17 shades of Grey
Covid-19 brought a brutal reality to the long-running TV show but this might be its last season
UI think after 17 seasons, our show deserves the biggest celebration, end, final season ever.
— Chandra Wilson
nlike lead character Meredith, Grey’s Anatomy is not fighting for its life. In America, it is one of the most-watched entertainment series of the season among young adults, and in New Zealand the latest season — 17 — is running on TVNZ OnDemand on the same day it runs in the United States. It has not been announced whether there will be a season 18.
The series — which follows the staff of a Seattle hospital — has provided life support for its audience, whether it’s an emotional outlet or career guidance.
During the pandemic, it also entertained people stuck inside, rewatching or discovering it for the first time. Viewers have gathered on social media to discuss love, life or death plotlines from recent and earlier seasons.
Chandra Wilson, an original cast member, noticed this trend and has been viewing old episodes herself with her daughter.
“If it was up to her, we’d have been done with 16 seasons in 16 days,” she says, laughing. “I’m new to this whole bingeing thing.”
Watching old episodes has given her daughter the chance to pass verdict on the similarities between Wilson and her character, Dr Miranda Bailey.
“I always say that we just really are different people for so many reasons, the way we talk, how we think, what we say to people,” explains Wilson. “But from my daughter’s perspective, she would say, ‘no that’s you, that’s you Ma’.”
Something that hasn’t changed during her 16 years as Bailey — and often as a director on the show — is the influence of her character.
Bailey is a successful Black female surgeon, who has coped with mental health issues yet takes no nonsense from anyone.
This fictional character has provided real-life career options for viewers.
Since the first season of the ABC series created by Shonda Rimes — Krista Vernoff is the current showrunner — Grey’s Anatomy has received mail from people inspired to pursue medical careers.
“They tell us about where they are in residency or where they are in med school or you know, just that this door has opened up for them . . . particularly women of colour that let me know ‘before I saw a Miranda Bailey on television, that I hadn’t even thought of that for myself’.”
Letters have been sent by surgeons, general practitioners and nurses.
“If that’s the service that we have provided with all these seasons, then we will take it, because it’s just amazing,” she adds.
An added responsibility in 2020-21 has been the portrayal of the pandemic.
Grey’s Anatomy, more than other US medical drama, demonstrated the toll of Covid-19 on patients, health workers and the public in storylines across the first half of season 17. Bailey dealt with loss after she struggled to keep her parents safe.
“At the time that the episode aired where Miranda lost her mum, we hadn’t had like a national day of grieving yet. We hadn’t really been able to mourn yet as a country, as a community,” says Wilson.
“So the response that that we got right away was, ‘this happened to me and I haven’t had a chance to cry yet. Thank you for giving me a place I could go to cry’.”
When the show went on hiatus in December, Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey was on a ventilator fighting coronavirus. Losing consciousness led Grey to a dream state, where she’s met long-dead characters — including her husband, Dr Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) and Dr George O’Malley (TR Knight) — on a beach.
As it picks up this week, it’s expected she’ll still be ill.
Could they kill off Meredith and end the series this year?
Pompeo’s contract is up and there’s no word on whether Grey’s Anatomy will survive long enough to tie up long-running storylines and say a proper goodbye to the beloved characters in a world beyond Covid19.
Wilson says if it is the final season, there should be a lot of fanfare.
“I think after 17 seasons, our show deserves the biggest celebration, end, final season ever.”
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