So Grey's Anatomy has returned with the second half of Season 17. Who else feels exhausted from having to pick themselves up, again and again, with this medical drama television show? And also,
Image source via Grey's Anatomy by ABC
There used to be a time when no matter how bad lives get for our favourite fictional surgical interns, residents, or attendings, no matter how "dark and twisty", one could always count on finding some joy from the characters. It could be George's kindness, Izzie Stevens, the girl who wears her heart on her sleeves, Alex Karev, who "always tells it like it is", some tough love or even a slap in the face wake up call from Christina Yang. And if all should fail, you can still count on the comfort of just feasting your eyes on McDreamy and McSteamy.
Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Now that all that is gone, it sure feels like we're watching the show going through the whole experience with a constantly battled Meredith Grey, all alone. You can find plenty of memes created by fans expressing such sentiment.
The longest-suffering character on television. Image source via Screenrant
As the series returns for its Season 17 midseason premiere, another one bites the dust. Fans are devastated by the unexpected death of Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti). In a two-hour crossover episode with "Station 19", DeLuca was stabbed at his attempt to pursue a sex trafficker.
It's been all too grim and the audience could sure use a little bit more of some feel-good entertainment. Image source via ABC
For many years now, "When is Grey's Anatomy ending?" or "Is Grey's Anatomy ending?" is the question that begs to be answered.
Long story short, the best answer to that question is - Grey's Anatomy will end when either creator Shonda Rhimes or Ellen Pompeo decides to end it. Both have shared on various occasions that as long as the other still wants to continue, the other would support it. For years Rhimes has said the show would go on as long as Pompeo wanted to do the series.
As for Pompeo? She has shared her stance as well: "I don't know how long the show will go on. .... we're very lucky to have the fans still hanging on, and I think the fans will let us know when it's time to stop the show." - Variety interview.
On "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in 2017, Pompeo revealed how she is astonished herself: "Every year I keep saying, 'This is the last year, they're definitely gonna get sick of us, the ratings are going to plummet and we're over at the end of this year, I say it every single year and it never happens. I can't believe people aren't sick of me yet. … Maybe they're all drinking tequila and not really paying attention."
Later in 2018, she shared about what kept her going on the Ellen DeGeneres Show: "The show is so popular, everywhere I go, whether it's Italy, whether it's France, London, Kansas…the people that come up to me with tears in their eyes and tell me how meaningful the show is to them. I got to keep doing it, man, because we're touching lives and making a difference."
Krista Vernoff, who has taken over duties as the showrunner since Rhimes's departure in 2017, expressed to The Hollywood Reporter that production has been complicated and difficult during the Covid-19 pandemic. "We are on fumes. I don't really have creative space for imaginings of what might happen next year; I'm trying to get through this season."
Currently, the direction for Grey's Anatomy is to plan an ending for Season 17 that could "function as either a season finale or a series finale," said Krista Vernoff.
We feel it is high time to say goodbye, so here's an article in dedication to ABC Studio's longest-running scripted primetime series (over 360 episodes to date) from a loyal hardcore fan of the show to another.
Do you remember how old you were when you started watching Grey's Anatomy?
Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Following this fictional world of Seattle's Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital (Seattle Grace Mercy Death) created by Shonda Rhimes.
The pilot episode "A Hard Day's Night" came out in 2005, and as of 2021, we're at the 17th season with the show. Such longevity is indeed a phenomenon for any TV show. In 2020, Grey's Anatomy was listed in Insider's "58 longest-running American TV shows of all time", along with shows like "The Simpsons", "Days of Our Lives", and "Saturday Night Live".
Let's take a walk down memory lane to see where and how it all began.
In 2006, Shonda Rhimes shared in an interview with Oprah for "O, The Oprah Magazine" about the onset of her idea to develop a medical drama: "I was obsessed with the surgery channels. My sisters and I would call each other up and talk about operations we'd seen on the Discovery Channel. There's something fascinating about the medical world—you see things you'd never imagine, like the fact that doctors talk about their boyfriends or their day while they're cutting somebody open. So when ABC asked me to write another pilot, the OR seemed like the natural setting."
And as for the fantastic characters we have grown to love, the renowned American television producer and screenwriter said:
"I wanted to create a world in which you felt as if you were watching very real women. Most of the women I saw on TV didn't seem like people I actually knew. They felt like ideas of what women are. They never got to be nasty or competitive or hungry or angry. They were often just the loving wife or the nice friend. But who gets to be the bitch? Who gets to be the three-dimensional woman?"
With that said, the rest is history and the world is collectively brought into one of the best storytelling with Shondaland.
Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Remember a time when watching Grey's Anatomy also means discovering one good song after the next?
There are too many songs that have been popularized by the show. The obvious two would be The Fray's 'How to Save a Life' and Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars'. However, there are so many more to be acknowledged.
You also can't listen to songs like 'Portions for Foxes' (Rilo Kiley), 'Life is Short' (Butterfly Boucher), 'Chapter' (Psapp), 'Feels Like' (Masha Qrella), 'Big As the Sky' (AM60), 'Sparkle Me' (Buffseeds), or 'Keep Breathing' (Ingrid Michaelson) without instantly thinking "Grey's Anatomy" too.
Just the number of playlists you can find on Spotify is proof of how significant Grey's Anatomy soundtracks is. The songs will take you right back to the emotion if not recollection of the scenes.
Did you know that Grey's Anatomy soundtrack has been nominated for Grammy Awards too? Image source via Grey's Anatomy Original Soundtrack Volume 2
It is hard to tell if these songs would have been as memorable if we hear them first on the radio.
Some of Grey's Anatomy songs are so iconic that they have taken their own character, and credits ought to be given to Rhimes and music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas for it.
"I distinctly remember discussing how important it would be that the show's music should be its own character. This character would have a place in both the operating room and the break room. It would be there in elevators, bars, and homes. And, of course, it would be there for all THE BIG STUFF — for weddings and funerals, for births and deaths, for the grittiest moments and the most lighthearted." said Alexandra Patsavas in 2017's "Celebrate the 300th Episode of "Grey's Anatomy" with the Show's Best Music".
Patsavas adds: "Shonda wanted the songs to tie scenes together, and to act as a score. She didn't just want short bursts of sound: She wanted music with purpose. This directive gave me an opportunity to look under every musical rock and stretch my choices into both the emotional and the sassy. "Grey's" has also had the great good fortune to license music from some of the very best,".
It is true. Grey's uses songs from all over the globe; it doesn't matter if they are chart-toppers or covers, new or award-winning artists; what mattered was always how well they complement the storyline.
Some of Grey's favourite artists to feature in the earlier seasons were Tegan and Sara, Get Set Go, The Ditty Bops, Nellie McKay, just to name a few. It was through this very show that I was first introduced to Sia (before she became the giant singer-songwriter that she is today). Later in the pilot episode of season 13, you can also hear Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna's "All I Do" played in the television series.
There was a time when almost every Grey's Anatomy soundtrack felt like an 'unofficial theme song' or explicitly written for the show. The frequency of such encounters seems to have decreased in recent years.
How phenomenal was the show back then? Take it from Oprah, not us.
"I love the show—and I haven't followed a series since Mary Tyler Moore went off the air. I've missed entire decades of television. I once called up my best friend, Gayle, and said, "My producers want me to interview the actors from some show called Friends—ever heard of it?" Now I walk around thinking I sound like Cristina. I am Oprah Winfrey—and I think I sound like Cristina. You did that!" - Oprah Talks to Shonda Rhimes". O, The Oprah Magazine.
Say if this longest-running medical drama on television never ends, do you reckon you will be growing grey and old with Meredith Grey too? Even the creator of the show has given up on envisioning its finale, so it seems.
"I have written the end of the show at least six times. Seriously, every time I felt like, "this will be how the show ends," we've gone past those moments so many times that I've stopped trying to come up with envision for it. We just don't end. I have no idea now. Krista and I have joked that my daughter, Harper, and her daughter Coco will end up running the show one day." said Rhimes in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
That was Grey's Anatomy in Season 15. Soon enough, loyal fans of the show would be hitting the 2 decades mark. We have lost count of the batches of interns who have come and go. Those who stayed, those we grew to like, and unfortunately, more often than not, they die.
"If there's anyone that knows how to deliver a heart-wrenching death scene, it's the team behind ABC's "Grey's Anatomy." - Variety
Image source via Screenrant
Jokes aside, how many times have you (figuratively) died with the painful deaths and separations that have taken place in Grey's Anatomy? Season 17 Episode 8 title "It's All Too Much" is what we have to say to this. Though you are to expect mortality as a reoccurring theme for a story based in a hospital setting, however, to have this many deaths surrounding one character in one lifetime is too much! Poor Meredith Grey! With all the original Grey's Anatomy cast members leaving the show, only three still remain.
Let's review the times that Grey's Anatomy has broken our hearts.
*Spoiler Alert* When a series goes on for this long, characters come and go, but some standout. Since we're at it, we're gonna jog your memory also with some of the best memorable quotes from Grey's Anatomy.
*Warning: You may discover that you have never truly recovered from the heartaches caused by Grey's Anatomy.
Dylan Young (Kyle Chandler) - The leading member of the Seattle Police Department Bomb Squad (Season 2)
The start of many more dramatic, painful deaths to come. Image source via ABC
Memorable Quote: "I know this is bad. And I know that I'm this ass who's been yelling at you all day. So you pretend that I'm not; you pretend that I'm someone you like, whatever you need. But you need to listen to me."
Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) - The unforgettable supporting character, heart patient, and love interest of Izzie Stevens (Season 2)
Where the ranking of Grey's Anatomy saddest deaths begins. Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Memorable Quote: "You're Gonna Make My Heart Stop Beating, And It's Brand New"
Ellis Grey (Katherine Burton) - Meredith's mom, the world-famous surgeon (Season 3)
A preview of how "dark and twisty" Meredith's life is about to get. Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Memorable Quote: "Anyone can fall in love and be blindly happy, but not everyone can pick up a scalpel and save a life."
Susan Grey (Mare Winningham) - Meredith's father second wife and the mother of Lexie Grey (Season 2)
Susan Grey could've been the mother that Meredith never had. Just when you thought she could catch a break, Susan died of an unexpected rare chronic hiccuping and acid reflux, and Meredith gets blamed unfairly by her estranged father. Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Now, if we really have to rank it (saddest Grey's Anatomy character deaths), this next one has to be Top 3 if not top of it all!
George O'Malley (T.R.Knight) - "John Doe tracing '007' It's George! It's George!" (Grey's Anatomy, Season 5)
You can almost still hear Meredith gasps and her footsteps running through the hallway screaming, "It's George!, It's George!". The world gasped collectively when George appeared on the other side of the elevator doors. Image source via ABC
Memorable Quote: "I want to be the guy Dr Bailey named her son after."
Whether you're a long-time fan of Grey's or a new one, no one can deny the legacy that T.R. Knight's character has left for the show.
In all fairness, though these were painful, they were also really incredible storylines leading to Grey's Anatomy success. Having said that, the earlier deaths were handled much more delicately. We were given a heads up with George leaving the hospital to join the army. There was a consolation that he died from saving someone's life as well. Such an important character also lives on with Dr Bailey naming her son after him. It was well developed, planned ahead, and treated fairly. Hands up if you feel the characters kill off have just grown sloppy and even lazy over time.
Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) - The two you cannot separate (Season 8 and Season 9)
For this ill-fated couple, we don't separate them because you just can't. We have watched them tried but they could not as well. Image source via ABC
Memorable Quote:
"Mark: I love you.
Lexie: You don't have to say it.
Mark: I've always been in love with you. I'll always be in love with you. Which is why you have to stay alive. We're going to get married. You'll be an amazing surgeon. We'll have kids."
From an audience point of view, it felt it was from here on out that you begin to catch a sense that Shonda Rhimes has taken leave of her faculties. Which season or episode was it for you that Grey's Anatomy has gone downhill since?
For us, without a doubt, it has to be when the most popular and beloved character, Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) left the show in season 10.
The show basically took off in that cab along with Christina Yang. Yang is simply the best damn character! Image source via ABC
Memorable Quote: "Oh, screw beautiful. I'm brilliant. If you want to appease me, compliment my brain."
It's a shame that Grey's Anatomy doesn't have the smart mouths as part of its ensemble anymore.
With very little to hold on to, the series went to kill off a character we've followed for 11 seasons - Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) in just one episode, and not even a funeral worth remembering! Sloppy much?
Derek Shepherd miraculously survived a shooting, a plane crash, and a deadly car accident caused his tragic demise, leaving Meredith behind with three children. Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Memorable Quote: "It's a beautiful day to save lives."
Here's to reemphasize how this one character just can't catch a break. In Season 15, her father, with who she had a rocky relationship Thatcher Grey (Jerry Perry), passed as well. Like so many of her relationships, as soon as she has warmed up to them, they die. How many deaths could one character possibly go through in one lifetime?
Honourable Mentions - All the times we have had to learn to say goodbye with Grey's Anatomy
If you recall, the show's first major death was not a human. It was Doc, the dog Izzie adopted but eventually, Meredith and Derek shared custody of. Doc's cancer spread to his brain, and they had to put him to sleep.
Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Reed Adamson (Nora Zehetner) and Charles Percy (Robert Baker) deaths in the Seattle Grace / Mercy West Shooting (Season 7) was notably one of Grey's most traumatic and tragic episodes. In this storyline, we were also introduced to Mary Portman (Mandy Moore) - the patient who tried to help Miranda Bailey get Percy to an operating room after he was shot. Despite surviving the whole ordeal, she still fell into a coma and died after returning for another surgery. That was rather unnecessary don't you think?
Paul Stadler's (Matthew Morrison) death in season 14 would probably be the most deserving one in Grey's Anatomy. He was Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) abusive husband whose organs were donated to save others after his demise.
Samuel Norbert Avery in season 11. Remember Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and April (Sarah Drew)'s baby, who only lived a few hours with Osteogenesis Imperfecta? This was a major storyline for the latter part of the series. Apart from that, there was also Teddy Altman's (Kim Raver) patient Henry Burton (Scott Foley) who doesn't have insurance in season 8. A plot many have criticized as recycling of Izzie's doctor-patient love story.
Despite it all, those who have been hanging on to familiarity still have the rock-solid friendship between Meredith and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers). Now, that too is gone.
Image source via Grey's Anatomy / ABC
Memorable Quote: "Maybe I'm a pig. Maybe I'm an ass. Maybe I'm a vermin like everybody says, but I tell the truth. It's the one thing I got going for me."
With Justin Chambers leaving the show after 15 years, you come to ponder how many times you have learned to say goodbye with Grey's Anatomy and if it's time to say goodbye to the show entirely as well.
The prolific creator Shonda Rhimes has gone on to produce her next hit and first Netflix title - Bridgerton. On CBS Sunday Morning in February 2021, Pompeo said: "To end a show this iconic — how do we do it? I just wanna make sure we do this character and this show and the fans, I wanna make sure we do it right."
We're voting on bringing characters who are still alive back to the show now that both Derek and George have returned through Meredith's dream sequence; why not Christina Yang, Izzie Stevens, Addison Montgomery, and Alex Karev too?
Image source via BuzzFeed
Is it time to say goodbye and close a chapter with Grey's Anatomy?
"They say death is hardest on the living. It's tough to actually say goodbye. Sometimes it's impossible. You never really stop feeling the loss. It's what makes things so bittersweet. We leave little bits of ourselves behind, little reminders. A lifetime of memories, photos, trinkets. Things to remember us by even when we're gone." – Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy
If the series should continue, we'd say go on and do what you do best, raise awareness on more critical illness like what was done in season 9 on Kawasaki disease. Bring on more relatable everyday patient stories depicting everyday bravery, sacrifice, and courage. God knows the world needs more of that these days. Don't go killing characters unnecessarily, and enough with the crossovers with Station 19! It doesn't work. Those who don't follow the other show(s) feel entirely lost with lines made in reference to a completely different series.
In all honesty, aside from Meredith, we're only staying on for the off chance of seeing this other character now:
Do you know that Bokhee (Kathy C. An) is a scrub nurse in real life? She got her own Instagram account too! Find the real BokHee @thebokheean Image source via ABC
Now, don't you dare go killing her off too!
So here's one from WADD to one of the most outstanding television series of our time! Whether you are disappointed over the recent development of the series or still loving it, and fearful of it coming to an end, suppose there's only one thing we can do.
We'll take Christina Yang's advice any day! Image source via BuzzFeed
Grey's Anatomy's awards and accolades include Emmy Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards, Golden Globe, People's Choice Awards, NAACP Image Award, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and many more.
