‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Fans Think Maggie Suffers From Bad Writing — But Can Her Character Be ‘Fixed’?
Fans of Grey’s Anatomy have had to accept a long time ago that they may never agree 100% with what the writers choose to do with their favorite characters. Nobody’s perfect, no matter how much we wish they were.
But many fans think that one character in particular has gotten the worst of it in terms of writing — Maggie. Meredith’s half-sister has always seemed a little aimless; she hasn’t gone through much growth over the years and we’re still not quite sure in what ways we’ll see her character develop. Can they still fix her character, or is it too late?
A quick history of Maggie
Maggie Pierce entered the show at the end of Season 10, when she interviewed for the open Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery position.
She landed the job, and it was soon revealed that she was the child of Ellis Grey and Richard Webber, another half-sister that Meredith never knew about.
Meredith initially had reservations about Maggie and it took a while for the two to warm up to each other.
After Derek’s death, Meredith takes off to give birth to her youngest daughter. When she returns, she sells the home that Derek built them and moves back into her mother’s house, along with Maggie and Amelia.
Meredith’s two sisters help take care of her three children, and Meredith and Maggie bond more than ever.
What is she up to now?
Honestly, not much. Maggie’s love life is riddled with sudden turns and dramatics. She dated Andrew DeLuca, but insisted on keeping things secret and when they eventually went public, he ended things because of the fact that she was an attending and he was an intern.
Then, Maggie admitted to Meredith that she had feelings for Nathan Riggs and fought with Meredith when she found out they had started seeing each other, which fans mostly saw as immature.
Now, Maggie has been dating Jackson for several seasons and fans have a number of opinions. Apart from the fact that Maggie and Jackson are technically step-siblings, they’ve simply never had much chemistry. Maggie has always seemed a little immature and not ready for the complications that come with an adult relationship.
She got angry with Jackson when he talked to another woman. For the “child prodigy” that she was, the writers have done a good job making us question how smart she really is.
Can the writers turn her around?
One thing that is brought up quite a bit is the fact that the writers love the “sister” angle. They surprised us with Lexie Grey, Meredith’s half-sister through her father, earlier in the show.
Bringing Maggie into the show in the same exact way seemed like a strange attempt to bring a Lexie character back, since Lexie was such a fan favorite. Even keeping Amelia, Derek’s sister, around so much has continued to grow Meredith’s sisterhood support group, but fans have long since decided that it’s all a bit too much.
With Maggie being such a young character — she became head of her department at only age 27 — it seems like it would be in the character’s best interest to have her hold off on her love life for a bit. She should focus on her career; fans love to see killer surgeries performed by world-class surgeons as part of the show’s drama.
Putting Maggie’s love life on the back burner would help re-center her character development and maybe give us time to appreciate her.
It’s good to see a younger woman in a position of power, so it would be a smart move by the writers to start making her more mature and confident in her role.
