In defence of Meredith Grey [Grey's Anatomy]
I think it's safe to say that out of all the characters of GA, Meredith Grey is THE most hated and her actress Ellen Pompeo gets the same amount of crap flying at her too. I honestly like majority of the characters in GA because they have all made errors but make up for them over time. Some even change too e.g. Alex or Burke both of whom I wanted to punch at first but now really like.
Meredith somehow seems to be the one who gets the most bashing like Cameron does in House MD. Some reasons for hating Ellen/Meredith according to the bashers include:
She's the leading character and a Mary Sue This seems to fly out from bashers a lot and I remember spotting the Mary Sue accusation on someone's page only to find out the fan had watched one or two episodes from season 1!! Meredith is not perfect and has never wanted to get to the top by sleeping with her boss, which is what loads of people accuse her of. From what I have seen so far not every person in the hospital immediately likes her or thinks of her as a goddess. If that were so then fine call her a perfect!Mary Sue all you want. On the one hand we all know the Mary Sue/Gary Stu term is misused.
She's a slut and a real bitch Unfortunately the slut crime gets thrown at Hachi (NANA) too because both she and Meredith have slept with more than one man during their time. A lot of bashers say Meredith is stupid for sleeping with Derek because he was her boss. Newsflash - she didn't know Derek was a doctor at the beginning. She thought he was a mere one-night stand and who would have thought this man would be someone she really fell for? Nobody seems to blame McDreamy for not telling her he was married to Addison. Is there a double standard I smell among the GA fandom? If Derek/Addison/Cristina I like those three characters BTW but the rabid hero worship is making me hate them if I'm not careful enough does something wrong it's okay but if Meredith makes a mistake she gets murdered by the fans. George got a lot of criticism in season 2 for sleeping with Meredith, which was a big error and they *both* knew it was wrong.
She's skinny Well this is more for Ellen as well but I'm not asking for a goddess here. So she's not glamorous or leggy as the other ladies - who cares.
She's whiny OK Meredith is entitled to whine as are other people mentioned here. For a long time she has had to care for a mother who suffers from heavy Alzheimer's but also do well in medical school. Meredith has a mother who was once a top surgeon with heavy ambition and was having a secret affair with the chief. Bashers, rather than butcher this character how would you feel if your own parent suffered from Alzheimer's and often doesn't remember who you are? I sometimes suspect a lot of the bashers are scared of having someone they care about being diagnosed with this. If bashers felt nothing after watching 3.14 Wishin' and Hopin' then I think that is a real shame. Ellis' memories came back but then went away again near the end of the episode. Can you imagine how Meredith felt having her mother yell at her for not being passionate, focused or ambitious but for being happy and ordinary? How would you feel if you had parents who pushed you around like that?
transcript extracts were found here
Ellis: Have you chosen a specialty?
Meredith: No, it's...it's still early.
Ellis: Cristina's already chosen cardio-thoracics.
Meredith: Yeah, well, I guess I'm just waiting to be inspired. I'm happy now. I feel like I know who I am plus I think when you have someone in your life that you love, you really love, I think that's...I don't know I just...I'm really happy.
Ellis: What happened to you?
Meredith: What do you mean?
Ellis: You're happy? You're happy now? The Meredith I knew was a force of nature, passionate, focused, a fighter. What happened to you? You've gone soft. Stammering about a boyfriend and saying you're waiting to be inspired. You're waiting for inspiration? Are you kidding me? I have a disease for which there is no cure. I think that would be inspiration enough.
Meredith: Mom...
Ellis: Listen to me, Meredith. Anyone can fall in love and be blindly happy. But not everyone can pick up a scalpel and save a life. I raised you to be an extraordinary human being. So imagine my disappointment when I wake up after five years and discover that you're no more than ordinary. What happened to you?
Meredith explains why she is seemingly unfocused. It's not because of Derek which is what Ellis assumes. Meredith is unfocused because of her mother's condition.
Meredith: I'm not sure refusing treatment is what you wanna do.
Ellis: Apparently what I want doesn't matter. It isn't even legally binding. So it's really about what you want, Meredith. You're in charge.
Meredith: Do you think I like making these decisions for you? Do you think it's fun to get calls from the nursing home asking me whether I was planning on giving the nurse, who changes you every morning, a Christmas tip? But I do it, because you have managed to alienate every one else in your life. And I am the only one, so I have to step up and do it. You wanna know why I'm so unfocused, so ordinary? You wanna know what happened to me? You! You happened to me.
Ellis: Then let me refuse the surgery.
Meredith: No!
Ellis: Why not?
Meredith: Because killing my mother is not gonna be another thing that happens to me.
(Meredith storms out and slams the door)
However throughout most of the series, despite having a mother who has serious Alzheimer's, Meredith still gets on with her work at the hospital. She's not standing around crying and whining every single second. A lot of the staff in the series have their good and bad days. They'll laugh, scream, cry but also do their job in saving people's lives. It's normal. Who hasn't had their whining days at work?
I appreciate how Meredith stands up for people e.g. she stands up for Alex when everyone was angry with him or when Cristina was helping Burke hide his tremor and the interns were not thrilled. There was also a male patient who had a hysterical pregnancy in 2.07 Something To Talk About and was panicking from seeing so many hospital staff crowd around him. Meredith not only helped him out she also acknowledged the ongoing gossip going around the hospital about her relationship with Derek.
As for Ellen
Her [Boston] accent and mouth are annoying OK WTH? I've always wanted a sassy voice like Mariella Frostrup or Demi Moore I find those voiceovers at the beginning and end of each episode rather interesting. They don't however make her sound perfect. I find that hater's excuse absolute bullshit.
She is a bitch - see her on Punk'd. I haven't seen this yet but according to 90% of the fans they have said time and time again her appearance was deliberately edited to make her look horrid. Sadly bashers are using this footage as an excuse to bash Ellen.
I wish a detailed shrine for Meredith Grey existed, especially if it explains her character nicely and better than my post. However we've got this which is still good plus the wiki page