'Grey's Anatomy' Season 16 Episode 15: Meredith seems to be getting slowly phased out in the medical drama
It has been a while since we've seen Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) gives one of her icy and cutting speeches. Instead, she's lately been phased out in a show, where she is meant to be a protagonist. Why, Shonda Rhimes?
In the past two episodes, Meredith has been overtly gentle with her boyfriend (or now ex) Andrew DeLuca, who seems to be losing the plot. After lashing out at her in the previous episode, he again snapped at her when she was concerned about him. How many times do we have to see a woman raising a man-child as a boyfriend on television? Ironically, this is coming from Meredith, the woman known for putting people in their place.
Remember how she shut Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) down in the second season, for insinuating that she had loose character? "You don't get to call me a whore. When I met you, I thought I had found the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I was done. So all the boys, and all the bars, and all the obvious daddy issues, who cared? Because I was done. You left me. You chose Addison. I'm all glued back together now. I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke. You don't get to call me a whore." That was one of the most powerful speeches of 'Grey's Anatomy', and it showed all the man-splaining men their place.
Let's even remember the time when she tore Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) apart. Amelia had been constantly harsh to Meredith about Derek's death. "I lost my husband and the father of my children, and you're falling apart? I don't get to do that because I have three kids. Please shut up and get out of my room."
So it seems rather strange that Meredith will let DeLuca's angry attacks slide by, without even a whimper. Yes, DeLuca might be battling a disorder (that suddenly came out of nowhere, by the time) She was worried that he was going to end up like his father and instead he attacks her about her mother's Alzheimer's disease. The Meredith, we love and remember, would have a response, without letting something like that pass.
On a different note, what have the writers done to DeLuca's character? Is this just to make way for McIrish, who seems to be eyeing Meredith in every episode? Come on writers, please don't be so predictable.
Understandably, Meredith has let go of a lot of her dark and twistiness over the years, but she was never a doormat. In fact, in the beginning of the season, she still had some of her fire, to the extent that DeLuca seemed like the pushover.
We're waiting for a powerful speech from our Meredith. Please bring her back.
'Grey's Anatomy' airs on ABC Thursdays at 9 pm.
