The ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Storyline Some Fans Believe Was ‘Grey’s At Its Best’
Grey’s Anatomy has been airing for more than a decade, and it has gathered up a significant number of fans along the way. Fans who are with the show until the very end. Like any great show, though, the medical drama has its fan-favorite storylines and some we can do without.
One in particular, however, has many fans talking. They’re even labeling it ‘Grey’s at its best,’ despite some viewers finding it to be one of the more disturbing additions to the show.
The premise of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Grey’s Anatomy is a medical drama that is, at its core, about Meredith Grey — her career as a surgeon (as an intern and after), her relationships and friendships, and her personal and professional struggles.
She’s by no means the only storyline center stage, but she is the leading lady, and her name is in the title. Everyone else is simply a part of her life and, therefore, a part of the Grey’s Anatomy life that so many fans have grown to love.
It has absurd blow-ups and crashes, ridiculous survivals, and deaths, terrible luck with love just when fans fall in love with a couple, and sometimes the doctors shouldn’t even be doctors after some of the stuff they get away with doing.
Nonetheless, it is full of some of the best drama, love stories, twists, and intensely emotional moments.
Season five’s ‘Sympathy for the Devil’: Meredith’s storyline
A serial killer named William becomes a new patient of Derek’s, insisting on dying at the hospital, not in an electric chair.
Meredith fights with her disgust of him killing a woman and his compassion for saving Jackson’s life with his organs before he dies. She’s confused by how sick his actions were but how grey the area seems to be around him.
On the other hand, Derek is unbudging in his disgust for the killer and is set on fixing him through surgery to be sent to his execution. Secretly, the leading lady assists in his suicide attempt in the hospital by telling him his brain is uncovered and vulnerable, but his attempts fail.
Meredith goes to his execution as a sign of compassion, so he isn’t completely alone in his final death.
What fans liked about the serial killer storyline
Grey’s Anatomy has had its share of worst storylines over its long and thriving reign, but it is one of their best that has fans reminiscing about season five, episode 11’s Sympathy for the Devil.
According to Reddit users, the storyline showed more character potential, meaningfully balances their professional and personal lives, and the conflicting viewpoints make sense.
“I usually don’t like Meredith’s plots very much and find the lack of stakes with her very frustrating, but this plotline is one of my favorites in the whole show,” the Reddit poster began. “It shows the potential of a character like her who sees things in shades of grey and never absolutes.”
“It’s such an amazing example of Grey’s at its best. The drama comes from the professional side and goes into the personal in a meaningful way. It’s not unnecessary or artificial,” another fan said. “It shows how the previously established characters react to a difficult medical situation.”
A third respondent added, “I loved Derek and Meredith’s conflicting viewpoints on this because it made sense for both of them to [feel] the way they did. Derek’s views were tainted by [the] trauma of seeing his dad’s death [and] Meredith doesn’t see it as black and white, and so she goes.”
While there are still a handful of viewers who would rather throw this storyline into ‘Grey’s worst’ because they’re blinded by the absurdity of seeing a serial killer as a person, there are even more who appreciate how the storyline was handled altogether. It brought up genuinely real emotions and is probably one of the most realistic storylines in the show — and we all know there aren’t many of those.
