Why It's Time to Stop Torturing Meredith on Grey's Anatomy

All the reasons why Shonda Rhimes needs to quit physically attacking her lead character

By Billy Nilles Feb 11, 2016 9:56 PMTags
TGIT, Grey's Anatomy, How to Get Away With MurderABC

It's coming. We know it's coming, and there's nothing we can do about it. ABC's given us about a month to prepare for it, as if anyone can ever really prepare for this sort of thing, but tonight's the night: Meredith Grey is getting attacked on Grey's Anatomy.

Once again, Shonda Rhimes is putting the life of her most cherished creation on the line in the quest for high drama—but 12 season in, this well has almost run dry.

With all due respect, Ms. Rhimes, please consider this your intervention.

ABC

Poor Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) has been through enough. When you look at the totality of the trauma she's experience since beginning her career in surgery at Seattle Grace, it's a wonder she hasn't run away screaming, vowing to never return. Let's break it down, shall we?

She's fallen into a freezing bay and nearly drowned (in a sorta-suicidal moment), she's had her hand on a live explosive that only blew seconds after she was removed from harm's way, she's been involved in a hostage situation with a gunman that caused her to have a miscarriage, an ambulance she was in broke down on a dark and windy road only to be crashed into, her plane crashed in the woods, she was forced to give birth in a hospital with no power, and her freaking husband died. (That last one may not have caused physical pain, but it was the very worst sort of trauma, we think.) And now, she's due to be attacked. Reading that back, we can hardly catch our breath. Can't a girl catch a break? 

We fully understand that on a medical drama, these sorts of events are necessary story generators. We're not arguing that. But in a cast of seemingly hundreds at times, must we be forced to watch—season after season—Meredith fall into physical harm? For once, can we see her be the hero of the situation? It would be so wonderful to see Meredith and all of her considerable trauma experience rise to the occasion and save someone else's day, rather than watch the rest of the cast rally to rescue her yet again.

These continued threats to Meredith's life are beginning to feel a bit toothless, if we're bring perfectly frank. We know she isn't going anywhere. With her name in the title, no matter how many surprise half-sisters are introduced, Grey's Anatomy will not live on without The Grey. And that makes all of this feel a bit gratuitous. And sadistic. 

We were promised a lighter season this year. We were told Meredith was in the midst of a rebirth following the loss of McDreamy. And now, we're brutalizing the poor woman all over again. Enough is enough. The show will go on without a traumatized Mer. We will keep watching without a traumatized Mer. Can we please stop traumatizing Mer?

Grey's Anatomy returns tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC.