I don’t watch a lot of television. I read books and write when I have spare time. However, I have been known to binge watch…although can you really binge watch Grey’s Anatomy?
Honestly, I had preconceived notions about Grey’s Anatomy. I thought it was probably vapid, sensationalistic, and melodramatic. It isn’t. Mea culpa. 😉 Rather, themes run deep through the episodes. People you don’t expect to die, die. Life has meaning. Life doesn’t have meaning. People are lovable. People are hateful. What you think you see, isn’t always what is there. This show has me hooked.
Spoilers ahead. If you haven’t watched Grey’s Anatomy but plan to, you may not want to read on.
I’ve looked at IMDB and thought by seeing the date of how long a character appeared in the show that I knew who was surviving and who wasn’t.
Tonight as I watched the first episode of season six, I realized that maybe the years defined on IMDB were incorrect. T.R. Knight was listed as being on the show in 2018, yet, here he was, beloved George O’Malley dying? No, he must survive because IMDB has him down as 2018…
Not George “Bambi” O’Malley!!! 😭
Yet, die he does. And a large part of my viewing pleasure with him.
George has always been one of my favorite characters. He’s loyal, sweet, self-deprecating, and smart. You could imagine George as being the angel on your shoulder, telling you the right thing to do.
When, in episode 1 of season 6, he writes 007 on Meredith’s palm…I thought, what?…and then, I said: “Crap, it’s George!” Seconds before it even occurs to Meredith. But no. They can’t kill George off because he’s Bambi! He’s sweet and wonderful, and he’s a moral compass for this show, despite when the writers tried to make him not.
As I’ve binged on Grey’s Anatomy, I’ve realized that by bingeing, we become more invested in the characters because we don’t have that week that passes by between episodes nor the summer between seasons. We watch episode after episode. We care about the characters. The writers have made them real people to us. The characters are not always nice. They are human with foibles. On a given viewing, I might totally dislike a character but then in the next viewing, love them again.
In the past two evenings, having watch four shows, I’ve cried for Izzie who was strong through her cancer treatments and then cried for George, whose departure felt premature. There’s something about losing George that aches. The surprise of it, the unexpectedness of it. Five seasons of sweet, wonderful George O’Malley, whose brothers and father didn’t really understand him, who loved deeply from afar, thought his wish was granted only to find she didn’t care for him the way he did for her, who married, fell in love with his best friend, and then decided, after listening to a soldier describe his fellow warriors as family, to enlist. Even before he becomes a soldier, George is a hero. And then a dead hero.
I’ll watch the next episode and probably more after that.
I missed Burke a bit when he was gone, but George is a whole different matter. George’s absence is going to hurt.
I’ve just binged every single season in the last two month…. For the third time!!
My favourite drama series ever, absolutely fantastic!
Wow! A true fan. I am glad that I decided to give it a go! 🙂
I started binging it around season 11 and have been watching it weekly ever since. I did find though that binging it made me anxious, like I was always nervous something terrible would happen to me or my husband. It’s like watching that many freak accidents and diseases and everything on a hard loop really messed with my mind lol.
I have watched the series six times 😬😬😬 George was, and still is, my favorite character on the show. That hurt never goes away 😩
There feels like there’s a hole….a George-sized hole.