Meredith Grey is awful

[milesmachine]

I’ve been unwell and recovering from major surgery for the last few weeks. My sister in law has always been into Greys Anatomy and recommended it as something to watch.

So firstly, I’m hooked and bombing my way through it. But it’s sort of turned into a hate watch as I find so many of the characters are just TERRIBLE people!

I’m on early season 5 so no spoilers if possible! But so far, my issues are:
-Cristina is an absolute bitch. I mean, a horrible, selfish, gives no shits person.
-How did her and Burke go from casual dating to moving in and nearly marrying in a matter of months? She was HORRIBLE to him and barely admitted any feelings-I do not get this relationship!

-Crisitna and Meredith are classic ‘mean girls’ to Izzy…they tease George, ice out Izzy and barely tolerate Alex. They’re like the popular kids at school who waltz around stuck up

-All the girls are just nasty to Callie who hasn’t done anything wrong. They laugh openly at their relationship and repeat confidences. And we’re supposed to be rooting for these girls?

-Derek and Meredith are ridiculous. She wants him, she doesn’t, she’s annoyed at him, constantly whining… then I realise the first 3 seasons are over 8 months (Addison mentions in series 3 she would have given birth if she had kept the baby she terminated 8 months earlier when she was living in NY)…! Whatttt?

-Meredith. Just insufferable! Whining all the time, indecisive, treats George awfully, is now terrible for Lexie and openly spiteful to her. Is she really the main character?

However, I am in love with Miranda Bailey-please tell me I won’t be let down!!!

And yet, I continue to watch!!

Is it just me?

Christina is a legend. She is fierce, she will get where she wants to, no matter what, but she is loyal to those she cares about. In most ways she is no different to Burke, nobody called him a bitch for it.

Meredith is a complex character, but I like her ability to roll with the punches. Awful to see posts immediately calling Ellen a terrible actor though. She’s no better or worse than any of the others.

Callie is badass. Not sure how you feel about musical episodes but there is one a bit later on and her singing is off the charts good.

Bailey is my spirit animal.

Meredith is dreadful and such a terrible crier! But you take that back about Christina-she lost a shoe for crying out loud! 🤪

We all are.

Meredith is one of the most selfish characters out there. But Bailey - my DD is in to politics and I printed up a Bailey for President t-shirt last US election! Also did Bartlet for Pres too.

She still has all her shoes in season 5.

Ohhh cryptic. Lots of posters not liking Izzy so I guess there is more to come for her!!

Station 19 is one I hadn’t heard off so might venture onto that too…

Ugh, I can’t imagine a musical episode being good. But I am massive Buffy Fan and love ‘once more with feeling’ which is their musical episode. Cant quite imagine it in a world that doesn’t have magic and spells in it though!

You will end up loving Alex.

I am definitely leaning more towards liking him as I make my way through season 5. He seems to hate himself more that everyone else.

I could never stand her whiny voice. Watch private practice instead. It’s funny and the story lines are utterly ridiculous. But it got me through breastfeeding my second born.

Station 19 is linked to Grey's. It's early for you to watch it yet if you want everything to make sense.

Greys is my comfort programme, I binge watch when I’m feeling poorly and need to not think. The character development is incredible - for better and worse depending on the character. They all have their fair share of “what the fuck are you doing” moments, I like that the writers aren’t scared of showing peoples truly unlikeable sides.

I disagree that Burke is as bad as Cristina. He seemed to genuinely want to teach the interns while Cristina currently has them running errands. He looked out for George after the Meredith thing and stood up for him when she didn’t want him in his apartment. He turned down the chief of surgery position as he knew he’d let everyone down. He covered for Izzy after being shot and made sure she got help with Denny. And he didn’t marry Cristina as he loved her and wanted her to be herself, not who he wanted her to be.

i know the actor was problematic but i really liked the character

Yes she also talks in her voice and with the same rhythm or tone and it really irritated me.

Ahhh The US Office is my maternity leave program. Kept me sane during the night feeds!

I'm sorry. They do WHAT?

If you do not like the first few seasons, I don't think you will be thrilled with the next few seasons. There are better things to watch, although I do enjoy greys.

Ooh if you’re a Buffy fan, beware of the private practice episodes Zander is in (can’t think of the the name of the actor). I was shook

But it's surely not that difficult to comment on characters over a 20+ season series and give opinion on them without talking about any big deaths or people leaving? Many posters have managed cryptic responses or said they don't like a character but haven't said why as they realise it will spoil things.

Oh really?? I might watch it out of interest just for that! Assume he's not anymore as I know the actor has been in lots of trouble with the police

GA is my best emotional hormone tap. A few episodes every so often (say, once a month) allows me to bawl my eyes out about nothing important and it takes the pressure off the tears building up in real life.
I’ve finished season 21, Bailey is still bloody brilliant. I have a girl crush on Addison, who still pops up from time to time in a bit of a Private Practice cameo.
The plots to most of the season finales make the whole thing completely bonkers but we all know that (and I’m in it for all the big emotions anyway so bring it on).
Not a spoiler but expectation management: Season 20 ended somewhat abruptly due to the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood. No big emotional finale. Bring on season 22. What on earth will they dream up next?

I watched about four seasons of this many years ago as a student and, now i reflect on it, I agree with lots of what you say. I remember it being quite snarky, which I think is very of its time. They were obviously also leaning into the idea of surgery being super-competitive and the general tone matched that. Did it evolve much?

I agree about Bailey - I think as a younger person I just didn’t appreciate her, but now I can see her qualities. Also though i seem to recall she had quite limited screen time compared to others so was maybe a bit two-dimensional at times.

I’m up to date with GA and loved Private Practice but never started Station 19 - looked like a different kind of vibe. Do people recommend?

It’s good. It’s not as good as private practice in my opinion, but it’s good.

OP - station 19 is worth watching, but it’s a spin off from maybe season 15ish of Grey’s. So you need to wait until then to watch it.

I really enjoyed Station 19 but disliked Private Practice. You'll especially enjoy Station 19 if you like the character and their....associate from Grey's as the character moves over there and the person they are connected to pops up quite often.

Phew. That was hard to type. 😂