Even Ellen Pompeo Hated This Cringiest Meredith Moment on Grey's Anatomy
Over the course of its 19-season run, Grey's Anatomy has kept viewers hooked with its emotional storylines, including both shocking medical cases and engaging relationship arcs.
The show's creators are not afraid to up the stakes with each new episode which inevitably leads to controversial writing decisions and scenes. This has long become a unique Grey's Anatomy feature, and some particularly problematic moments went down in the history of the medical show as sparking endless discussion and debate among fans.
One of these scenes has found its way into almost every fan discussion about the most hard-to-watch Grey's Anatomy moments.
"I can't stand this scene. I never could. It makes me feel so uncomfortable," one of the show's fans wrote. "I find it horrible and it sends a really bad message."
So what is all this hate about? The fan refers to the moment in Shonda-Rhimes-written episode 5 of season 2 when Meredith begged Derek to stay with her instead of his wife Addison, who had suddenly reappeared in his life. The emotional speech ended with the line that has become iconic: "Pick me. Choose me. Love me."
Though some viewers thought the speech was romantic, arguing that it was a realistic portrayal of the struggles and insecurities that people face in relationships, the majority of fans hated it. And even Ellen Pompeo said more than once that she despised the scene from the moment she saw it in the script, and didn't want to give the embarrassing speech.
"That, "Pick me, choose me, love me" [line]; I was like, "Why am I begging a man to love me?" To me, that's not empowering," Grey's Anatomy star told Variety.
Fans note that the scene, which was released 17 years ago, has become even more disturbing with time. As one of the fans on Reddit noted, "As I've gotten older I get increasingly more uncomfortable with it."
The "pick me" speech ages so badly because it deviates from the strong, independent, inspiring female character that Meredith was portrayed in the early seasons. Over the years, the significance of such characters becomes more and more evident.
The cringy speech portrayed Meredith as desperate and needy, even kind of pathetic. And the worst part was, after Meredith begged Derek to choose her, he didn't. At least not at first. He stayed with Addison. As if the speech itself was not humiliating enough.