Meredith deserved better Why Pompeo’s departure from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ was utterly disappointing
Ilove Grey’s Anatomy. As an aspiring surgeon, the show combines my love for drama and medicine. Watching Grey’s on Netflix after online classes became a staple in the unspoken peace agreement my sister and I had during lockdown, and grew to become one of my favorite shows after restrictions eased.
I cannot express how amazing the show’s central character, surgeon Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), is. Through 19 seasons, I’ve seen her go through a bombing, a shooting, relationships with three half-sisters, numerous love triangles, a plane crash, one near-drowning, losing almost all of her immediate family, insurance fraud, pregnancy loss, and a myriad of strange, jarring medical cases. Name any tragedy — Meredith has gone through it.
Regardless of where a person is in life, everyone can relate to Meredith. Ever caught feelings for someone you know you can’t like? She’s done it. Had your romantic failures spread through multiple social circles? She wrote the book on it. Tried to move on from the person you thought was your one great love? She’s tried more times than I can count.
It’s hard to think of the titular character of such a popular show leaving, but after hearing Pompeo’s announcement that her time as Meredith Grey was coming to a close, I was assured that she would get the perfect sendoff. I am incredibly disappointed to say I was wrong — and the episode leaves me wondering if Grey’s Anatomy, an ABC network TV show that also streams on Netflix, will survive such a disappointment as streaming services continue to offer better options, with more convenience to the viewer.
I’ve seen Meredith Grey grow a lot as a character. Quite frankly, the death of her boyfriend, neurosurgeon Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and the end of the iconic “Mer-Der” has and will continue to make me cry more than any breakup ever can. My attachment to not just her, but the rest of the original Grey’s cast was severed by the end of her farewell episode.
Grey’s typically does farewell episodes well. There’s a couple of messy ways that characters have left the show, but there’s always some sentimental goodbye that Grey’s fans love. Izzie (Katherine Heigl), one of Meredith’s fellow interns in her residency cycle, survived brain cancer, allowing viewers a sigh of relief. Cristina (Sandra Oh), an ambitious cardiothoracic surgeon who was Meredith’s best friend, and one of fans’ most popular characters, was given the perfect ending, complete with love, closure and most important: more heart surgery. Alex (Justin Chambers), another one of Meredith’s fellow original interns who stayed and grew with her, was written off hastily and left his wife to go back to Izzie (seemingly very out of character for him), but we’ve always had Meredith.
You would think someone who had already gone through so much would get a nice, peaceful out, right? WRONG. Meredith’s childhood house was struck by lightning, with her kids in it. Thankfully, no one died, but could the showrunners really not let her have one nice thing?
The rest of the episode consisted of parallels between Meredith and Derek’s relationship and her relationship with her new boyfriend, Nick. Meredith and Derek’s relationship had a rocky start, after figuring out that Derek, her boss at the time, was married to Addison Montgomery, a neonatal surgeon. With the introduction of Dr. Montgomery (Kate Walsh), the first of many Grey’s love triangles was established. Meredith begged Derek to choose her rather than Montgomery with her iconic “Pick me. Choose me. Love me.” speech.
In her final episode, Meredith gives a similar speech with a much more empowering tone: “I’m going to pick me. I pick my kids, and I pick what’s best for us. And I am not going to beg you to love me.”
Though Meredith showed great character growth through the episode, overall I was disappointed. After almost two decades of being on the show, you would expect something better than a normal Grey’s episode, but the audience got nothing. No montage of Meredith during her time at the hospital, no references to any of her past friendships and, most important, little to no closure about her time on the show.
The episode left many fans disappointed, including me. Grey’s has been one of the most prominent shows on TV for a while. With the rise of streaming services, it’s impressive to see the show has maintained its popularity even after a very long run. However, Meredith leaving the show left a hole in all of our hearts. How are television programs supposed to maintain their viewership after things like this happen?
Pompeo’s departure from Grey’s shows exactly why so many people prefer to switch to streaming services rather than waiting for a TV network to release weekly episodes. Being able to bingewatch Grey’s from any point and being able to see the characters I love so much when they were “perfect” is so much better than having to be disappointed from departure episodes like this.
Moksh Bhakta is a sophomore at Mandela International Magnet School. Contact him at mokshmbhakta@gmail.com.
After almost two decades of being on the show, you would expect something better than a normal “Grey’s” episode, but the audience got nothing. No montage of Meredith during her time at the hospital, no references to any of her past friendships and, most important, little to no closure about her time on the show.