Grey’s Anatomy – Meredith & Derek shouldn’t work together. Period.

This is getting old, this Derek getting all pouty, angry and acting superior toward his wife. Constantly. It’s a very ugly side of McDreamy, one that we, unfortunately, saw with great regularity at the beginning of the season when I decided I could no longer stand his character.

Yes, Meredith and her sister Lexie made a devastating error in surgery, going beyond the original scope of a cyst removal and deciding, for expediency’s sake, to remove a tumor they saw in the patient’s brain without Derek’s knowledge. But in doing so, they rendered a twentysomething patient unable to speak. For this grievous mistake, they should have been severely reprimanded just as Jackson was when he screwed up on a patient several weeks ago. This is supposed to be a teaching hospital and Derek failed as a teacher. He didn’t sufficiently explain to Lexie why removal of the tumor at this time could be dangerous for the patient before he left the OR and then didn’t respond to Meredith’s multiple pages.

I tried to imagine a similar scene where a surgeon in training saw, say, a cancerous tumor while doing an appendectomy. It seems reasonable that the surgeon would think that, hey, if you could save the patient from having to go through another surgery and remove the tumor while she’s already opened up, you’re doing her a solid, not disabling her for life.

To see Derek, arms crossed tightly in front of him, as he sulked in their bed while Meredith was once again relegated to the position of begging his forgiveness and trying to suck up to him, was more than just a little irritating. I still cannot stand Derek, no matter how charming he may occasionally be.

Speaking of angry husbands, hot-headed Owen has been skulking around like a one-man storm front, avoiding Cristina as though she’s the grim-reaper, which he kind of thinks she is, at least to his dreams of having a family. He’s spending an inordinate amount of time at the hospital, trying to avoid climbing into bed with the woman he cannot forgive for aborting her pregnancy. While I can feel sympathy for Owen, who tried to stand by his wife’s decision even though he’s eager for a family, his barely concealed, smoldering rage is wearing just as thin as Derek’s sanctimony.

There were some Grey’s Anatomy fans who complained about the length of time it took last season for Cristina to snap out of her post-shooting funk while I defended it, saying it felt right for her character. But this Owen funk is unsettling and threatens to undermine fans’ feelings about him. If he’s so miserable and will be until he has a family, he should make good on his threat to move out. He should stop tormenting Cristina for something which he, at least surficially, seemed to give his tacit acceptance as he held her hand during the procedure.

If there’s anyone who should be furious with the world it’s Richard, whose wife is now in an Alzheimer’s facility. He’s been spending as much time as he can with her, sacrificing his sleep and health in order to comfort Adele, even though she often doesn’t know who he is. His life is pretty crappy right now. Then in walked Catherine Avery, who’s lively, smart and attractive and happened to be flirting with him. She offered Richard the chance to get all gussied up and enjoy some sparkling, intellectually engaging conversations along with some much-needed levity. He almost took her up on her offer until his guilt caught up with him. I’ve taken a real shine to the Richard-Adele story. It has authentic soul and depth and in no way does Richard seem like a self-absorbed husband who’s just looking to punish his wife or the world for his unhappiness, like a couple of other husbands at his hospital.

As for Alex and Morgan, four words: Slow. Motion. Car. Crash.

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Mar 16, 2012 @ 16:05 EST5EDT