We can’t blame her for having mommy issues. If there’s one thing you could say about Grey’s Anatomy at any given time and be right about it, it’s that Meredith is unhappy.
While we now know, on the bridge between season 19 and season 20, that Ellen Pompeo has stepped down as the lead of a medical drama, which would probably mean a lot of changes in storytelling, for the rest of the show the statement holds true. Many viewers felt it was the only way for the writers to move things forward.
Over the years, the show’s producers have explored many ways to make the main character’s life more difficult, from getting her into troubled relationships to making her lose those closest to her. However, people believe that there is one tragedy in Meredith Grey’s life that was not only the most painful while it lasted, but also made sure to haunt her future.
Growing up as the daughter of Ellis Grey was certainly a challenge. To go through adulthood with the constant need to live up to someone else’s expectations, simply because of your last name, is an entirely different kind of pressure.
As an unwanted child, Meredith was never a priority for her mother, a talented and ambitious surgeon. She neglected her daughter’s emotional needs, which inevitably left the girl scarred for life and forced her to confront her demons well into adulthood. Worst of all, there wasn’t anyone to help.
People who were supposed to be the closest to Meredith, and who were well aware of Eliis’s troubled ways of emotional discipline, like Richard Webber or Miranda Bailey, were not the ones to help their daughter ease into her career.
Instead, they put more weight on her shoulders by constantly reminding her of her mother’s legacy.
Although the journey of overcoming her mother’s instilled fears and complexes was arguably the hardest Meredith has faced in the entire history of Grey’s Anatomy, it was also the most rewarding. Meredith Grey did not prove herself by becoming a carbon copy of her mother, but by becoming better in every way.
If you want to see how Grey’s Anatomy will continue without the focus on Meredith Grey, be sure to follow the news and updates from ABC to be the first to know about the production of season 20.