It’s ALL OVER!

by,

Suzanne Coleman, MD

“It’s ALL OVER!”

That’s what everyone seems to be saying about “Grey’s Anatomy” after they (spoiler alert!!) killed off Derek last night (played by Patrick Dempsey).

But, seriously people, what’s up with that?  It isn’t all over, hang in there!  I know you all love him, he’s such a charming guy, or used to be in the earlier seasons.  But Derek has barely been on the show for such a long time, I mean, seasons!  Didn’t you notice he hasn’t been around?  And then, this season, he was off for a LONG TIME?  I guess I could see it coming that he was going to be leaving the show.  It was still sad though, especially how it happened.

I think the show is in transition, again.  They’re going through a lot of changes.  This season has been weird, the whole multi-episode thing with his sister really BORED me.  It was so annoying.  And before that the whole hyperfocus on the lesbian divorced couple?  Also, hideously boring.  I was about to give up on the show myself.  But then, the last few episodes started to get better, so I hung around.

Last night’s episode was actually pretty awesome, even though it was a bit skewed towards the trauma-side as “Grey’s” tends to be when it wants to suck viewers back in.  One nice thing about it, I thought, and I don’t know if you have noticed this, but there was actually LIGHT visible in the episode.  I don’t know if you have this issue when you watch, but the show is so DARK overall (exposure-wise) that it’s really hard to see some scenes.  I mean, doctors DO sometimes actually get to see the light!  It’s not like they’re vampires or something…

One thing I especially liked last night was hearing Derek’s internal dialogue.  It drew me in so that I felt like I was experiencing it right along with him.  This episode created a lot of drama and suspense, is he really going to die??  I mean, we know he’s a great neurosurgeon, so we have to think he knows what’s going to happen.  But then again, he’s also injured, and might be wrong.  Plus, he’s not HIS doctor, so how can he know for sure?  All of that back and forth was really stressing me out!

I respected that the show took the opportunity to show us another angle in life.  The physician as a patient.  This is the only way physicians can really understand what patients and their loved ones are going through, and this episode brought that to the surface, from so many angles, it was really quite cool.

Also impressive to me was the fact that Meredith stepped out of her widow role to be a good mentor to the female ER doctor.  I’m not sure that doing this was really in-line with her recent bitchy-to-trainees character though, but anyway, it was a good scene because it will teach many other doctors and doctors-to-be what it’s like to be a good role model and mentor towards others.  And there aren’t enough of those in medicine today.

For those who are saying that “Grey’s” will end because he is gone (hmmm how chauvinistic…), remember that the show was designed to evolve as it started to move through different groups of interns.  Plus, this show likes to keep things real, and in the real world, things change.  The right changes can keep the show fresh.

Why did they make this change now?  Only they know.  I can make a guess though, Patrick wasn’t on much lately, and maybe he wanted to pursue other opportunities where he would be able to work more hours, and try new and exciting roles.  That makes sense to me.

Shonda Rhimes, the creator of the series, was reported to have written this episode, and she’s pretty awesome.  Well, I admit, I haven’t met the woman, but anyone would want to experience the amazing successes that she has had in her career.  It’s literally outstanding.  And she is a huge reason why women are now highly represented in the media.  The change started with her shows and is now evident not only on ABC but also on The CW, NBC, FOX etc.  In addition, music has had more successful female artists in the time since “Grey’s Anatomy” started than any other time that I can recall.  I think that all of this was accomplished in large part by this woman and everyone that worked with her in her career.  I would be honored to be a part of something like that, wouldn’t you?

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Wow!  Since I posted this yesterday, people from 57 countries have visited and read this!  That is so amazing, you guys are awesome 🙂  I didn’t realize that so many people loved “Grey’s Anatomy!”  So cool!

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Image credit:  Patrick_Dempsey_in_Madrid_(Spain)_01.jpg: CynSimp derivative work: RanZag [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons