Grey’s Anatomy, the name of the show gives it away a bit. Yes, it is a medical show but not in the way you might expect from the name. (Gray’s Anatomy is a book on the human anatomy.) This show is all about the anatomy of Meredith Grey, the main character. Don’t expect to see all bloody scenes (sure they have happened), because that is not what this show is about although it is a hospital series. The episodes are mostly narrated by Meredith to give an insight in what is going on in her live and the lives of her friends, who are mostly her co-workers, and the patients of Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital in Seattle. As said most of her friends and surprisingly family (in laws and half-siblings) work in the hospital. We follow their lives as well as they are intertwined with Meredith’s. No issue is spared as it is in live. It makes it interesting to see how people deal with daily life struggles, as substance abuse, hook ups, break ups, accidents and whatever life might throw at them.
Meredith started as an surgical intern in Seattle Grace Hospital twelve years ago, which is now -after many name changes, due to some life altering events- Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital. She had a rocky start at the hospital, she had a one-night stand with Derek Shepherd aka McDreamy, who later turned out to be the married neurosurgeon of Seattle Grace Hospital. That story is a can of worms we shall not open right now. But personally I liked that can of worms, it was so fun to watch, to see how everything evolved from that one event.
So life happened to Meredith as is happens to most of us. She got married with her neurosurgeon, had his kids and lost her neurosurgeon to a car accident. And that is not all that happened to her, she survived a plane crash that killed her half-sister Lexie Grey, she almost drowned (she was technically dead but got revived), got beaten up by a patient with brain damage. But life isn’t getting her down thanks to her friends and family at Grey-Sloan Memorial. They are her rock in hard times as she is for her friends sometimes.
I do question what the chances are of one human being (even a very unfortunate one) having to deal with everything that Meredith has dealt with. I mean common I know it might have happened to some people but it is a build-up of one misery after another just for our entertainment. Sure I find it highly entertaining but some story lines to me are a bit far-fetched, like the bomb in the operating room inside a person.
So Meredith has learned not to dwell on the past (it took her a while though) and neither shall I. We are now twelve years along after she started as a surgical intern and is now for more than a year a widowed mother of three who lives in the house that she and her late husband build (played by Patrick Dempsey who got fired and hence killed off in the show). She has begun “dating” again. Her latest date is Nathan Riggs, a heart surgeon with a lot of issues, who she will date Grey-style. What that entails I will not give away as to avoid spoilers but rest assured it won’t be boring.
The show throws a lot of twist and turns at you just like life. To me it doesn’t get boring. Yes it has helped that the show has guys that have nicknames like McSteamy and McDreamy, but that isn’t what the show is all about. It is a show that is well written and funded to make it believable. Sure some story-lines like the Avery-Kepner break-up was a little too long for me, but when I got bored with it they did a 180 which was very surprising to me and got me interested in their story again. The writers in my opinion know how to keep you interested in characters that have seemingly settled by throwing curve balls at them and at you.
Some of my favourite characters have left the show, McSteamy (a beautiful role by Eric Dane) and Callie Torres, but most got the exit they deserved. McSteamy was a complex character with at first a one track mind (which lead to so many funny and full of innuendo scenes) who later turned into a family man. Who would have thought. I wouldn’t. Yes I am also critical I rather would have seen McDreamy not been killed off but that they just divorced. But I guess they wanted to make sure the actor couldn’t return to the show (there were some issues on set). Whatever the reason might have been I miss McDreamy. But even when I don’t agree with a decision from the writers or showrunners I don’t complain that much. They have usually the big picture for the episodes/seasons ahead in their minds. And I for one am anxious to find out what that will be.
So as we enter year thirteen at Grey-Sloan Memorial let us find out what Meredith will encounter. Will she start to date Nathan Riggs like a normal person or shall she date him Grey-style. Only time will tell. (And Meredith of course since she narrates the show.)