walk on Water.” This arc is supposed to blow the Super Bowl two-parter and last season’s three-part finale out of the water. Cannot wait.
