Even Meredith Haters Agree Her Farewell Episode Was Disrespectful on Grey's Anatomy
18 years ago a troubled but gifted intern walked through the doors of Seattle Grace Hospital, and then more than 400 episodes later fans bid farewell to what had become one of television's most iconic characters, Dr. Meredith Grey.
Fans watched her grow into an incredibly strong woman, a passionate surgeon, and nothing short of a legend in the medical world. The news of actress Ellen Pompeo's plans to leave Grey's Anatomy was crushing, but after so many years playing Meredith Grey it was time for her to move on.
Meredith's journey at Grey Sloan Memorial comes to an end as she moves her family to Boston to enroll Zola in a school for gifted children and joins Jackson Avery at the Katherine Fox Foundation where she has the opportunity to research a cure for Alzheimer's.
Fans were anticipating an emotional and nostalgic sendoff, with flashbacks to Meredith's defining moments over her years at the hospital, a tribute to everything she had accomplished at the hospital, but what they got was far from that. Her exit was underwhelming and disappointing, and it wasn't just die-hard fans who were left reeling, even those who disliked Meredith Grey agreed that she deserved a much better ending.
One thing Grey's Anatomy got right with Meredith's farewell was showing her character growth through revisiting her iconic "Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me" speech which in the past highlighted her deep-rooted emotional damage, but her words changed in the last episode when she told love interest Nick. "I'm going to pick me" and " I am not going to beg you to love me."
It was a powerful moment for fans and unfortunately made for the most climactic moment of the whole episode because the rest fell painfully flat.
Her fellow doctors at the hospital surprised her with a going-away party. There were a few speeches, smiling faces all around, and a sweet, happy ending that felt unbelievably underwhelming. To fans it felt like a normal episode, there wasn't enough focus on Meredith, and to top it off her last operation at Grey Sloan ends with her patient passing away.
The problem was not that her last episode as a series regular was terrible, the problem was that it was so average, it would have been acceptable for many other characters on the show, but this was Meredith Grey.
It feels like her character was wronged, she deserved something so much bigger and so much better after the rollercoaster ride she has taken fans on through her years on Grey's Anatomy. Some fans are holding on to hope that her appearance for the finale will feature a more fitting send-off, but at this point, they aren't holding their breaths.