The mystery of Lexie Grey's death. Pt. 1 of 3
Why did they force this kind of ending on Lexie Grey?
It seems like a massive writing failure of inconsistency to me. And as I've been so invested in this character, I crave some closure on this epic letdown.
There must be a reason, and I've been thinking about it for a while now. This is what I can come up with. Please do add your comments and own theories, I'd love to discuss them!
1. Possible Reasons in the Text
1.1 The Material
First, I'll try to explain why Lexie had to die by looking at the GA "text" we watched on screen.
And please note that my topic is the sudden exit of a fan favorite character, the female half of a major ship, a series regular of 5 years - not some random guest star.
1.2 Episode Plot Point / Shocker?
First idea: She was killed for shock value / the sake of ratings. For killing a major character is a foolproof (if not exactly creative) way to create some buzz for the headlines. That's what some press people thought, too.
« Matt Roush: I figured if she wanted there to be maximum emotional impact (with minimum loss to the actual core ensemble), either Lexie or Mark would be the most likely victims. » (source)Of course, making the audience feel something is the goal of all writing, and yep, gotta love the same old tearjerker: Watching my favorite character get killed off - and like this! - definitely led to feelings. Check.
And they certainly made the most of it in the preceding spoiler interviews. Check.
But.
And my doubts about their intention to play Lexie's death as a main shocker are reinforced by SR herself:
« The one thing that I wanted to know is if everybody got the point of the episode. Everyone is still so immersed in ‘Who died?' and no one is talking about the thing that I actually think is important and was the point of the episode. » (source)To me, this seems as if she's surprised that people feel so strongly about Lexie's death... as if she wants us to forget that it even happened?! I wonder why.
Both text and meta-text seem to indicate that Lexie's death was intentionally downplayed rather than sharpened into a substantial shocker. Why kill her then, for real, in the first place?
1.3 Greater Narrative Purpose?
A major character death can be necessary to set up or resolve greater storylines. Take for example all the deaths on GOT: They do not come out of nowhere, and they cause things to happen, or explain why a character changes.
Crushing Lexie under a plane, on the other hand, did come out of nowhere. The writers didn't deliver any storyline leading up to this death at all. It's 100% random.
As I couldn't quite believe it at first, I've been thinking hard about any foreshadowing, and this is all I can come up with:
After the fact, people are now noticing that Lexie got the ‟George treatment“, as she was basically dropped from season 8 just like he was before his exit. Indeed, CL's talent was wasted on a repetitive pining storyline, and she was barely featured at all. But of course, this is in no way a narrative development leading up to character death.
And although season 9 has not even started yet, I'm already 99% convinced that Lexie's death was not only coming out of nowhere, but is going to lead nowhere as well. For how could Lexie's death possibly set up storylines for season 9?
We'll see. The show is going to have a hard time to persuade me that they killed off Lexie Grey for a plausible narrative reason.
1.4 Character Development?
Was Lexie's journey over? Did her death accomplish something for her greater character development?
Remember Spike? He died a great death. Painful. Bittersweet. A satisfying closure for this character, who had come a long way, and had it coming all along. Remember George? Even if there wasn't a real storyline either, his death at least had some meaning for the character. For he died saving a life.
In contrast, Lexie Grey died in a random traffic accident on the way to work, and there's nothing heroic about it. It's meaningless and pitiful. It's the worst ending imaginable for a character who aspired to save lives.
We don't even learn anything new about ‟what she is made of“ in the face of death. She is killed in act II, and gets much less lines and story than, say, Teddy Altman. She is not the focus of 8x24 by far, and by the end her death is already as good as forgotten, as her family is pressured with more urgent problems than her death. Obviously, the writers felt they shouldn't - or didn't need to - put in any effort at all, as if their blatant disregard for the Lexie Grey character would go unnoticed.
I wonder why.
For these writers invented the Lexie Grey character in the first place, didn't they? They made me love her, didn't they? (Or was it all CL's doing?)
Killing the Lexie Grey character feels completely OOC to me. The character's basic function wasn't tragedy, but comic relief. She had unique potentials for both professional and personal growth, and was a great identification figure for young women, with just the right mix of insecurity and assertiveness. I've followed her so closely on the show, and I didn't get any hint that her journey might be over soon. On the contrary, I can easily imagine a lot more story material for her, and not only in a M/L context (gasp!!!), but also as the main cast Meredith's sister, as special frenemies with Alex and April and Cristina, and in terms of professional competition and advancement. With setbacks and successes and overall, more smiles than tears.
In short: Lexie Grey's death was no closure for the character.
1.5 Resolution for M/L?
Lexie's death is coming right out of nowhere for the M/L ship, as well.
Even in 8x23 still, their scenes are underscored by the standard comic relief leitmotif. M/L had their share of angst (and I loved it!), but generally, their scenes as individuals and as a couple basically added something funny or cute to the episodes. I am so disappointed that they, of all couples, became the first pairing of GA doctors ever to suffer the full realisation of yet another death scare. M/L as tragic lovers only to be united in death? That doesn't feel in sync with what came before. IMO, that's not doing unexpected turns, that's just frustratingly inconsistent.
In 8x24, M/L are dropped from the show in a messy way. They are still... maybe... in love with each other, but they can't overcome their differences... maybe... yet. Their simmering love story is ended by nothing else but Lexie's death. And I for one couldn't find anything 'bittersweet' about it (i.e. bittersweet in the storyline sense: the characters win but lose something important at the same time). The way it played out was just a cop out, lazy, unsatisfying.
However, the last M/L scene is being sold as... I don't know... fanservice? Look how SR commented on her own text:
« Did you have other plans for Mark and Lexie? Is that why their final words to each other were "meant to be?"
Yes. Honestly, I always felt like Mark and Lexie were meant to be together. If things had not turned out the way they had this season, I had a completely different thing planned for them. I was one of the people who loved Mark and Lexie together; I had a completely different thing planned for them. The introduction of Julie was part of planning a completely different storyline for them. So for me, there was a lot of heartbreak in that. There were so many moments and so many things that I had wanted to happen with those characters that we're never going to get to see. When Mark and Lexie say "meant to be," it wasn't about servicing the fans. That's how I felt. That's what was supposed to happen, and that's what I wanted to see. It was heartbreaking.
So when Mark tells Lexie as she's dying that they are supposed to get married and have kids and be happy together, were those your thoughts, too?
Those absolutely were my thoughts. I loved the idea of them together. They played really well together. They were very charming and funny and great. We did the scene where Lexie confesses to Mark that she's still in love with him. That was bittersweet to me because it was like, "Look, they're so close, so close! And yet so far." » (source)You know, maybe I'd be tempted to accept these statements as more than lip service for damage control PR, if only I weren't 100% sure that SR is in charge of the writing on GA (including all the exit stories).
Instead of keeping to tease M/L - and how stupid does she think we are? (I may have ranted on TWOP before... lol) - she could have just come out with one idea for getting them back together in a believable way.
If SR wanted endgame closure for M/L, she could have spared a few minutes of season 7 and 8 (instead of, say, spending it on Teddy or April) in order to devote a minor storyline to try and satify fans by resolving even a single one of M/L's issues. And even if she had suddenly found herself under some serious time constraint, why not just do it: A 30 sec heartfelt making out scene could have been inserted virtually anywhere. Why not have a few whispered and finally mutual ILYs in there, too. Now that would have been appreciated as fanservice.
Anyway, the text shows how they decided to end M/L.
I just don't understand how it could have seemed advisable to kill Lexie Grey off, in order to achieve this open ending.
Even if we assume that CL had to leave the show in May 2012, nothing would have been easier to write than a different M/L storyline: For example an epiphany that she really doesn't want to love Mark and that their relationship is getting in the way of her professional development, thus deciding to finally break free and leave for Mass Gen, where she was set for residency in the first place. Now this would have been plausible in the context of the other main storylines and - gasp! - constitute positive character developement for Lexie Grey, thereby cherishing the character and rewarding the fans. I would have cheered Lexie along on her way to self-reliance, which incidentally, would have been an important step towards a believable M/L reunion as well. You could even have Lexie somewhat present by showing her emails/texts from time to time, maybe even as a running gag of outside commentary. Most useful of all, Lexie moving to a different hospital would have left the door open for a return as a guest star, and of course the perpetual M/L tease.
And even if we assume that SR had always planned to drop M/L by means of fatal casualty rather than definite endgame or destruction (and I seriously doubt that), wouldn't the logical victim be Mark? His character development is far more complete than Lexie's: He's already changed from manwhore to good dad/husband material, from abusive ass to dedicated mentor/teacher, from disrespected outsider to a surprisingly good chief of surgery. And a further plus, his death would certainly be welcomed by the very important Calzona fans.
Killing Lexie Grey makes absolutely no sense in terms of ‟resolving“ the M/L ship.
1.6 Findings
I can't find any reason in the text that could give a satisfying answer to my question. Quite the contrary, after reviewing I can't shake the feeling that they didn't merely not even try to come up with a textual justification, but also not even tried to cover this failure up - as if to draw special attention to the fact that indeed, Lexie's death was not motivated by any purpose for story or character / relationship arcs.
And if the reason isn't in the text, where else to look but in the context? ( continued)
It seems like a massive writing failure of inconsistency to me. And as I've been so invested in this character, I crave some closure on this epic letdown.
There must be a reason, and I've been thinking about it for a while now. This is what I can come up with. Please do add your comments and own theories, I'd love to discuss them!
1. Possible Reasons in the Text
1.1 The Material
First, I'll try to explain why Lexie had to die by looking at the GA "text" we watched on screen.
And please note that my topic is the sudden exit of a fan favorite character, the female half of a major ship, a series regular of 5 years - not some random guest star.
1.2 Episode Plot Point / Shocker?
First idea: She was killed for shock value / the sake of ratings. For killing a major character is a foolproof (if not exactly creative) way to create some buzz for the headlines. That's what some press people thought, too.
« Matt Roush: I figured if she wanted there to be maximum emotional impact (with minimum loss to the actual core ensemble), either Lexie or Mark would be the most likely victims. » (source)Of course, making the audience feel something is the goal of all writing, and yep, gotta love the same old tearjerker: Watching my favorite character get killed off - and like this! - definitely led to feelings. Check.
And they certainly made the most of it in the preceding spoiler interviews. Check.
But.
- Why not stretch out her dying over multiple episodes, to milk it for all it's worth (think Teddy/Henry + Cristina)?
- Why not deepen the tear-jerker by setting M/L up as a newly reunited couple, instead of this painfully fake dialogue mess in 8x24?
- Why forgo the tear-jerker opportunity of a goodbye with the GA title character (and the two cute toddlers she's somehow related to, and other cast like, say, Alex)?
- Why not show her body again or have her family sob about her some more after the 16.00 mark?
- Why diffuse the tension by not only killing her so early in, but also adding heaps of distraction by showing lots of gruesome emergency surgeries in the woods and returning to the boredom back at Seattle Grace every few minutes?
- Why, in short, write her death as the very anti-climax?
And my doubts about their intention to play Lexie's death as a main shocker are reinforced by SR herself:
« The one thing that I wanted to know is if everybody got the point of the episode. Everyone is still so immersed in ‘Who died?' and no one is talking about the thing that I actually think is important and was the point of the episode. » (source)To me, this seems as if she's surprised that people feel so strongly about Lexie's death... as if she wants us to forget that it even happened?! I wonder why.
Both text and meta-text seem to indicate that Lexie's death was intentionally downplayed rather than sharpened into a substantial shocker. Why kill her then, for real, in the first place?
1.3 Greater Narrative Purpose?
A major character death can be necessary to set up or resolve greater storylines. Take for example all the deaths on GOT: They do not come out of nowhere, and they cause things to happen, or explain why a character changes.
Crushing Lexie under a plane, on the other hand, did come out of nowhere. The writers didn't deliver any storyline leading up to this death at all. It's 100% random.
As I couldn't quite believe it at first, I've been thinking hard about any foreshadowing, and this is all I can come up with:
- as every doctor on the show gets a fair share of death scares, Lexie was no exception: In 6x24, Gary Clark explicitly set out to kill her, but was stopped just in time. In 8x13, she was on the brink of heart failure as the AU suicidal junkie, but was saved by Meredith just in time. So, nothing out of the ordinary here.
- Dying in a traffic accident is an emblem of bad luck, and maybe she's always had exceptionally bad luck? I never thought of it, but... how about Sloan Riley and her baby and pregnant Callie? How about her broken id in 7x06? Still, very far-fetched even for an overanalyzer like me. And not story development to the point of foreshadowing an untimely death at all.
- How about Lexie's fanfic-meta moments in 8x08 + Callie's remark in 8x12 ‟That ship has sailed. And sank“ + Lexie's comment in 8x18 ‟her big jungle cat... wanting to eat her stupid face off“? Very suspicious by hindsight, but I still can't see any foreshadowing of her impending death here, do you?
- And her patient case in 8x14 ‟you bleed out and die and read about it in a plastic locket“? Okay... but ‟carpe diem“ has been one of the most used themes on this show from day one. Today, it's been through so many repetitions that it's certainly not actively foreshadowing anything anymore.
After the fact, people are now noticing that Lexie got the ‟George treatment“, as she was basically dropped from season 8 just like he was before his exit. Indeed, CL's talent was wasted on a repetitive pining storyline, and she was barely featured at all. But of course, this is in no way a narrative development leading up to character death.
And although season 9 has not even started yet, I'm already 99% convinced that Lexie's death was not only coming out of nowhere, but is going to lead nowhere as well. For how could Lexie's death possibly set up storylines for season 9?
- Of course her death makes everyone sad and yeah, life turns on a dime. But that's just done-to-death and doesn't explain why it had to be Lexie.
- Come on, how would Lexie's death make Meredith (Derek, Cristina, Alex...) stay in Seattle? Will they give up their jobs over it? To put flowers on her grave? To care for Thatcher, who has not only a girlfriend, but an established support group for the very issue of falling apart over the death of a loved one?
- No way they could have pulled off a satisfying mourning-and-healing storyline for Mark/ED, even if he had stayed. That's just not Mark's function in the show. And who would want to watch Mark mourn Lexie anyway?
- Who else of the characters has ever really cared for Lexie in a way that would make them mourn her for more than just a tear-jerking burial scene? (Yep, SR has already hinted that there won't be any funeral for Lexie. Kind of proves my point, right?)
We'll see. The show is going to have a hard time to persuade me that they killed off Lexie Grey for a plausible narrative reason.
1.4 Character Development?
Was Lexie's journey over? Did her death accomplish something for her greater character development?
Remember Spike? He died a great death. Painful. Bittersweet. A satisfying closure for this character, who had come a long way, and had it coming all along. Remember George? Even if there wasn't a real storyline either, his death at least had some meaning for the character. For he died saving a life.
In contrast, Lexie Grey died in a random traffic accident on the way to work, and there's nothing heroic about it. It's meaningless and pitiful. It's the worst ending imaginable for a character who aspired to save lives.
We don't even learn anything new about ‟what she is made of“ in the face of death. She is killed in act II, and gets much less lines and story than, say, Teddy Altman. She is not the focus of 8x24 by far, and by the end her death is already as good as forgotten, as her family is pressured with more urgent problems than her death. Obviously, the writers felt they shouldn't - or didn't need to - put in any effort at all, as if their blatant disregard for the Lexie Grey character would go unnoticed.
I wonder why.
For these writers invented the Lexie Grey character in the first place, didn't they? They made me love her, didn't they? (Or was it all CL's doing?)
Killing the Lexie Grey character feels completely OOC to me. The character's basic function wasn't tragedy, but comic relief. She had unique potentials for both professional and personal growth, and was a great identification figure for young women, with just the right mix of insecurity and assertiveness. I've followed her so closely on the show, and I didn't get any hint that her journey might be over soon. On the contrary, I can easily imagine a lot more story material for her, and not only in a M/L context (gasp!!!), but also as the main cast Meredith's sister, as special frenemies with Alex and April and Cristina, and in terms of professional competition and advancement. With setbacks and successes and overall, more smiles than tears.
In short: Lexie Grey's death was no closure for the character.
1.5 Resolution for M/L?
Lexie's death is coming right out of nowhere for the M/L ship, as well.
Even in 8x23 still, their scenes are underscored by the standard comic relief leitmotif. M/L had their share of angst (and I loved it!), but generally, their scenes as individuals and as a couple basically added something funny or cute to the episodes. I am so disappointed that they, of all couples, became the first pairing of GA doctors ever to suffer the full realisation of yet another death scare. M/L as tragic lovers only to be united in death? That doesn't feel in sync with what came before. IMO, that's not doing unexpected turns, that's just frustratingly inconsistent.
In 8x24, M/L are dropped from the show in a messy way. They are still... maybe... in love with each other, but they can't overcome their differences... maybe... yet. Their simmering love story is ended by nothing else but Lexie's death. And I for one couldn't find anything 'bittersweet' about it (i.e. bittersweet in the storyline sense: the characters win but lose something important at the same time). The way it played out was just a cop out, lazy, unsatisfying.
However, the last M/L scene is being sold as... I don't know... fanservice? Look how SR commented on her own text:
« Did you have other plans for Mark and Lexie? Is that why their final words to each other were "meant to be?"
Yes. Honestly, I always felt like Mark and Lexie were meant to be together. If things had not turned out the way they had this season, I had a completely different thing planned for them. I was one of the people who loved Mark and Lexie together; I had a completely different thing planned for them. The introduction of Julie was part of planning a completely different storyline for them. So for me, there was a lot of heartbreak in that. There were so many moments and so many things that I had wanted to happen with those characters that we're never going to get to see. When Mark and Lexie say "meant to be," it wasn't about servicing the fans. That's how I felt. That's what was supposed to happen, and that's what I wanted to see. It was heartbreaking.
So when Mark tells Lexie as she's dying that they are supposed to get married and have kids and be happy together, were those your thoughts, too?
Those absolutely were my thoughts. I loved the idea of them together. They played really well together. They were very charming and funny and great. We did the scene where Lexie confesses to Mark that she's still in love with him. That was bittersweet to me because it was like, "Look, they're so close, so close! And yet so far." » (source)You know, maybe I'd be tempted to accept these statements as more than lip service for damage control PR, if only I weren't 100% sure that SR is in charge of the writing on GA (including all the exit stories).
Instead of keeping to tease M/L - and how stupid does she think we are? (I may have ranted on TWOP before... lol) - she could have just come out with one idea for getting them back together in a believable way.
If SR wanted endgame closure for M/L, she could have spared a few minutes of season 7 and 8 (instead of, say, spending it on Teddy or April) in order to devote a minor storyline to try and satify fans by resolving even a single one of M/L's issues. And even if she had suddenly found herself under some serious time constraint, why not just do it: A 30 sec heartfelt making out scene could have been inserted virtually anywhere. Why not have a few whispered and finally mutual ILYs in there, too. Now that would have been appreciated as fanservice.
Anyway, the text shows how they decided to end M/L.
I just don't understand how it could have seemed advisable to kill Lexie Grey off, in order to achieve this open ending.
Even if we assume that CL had to leave the show in May 2012, nothing would have been easier to write than a different M/L storyline: For example an epiphany that she really doesn't want to love Mark and that their relationship is getting in the way of her professional development, thus deciding to finally break free and leave for Mass Gen, where she was set for residency in the first place. Now this would have been plausible in the context of the other main storylines and - gasp! - constitute positive character developement for Lexie Grey, thereby cherishing the character and rewarding the fans. I would have cheered Lexie along on her way to self-reliance, which incidentally, would have been an important step towards a believable M/L reunion as well. You could even have Lexie somewhat present by showing her emails/texts from time to time, maybe even as a running gag of outside commentary. Most useful of all, Lexie moving to a different hospital would have left the door open for a return as a guest star, and of course the perpetual M/L tease.
And even if we assume that SR had always planned to drop M/L by means of fatal casualty rather than definite endgame or destruction (and I seriously doubt that), wouldn't the logical victim be Mark? His character development is far more complete than Lexie's: He's already changed from manwhore to good dad/husband material, from abusive ass to dedicated mentor/teacher, from disrespected outsider to a surprisingly good chief of surgery. And a further plus, his death would certainly be welcomed by the very important Calzona fans.
Killing Lexie Grey makes absolutely no sense in terms of ‟resolving“ the M/L ship.
1.6 Findings
I can't find any reason in the text that could give a satisfying answer to my question. Quite the contrary, after reviewing I can't shake the feeling that they didn't merely not even try to come up with a textual justification, but also not even tried to cover this failure up - as if to draw special attention to the fact that indeed, Lexie's death was not motivated by any purpose for story or character / relationship arcs.
And if the reason isn't in the text, where else to look but in the context? ( continued)