posterity

Just because a show started with a certain set of characters doesn't mean they need to spend an hour retconning the entire series to re-create a storyline for the characters. At this point in time all of them have had their story told many times before and as a result, they felt they had to re-write history to breathe new life into the characters.

Hell they even re-create another sister storyline for Meredith after having run out of ideas for the rest of her story. As a consequence, they retconned Ellis and Webber's storyline and we were forced to endure the second hand embarrassment to Richard's character for the entire episode.

I can appreciate the writing as a standalone episode, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the series. It's not believable that Richard stayed with Adele because he was jealous of Ellis being the sun. I completely agree with AmidalaEmma, parts of the episode were downright tacky and could have been told in half of the time. I honestly think Shonda created this Maggie character for her own personal agenda and now her storyline is dominating the entire season.

Furthermore, they sloppy tacked up Alex's storyline in the same episode as the flashback episode so Meredith wouldn't get flack from the audience for harshly telling him he wasn't as good as Bailey. That's the problem when you focus an entire episode on one plot. Other characters get nothing. Alex is an original too and his storyline has honestly been abysmal, and most people can agree to that. Does he not deserve the same care and consideration?

darkxtwisty

I disagree. I think it makes perfect sense, actually. The flashback that insinuates this was from season 3, when Richard mentions that Ellis would have fought him for chief and probably won. It didn't make sense then, but it makes perfect sense now. He knew that as long as he stayed with Ellis, she would always overshadow him. It makes sense.

Plus, it's intended as a parallel for the MerDer storyline. Shonda loves paralleling the two couples, to show how Meredith and Derek are the anti-Ellis and Richard.

posterity

Well of course they are the anti-Richard and Ellis because Meredith is not as good as her mother. Apparently Maggie is.

darkxtwisty

It's not that Meredith isn't as good as her mother. It's that she's spent so much time not wanting to be her mother. Becoming her mother is her worst fear. Maggie, on the other hand, never knew her mother, so she doesn't have that holding her back. Also, you can't really compare Meredith, a perfectly flawed character, to Maggie, a Mary freaking Sue.

posterity

But it cannot be argued she never inherited her mother's gift. What they are suggesting is that Maggie did. She's a good surgeon, not a great one. Apparently her sister is a great one.

I believe the jealousy that will ensue between them will be that Meredith is the daughter Ellis did have (from Maggie's end), and Maggie is the daughter Ellis would have wanted to have; bright, brilliant and Richard's child(from Meredith's end).

LG Stargirl

Yes, to all of this. And kudos to the little actress who played five year old Mer because she was so perfect. Her looks were absolutely haunting. Really great casting.

And pulling scenes from the previous seasons was such a smart idea. This summer, knowing the Maggie storyline was coming, I sought out Richard/Ellis scenes and also Ellis scenes where she talks about him. They picked the same ones that stood out to me.

So interesting in Time Warp from season 6 they showed Ellis and Richard as not equals as well. At the end she told him to suck it up and have a real drink and be a man.

gladluvgrey

Totally agree with you, cant said it better. Flashbacks were beautifully done, creatively speaking, werent intrusive and it give the story a new view of things. It's a standalone episode but still, fit perfectly into the storytelling in how to wrap that story of Richard and Ellis.

And I dont agree that this was a ret-con, if we go back to S6, the Warp Path episode, we can see at the end some of that jealousy in Richard. Indeed I always believed that there was more to his reasons to not follow Ellis than only doing the right thing by Adele. It's might look bad in Richard story but if something this make it more human. He is a man and at that time a surgeon in training with ambitions too, a time where a woman surpassing you was unbelievably (hell is hard for men still to accept it in the medical field and most in the surgical field) so for me....it's a layer that fit perfectly with the story.

QueenMeredith

^^ Great posts you two, you both mentioned season 6's Time Wrap. Great minds think alike

darkxtwisty

It's funny that Derek said in season 7 that Meredith inherited her mother's talent. Meredith is an incredibly talented surgeon. She's trying to balance being a good mother AND a good surgeon, something Ellis didn't do. Ellis chose her career over her daughter. And it's something Maggie hasn't had to do, either. Meredith was well ahead of her peers, then she became a mother, which is equally as important to her.

gladluvgrey

Sorry but it's not about being a surgeon the fact that the show try to parallel the Richard/Ellis with the Derek/Meredith. It's about doing the things that will make you happy and successful, and not letting others factors get in bewteen.

Is Mer a good surgeon? Yes, she is. Is she as great as her mother? Maybe not, but that is the thing, this is her journey, see if she can be as great as her mother, but learn from her mistakes and be a whole woman. And anyway...I am not interested in seeing the story of someone who doesnt make mistakes...I love to see this perfectly flawed characters screwed up, learn from it, stand up and then do what they need to do to be as happy/succesful/whole or less screwed as they can.

LG Stargirl

This is so true. And I really wish she would go back to neuro somehow, it was really obvious that her natural passion and talent lies in that field. I mean, in season 4 she came up with the whole idea of the clinical trial that shrunk brain tumors. Of course, Derek received the accolades on the magazine cover and she had no mention even though she came up with it.

Which fits SO PERFECTLY thematically with everything about the jealousy over careers and gender roles that keep coming up over and over again because they're so real. It all fits!

QueenMeredith

And I'd rather watch someone struggle and be great, and can have BOTH , than someone shoved as the best evaaaa, Mary Sue type, like we already discussed.

posterity

I don't think we have seen it. After all, Meredith even told Derek she felt like he was pressuring her to pay up for deciding to stay.

She isn't as extraordinary as her sister. That's what the storyline shows. While she is bright, she is bright in a normal way. Her sister is exceptional.

darkxtwisty

Meredith's journey isn't over yet. She's nowhere near finished. She DOES have her mother's genes, and she's proved many times that she has an extraordinary mind. Meredith allows herself to get distracted, though, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It makes who she is. She's not her mother. She's compassionate. She's capable of showing that compassion, something her mother never did. She cares about other people more than herself. That's who she is. She's not her mother, and that's not a bad thing. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have the capability of being an extraordinary surgeon.

Also, I'd like to add: Meredith may not be extraordinary in the same ways as her sister and her mother. But she is extraordinary in her own way. Everyone is fulfilled in different ways. She needs to find what makes HER happy, and that might not be the same thing that made Ellis happy or makes Maggie happy.

posterity

But I am highlighting the differences in Meredith and Ellis' character. Yes, Ellis is cold in a way Meredith is not. But at the same time her genius is what made her callous and driven. Anyone ever encountered a genius?

My mathematics professor is second in the world in differential geometry, second to only the person who taught her. She has her own wikepedia page. She's aloof, stunted, and unable to engage in adequate social conversations. That factors into why Ellis was unable to envision anyone else's ideas outside of her own.

We're supposed to believe Maggie inherited that same genius, and at the same accord, we are told Meredith is the anti-thesis of her mother. She isn't as hungry for success. She conceptualizes outside of herself but she isn't as good. I believe this will be an area of jealousy between her and Maggie.