Some Generic Play on the Word Grey

"They're all idiots and they won't let themselves be happy." That was my wife's assessment after watching the second season finale of Grey's Anatomy. We had watched the show from when it had premiered into part of the second season. We stopped watching, however, when Meredith, the title character, crossed a line that we had hoped she would never broach: she took advantage of George. George and Meredith had been two of the only people left on the show for which we could generate some sympathy after all of the things that happened in the show. We liked Dr. Shepherd as a boyfriend for Meredith, but, oopsie , forgot to mention that he was married at the time. We'd liked Izzie, but then she started to date the jerk intern that nobody had liked from the beginning of the show. There was the chief of surgery, but it turns out that he had a secret affair...with Meredith's mother. Leading up to that fateful episode, George and Meredith were the only likable characters left, it seemed. Definitely the only ones of the core group of characters, and then they made out. And we were done with the show for a while.


Looking back now, it seems almost as if the writers on the show have made a conscious effort to turn our oppinions of characters upside-down. You like Shepherd? Not any more. Don't like Burk (because he was arrogent and seemed to embody all of the worst qualities of a doctor)? Bring him over for Thanksgiving dinner and make people love him. Think Alex is a complete jerk? Humanize him and make him a sympathetic character. Like Meredith? Have her passionately kiss a man the entire audience knows she doesn't love.

We would catch bits and pieces of the show here and there, but never a full episode because my wife would remember what had happened between George and Meredith and demand that the channel be changed. This went on until the finale for season two. Since it was such a fantastic hit, the network of course had to make it a three hour, two night event. We decided to watch. It was interesting to catch up on everything: Izzie and Alex aren't dating anymore; Meredith is dating a vet; George has cut his hair and has a girlfriend . The chief's niece is in the hospital, and wants to have prom. He gives her a prom and everyone has to attend. From the time in the first season that we discovered that Dr. Shepherd was married, we've been hoping that Meredith would just move on. Leave him behind and find another nice guy to settle down with. There were flashes where we thought she was going to do just that, but there always seemed to be something that would pull her back to him. The dog. The bomb. The anti-establishment rallies. Okay, I made up that last one, but you get my point: the writers were going to keep going back to the "will they or won't they" well. And then came prom. Everyone was in their finest clothing. The vet was there dancing with Meredith. Shepherd was there dancing with his wife. And of course Meredith and Shepherd lock eyes. Then they run off to an operating room and procede to lose pieces of clothing. "Have you seen my underwear? They were black." It was very remenicint to me of something that occured at my junior prom in which, just for the record, I had no part whatsoever. A girl had been wanting to date a guy for months. Pining over him. Finally, he said that he'd go to the prom with her. However, she decided to spend most of the evening on the dance floor with someone else's date making out. Like I said, very similar to what happened in the show. Well, except that the people involed weren't doctors; they were drunk.

And yes, I too am having a hard time believing that I just spent nearly 700 words just to be able to use that line.