Grey’s Anatomy – Going somewhere?

Amongst the cheesy yet much needed final kissing between 5 (count em!) couples on the season 4 finale of Grey’s (Mer-Der, Izzie-Alex, George – Lexie, Chief-Adele, and Callie-Hahn, yes you read that right), it was hard to see anything that truly changed from a year ago in Seattle Grace. True, in Grey’s time a year ends up being about 3 months, but in some regards we are in the same place. Meredith and Derek are (kind of?) together, but no one knows (again). The Chief and Adele are still married. George is still an intern but gets to retake his test. Christina is still alone. Izzie is still awkward. The biggest change award goes to Callie and Dr. Hahn, whose public make-out session prompted by McSteamy may or may not indicate a relationship...

While the show’s storylines may not have moved us significantly from Point A to Point B, nor have they indicated what those points are, the show has made some leaps and bounds in addressing the mental health of its characters. Perhaps the storyline movement has been translated to a mental health journey. With the revelation of Meredith’s mother’s suicide attempt to Ava’s cutting in the very same kitchen to Meredith’s psychiatric consults to Ava’s personality disorder to Alex’s revelation of his mother’s mental disorder, we were taken on a significant journey in this season finale through the difficulties and struggles to achieve mental health.

Let’s start with Meredith. Her steps towards visiting a psychiatrist indicate positive direction clearly needed after last year’s events – she almost drowned, her mother passed away, and her stepmother passed away after coming in for hiccups. Meredith’s direction forward required her to achieve mental clarity. Bravo for Grey’s to make that storyline decision and show that Meredith, is in fact, human.

Secondly, let’s go with Ava. After the knife event in the kitchen, along with the wetting herself incident, it seemed obvious to both Izzie and Grey’s viewers that Ava needed help. And, surprisingly, Alex gave in to agreeing that Ava needed professional help. Ava has borderline personality disorder that sparked after the ferry incident. Along with this storyline, it was revealed that Alex has been through something very similar while caring for his mother. Thus, a second bravo to Grey’s for allowing a very strong character to admit that he could not go through this alone.

So, while the show may still struggle to travel somewhere in plot during the season, we at least get a glimpse of mental journeys. Let’s see if these mental health journeys can continue along with the show’s plot next season!

--Michelle
mdelateur@eiconline.org