Grey’s Anatomy Needs to Embrace Its New Era by Moving on From Meredith Grey

Meredith Grey is an iconic television character.

Seriously, she’s one of the most recognizable and popular female characters of the modern era.

Grey’s Anatomy’s record-breaking, history-making status is something no one can strip away from. So, no matter how many fans and foes may bemoan, it’s still running on air.

Love Her or Loathe Her, Meredith Grey is One of the Most Iconic, Influential TV Characters of All Time

We’re on Grey’s Anatomy Season 21, and very few series have accomplished that feat. This medical soap has surpassed the iconic ER in its long run and reach, something it accomplished SIX years ago.

There is no denying Grey’s Anatomy’s influence and how it has evolved.

• The Irrational Season 2 Episode 16 Featured a Unique Case With A Predictable Solution (But I Loved It Anyway)
  by Jack Ori
• The Rookie Season 7 Episode 9 Review: Mekia Cox Carries An Uneven Hour
  by Jasmine Blu
• Doc Season 1 Episode 9 Review: Forbidden Kisses, Relationships Tested & Miller Hits an All-Time Low
  by Jasmine Blu

But there’s one thing that lingers within the series that it may need to give.

Yes, I’m talking about Meredith Grey herself.

There’s an argument that Meredith Grey is like the Olivia Benson of her series, and we know that Mariska Hargitay has held down Law & Order: SVU for 26 years and counting.

Fans of the most successful Dick Wolf series of dozens cannot envision a world where Mariska Hargitay isn’t part of the series. The moment she steps aside, the series should call it quits, too.

However, the iconic nature of these characters and their longevity in a series are where the similarities stop when discussing Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson.

Unlike Olivia, and it may be unpopular to say this, Meredith isn’t as integral to Grey’s Anatomy anymore.

Mer is Grey’s Anatomy’s Lasting Legacy, But It’s Not Solely About Her Stories

The series doesn’t start and end with her presence. If there’s anything we’ve learned since Ellen Pompeo opted for a reduced role around Grey’s Anatomy Season 19, the series itself doesn’t require her to be at the forefront or even in it at all anymore.

Pompeo’s lasting impact on the series goes without saying, and it’s not even up for debate.

Our introduction to the series was through Meredith’s eyes as she started her first day at Seattle Grace two decades ago. She exposed us to this fantastic, thrilling, dramatic, devastating, life-changing series.

• I’m Worried About The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 19 Amid Tamra Judge’s Shocking Departure
  by Paul Dailly
• Grey’s Anatomy Needs to Embrace Its New Era by Moving on From Meredith Grey
  by Jasmine Blu
• Big Feelings & Big Stakes: Breaking Down the Emotional Clash Between Buck and Eddie on 9-1-1
  by Whitney Evans

We were in for the ride of our lives, and for nearly two decades, Meredith Grey delivered that and some.

The beauty of this series’ longevity is that we could follow Mer through all the highs and lows of her life and see so many different stages, which is unprecedented when you consider storytelling, particularly stories featuring women.

Many of us grew up with Meredith Grey and embarked on our own various stages in life while following her stories and those of her friends and loved ones, and it’s rare that anyone can have that particular experience and can attest to that in life.

But as much as Grey’s Anatomy was about Meredith’s story, it wasn’t the entirety of the series.

The series bolstered an ensemble cast with some of the greatest modern characters, and it’s one of the few shows that successfully managed a rotating cast.

Grey’s Anatomy Mostly Succeeds In Revolving Cast While Maintaining Fan Interest

Aside from a few controversies here and there, we needn’t get into those; Grey’s Anatomy proved through time that as long as they stacked the series with compelling, diverse, relatable characters whom we loved or even loved to hate and rotated them appropriately, loyal and devoted fans could follow this series through every stage and every era.

At Grey’s Anatomy’s core, what was most compelling was watching a group of young interns just beginning their medical careers ascend to new heights or crash and burn along the way.

• I’m Worried About The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 19 Amid Tamra Judge’s Shocking Departure
  by Paul Dailly
• How Long Before We Get Del’s Perspective on The Way Home?
  by Carissa Pavlica
• Big Feelings & Big Stakes: Breaking Down the Emotional Clash Between Buck and Eddie on 9-1-1
  by Whitney Evans

These characters navigate work and play, make mistakes, fumble through life, and blossom into the best they can be, which makes the series so intriguing.

With Grey’s Anatomy, we’ve been fortunate enough to experience the cycle of mentorship in a unique way.

The characters we watched stumble through the early stages of their careers excelled and became acclaimed and recognizable, accomplished, fully realized, albeit still messy beings. They went on to mentor and teach the next generations and classes who came after them.

Of course, Grey’s Anatomy’s legacy works as long as legacy characters remain like touchstones to those familiar and can pass the baton.

As long as the series has Richard Webber or Miranda Bailey as the OG icons who’ve been on the series for its entire run and ground it in its later years, we don’t need Meredith Grey as the key figure.

Meredith Grey Isn’t the Glue Holding Grey’s Anatomy Together (And It’s Proven That)

If we’re honest with ourselves as Grey’s fans, we know deep down that Meredith Grey hasn’t been the glue to this series in a long time.

After Alex Karev’s controversial departure during Grey’s Anatomy Season 16, it felt like we had lost what little of Meredith Grey we had.

With the character no longer having a best friend and touching stone, one of her best friends and confidants since her early days at Seattle Grace, it was as if Meredith couldn’t find grounding anymore in her own series.

• The Hunting Party’s Patrick Sabongui Teases the Pit Mystery, Team Dynamics & Reuniting with David Ramsey
  by Laura Nowak
• Patina Miller on Raq’s Struggles and Power Plays in Raising Kanan Season 4
  by Whitney Evans
• Sascha Penn & Mekai Curtis on Raising Kanan’s Explosive New Season
  by Whitney Evans

By the time we got to the COVID season of Grey’s Anatomy Season 17, which had Meredith bedridden, offscreen, or in bizarre and sometimes beautiful dreamscapes for most of the season, it was as if we were watching Meredith Grey slip away from our grasp in real-time.

Ironically, however, the series was still fine. It was the testing period to see if Grey’s Anatomy had what it took actually to survive without its lead, and you know what? It could!

Meredith’s storylines in recent seasons are perfunctory because she’s accomplished everything she feasibly can as a character. She’s resilient, extraordinary, and remarkable; they’ve taken her to new heights.

Mer’s Story Feels Complete, Clinging to Her Undoes That Progress

In many ways, Meredith’s story feels complete, so every time she reappears in the series now, it feels like someone who graduated from high school years ago who still keeps lingering and hanging around.

They’ve psyched us out by throwing her grand departures at least three times. It’s lost all impact and meaning anymore.

Grey’s Anatomy keeps trying to anchor Meredith Grey to this series with these small arcs that feel shoehorned in to scratch the nostalgic itch when they need to trust the fact that they’ve succeeded in ushering in a new era of this series and the next generation of the OG interns without her.

It took a while to find that perfect formula.

Still, most of us can agree that this modern twist on M.A.G.Y.K., at least upon its introduction during Grey’s Anatomy Season 20, managed to find that spark that paid homage to Grey’s Anatomy of yesteryear—what we loved most about the series and its original characters, led by Meredith.

Losing Mika Yasuda this early on is frustrating as she emerged as one of the best new additions to the series in a decade.

However, they still managed to strike gold with the collection of characters, with these new characters and the potential to take them to new heights.

• Why the Best TV Romances Exist Outside of Time
  by Carissa Pavlica
• Elliot & Olivia: Too Old for These Games, Too Iconic to Ignore — Bensler is Exhausting
  by Jasmine Blu
• Elsbeth Season 2: Elsbeth Is Rocking Fire-Proof Pink Against All These Hot Firemen
  by Joshua Pleming

It’s the closest we’ve come thus far to recapturing some of the magic, pardon the pun, of the early years, nodding at nostalgia from Simone’s similarities to Mer to Adams being Derek’s nephew.

The New Era with Next Generation Can Thrive Without Mer, Grey’s Anatomy Needs to Give Them Space to Do It

But they’ve managed to have a modern twist, where these characters feel like they have the essence of those we loved but room to be their own standout characters.

However, we need them to have the space to be that. The series can’t fully commit to going all-in on these characters and trusting that this new era of Grey’s Anatomy can actually work out just fine if it keeps clinging to the past and trying to anchor Meredith to the series.

So far, Grey’s Anatomy still feels unstoppable. It’s had more lives than a dozen cats playing in traffic because it still resonates with viewers and fans, old and new.

But suppose Grey’s Anatomy ever wants to fully embrace the new era it has somehow managed to pull off. In that case, it needs to do something potentially controversial but necessary: let Meredith Grey go.

Over to you, Grey’s Anatomy Fanatics. Take our poll and share your thoughts below!

Watch Grey's Anatomy Online

TV Fanatic is searching for passionate writers to share their voices across various article types. Think you have what it takes to be a TV Fanatic? Click here for more information and next steps.

The post Grey’s Anatomy Needs to Embrace Its New Era by Moving on From Meredith Grey appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Source: TV Fanatic