A Grey's Gripe

Grey's Anatomy has become my favorite show on television. And that's saying something, given the sheer volume my DVR records everday. It is smart, the storylines are layered and the characters have dimension.

Almost every major character on the show has an obvious, visible flaw. And the show is written in a way that lets the viewer decide how to feel about the characters. For example, Meredith, the supposed center of the show, is deeply flawed, whiney and self-involved. And yet, she isn't pushed down the viewer's throats. She makes mistakes, she pays for them, we move on.

BUT. Lately, with the addition of Denny the heart patient, Grey's and their normally superior writing team have really dropped the ball. I haven't talked to one single Grey's viewer who likes his addition to the show. He appears obviously as a plot device to break up Izzy and Alex. That type of writing is par for the course on 85% of the shows on TV, but Grey's usually manages not to resort to that type of laziness.

Even when McDreamy's wife, Addison, showed up as a cliff hanger last season, in season two her character quickly became as layered and complex as the rest of the cast. Love or hate her, you understood all sides of the story. And the writers pretty much let the viewers decide how to feel about her. To form their own opinions.

With Denny, however, he's written in a manipulative, isn't-he-charming sort of way that only serves to prove he's not. We've never seen anything other than pity from Izzy to Denny. The writers have given no reason for her character to jump beyond basic compassion and into the murky waters of romantic love. It feels cloying and contrived to have Izzy suddenly feel like she's in a relationship with a patient she barely knows. It disrespects the viewer's investment in the character of Izzy and in the progression of her "relationship" with Alex.

For the first time in my Grey's viewership my impatient fast forward finger has been activated in Denny and Izzy scenes. I actually rooted for his death in the last episode (3/19/06). And the horrible things the writers forced Izzy to say to Alex upon their break up were terribly out of character. My friend Jacque made a good point that viewers won't soon forget the things Izzy said to Alex (just as viewers didn't forget when Alex cheated on Izzy, a much more "in character" move, by the way).

I'm not campaigning for an Izzy/Alex true love always relationship. But I am campaigning for the Grey's writers to continue their successful tendency to treat viewers with respect and give them credit for being faithful to the show.

I am rebellious by nature and don't like to be told how to feel or what to think. And right now the Grey's writers want me to love Denny and hate Alex and I resent that manipulation.