They were not kidding when they said 13 is an unlucky number.
Any show that can make it past three seasons, is sure to have a few hiccups at some point or another. For Grey’s Anatomy, they’re hitting a few bumps during their unlucky thirteenth season.
On the positive side, the season isn’t over yet. There’s still time for it to win us over again.
There have been some really great moments during Grey’s Anatomy Season 13. In some ways, it has reminded us of classic Grey’s. The season is in no way a complete bust.
However, as the season progresses, fans have become exasperated. It has led to speculation, theories, debates, and discussions.
Whether it’s on social media, or in the comment sections of our reviews, there is a lot of buzz around Grey’s Anatomy’s unlucky thirteenth season.
It couldn’t be ignored, and there’s no getting around it. So let’s just face it head on, shall we? Here’s a list of reasons why Grey’s Anatomy has gone oh so wrong (so far).
Do you agree? Disagree? Is there anything missing that you’d like to add? Hit up the comments below and let us know what you think.
If you want to know what all the commotion is about and catch up, you can watch Grey’s Anatomy online right here via TV Fanatic.
Eliza Minnick and the Mysterious Minnick Method
Marika Dominczyk is awesome. Unfortunately, Eliza Minnick is not. She is one of the most polarizing characters on Grey’s in years. Eliza blew in like a hurricane leaving destruction and chaos in her wake.
She has single-handedly torn apart friendships, families, and mentorships. The worst part is they haven’t given us a single reason to like her. She’s pushy, crass, insensitive, reckless, and endangers and objectifies patients. She also doesn’t play well with others. She not only stole Richard’s job but wanted to push him out of everything altogether. We’re also inexplicably being told that her new teaching method IS THE BEST METHOD EVER! Except, we haven’t been shown why!
In fact, after nicking arteries on purpose and killing a kid, her magical method is a bit terrifying. Did we mention her method pretty much consists of letting residents perform solo surgeries with no help from attendings? Decades we’ve spent watching residents perform solo surgeries, but apparently, we must have been seeing things because the residents were being deprived. Jackson called it, Eliza’s methods breed assembly line doctors, but not innovative surgical artists.
Alex’s Legal Trouble
The assault arc was sloppy writing and extremely irritating the majority of the time. For starters, it set Alex back about five years worth of character development. Alex is not that guy anymore. It was painful watching him revert back to some of his old ways. None of us wanted to see him go to jail.
However, he SHOULD have faced some consequences for his actions. He beat DeLuca to a bloody pulp, nearly ended the guy’s career, and Alex still spent the majority of the time not being the least bit remorseful. Then when he was, it was directed at Jo and not the man he beat to a bloody pulp. There was some disgust at his actions, but ironically Andrew was the one who spent the entire arc being ostracized and treated like a pariah.
It also brought the stomach-churning protective streak out of Meredith (and even Bailey) when it led to both women threatening and/or urging DeLuca to drop charges so Alex wouldn’t go to prison and have his career ruined. What?! The storyline dragged on and on. We had to wait an entire midseason break and an additional three episodes to find out how Alex evaded going to jail. Then, it was revealed that Andrew did, in fact, drop the charges and now it’s like none of it ever even happened.
Owen and Amelia’s Baby Drama
Is there anything more annoying then the Omelia drama happening right now? Wait, nevermind. There’s a lot to choose from. It’s pretty high up on the list right now, though. Omelia’s relationship has been rocky more than it has actually be on solid ground.They sailed past the “honeymoon phase” and right into barely being able to be in the same room together.
Most of that falls on Amelia, who has become the most immature character on the show right now, and the entire season has seen it’s fair share of immaturity. Amelia is afraid to tell Owen that she doesn’t want children anymore, because her pregnancy scare reminded her of losing her first baby, and she doesn’t want to go through that again. Fair enough, Amelia. But can you use your big girl words and tell your husband that instead of hiding from him for weeks?
Amelia has decided she doesn’t want kids after casually talking about them for their entire relationship, and Owen is in another relationship with a woman who wants something differently than he does. Plus, for some reason, the show forgot that there was a scene where Amelia did tell Owen about her first baby. Owen and Amelia apparently have forgotten too. We haven’t though!
The Misuse of Andrew DeLuca
Is there anyone on the show getting screwed over more than DeLuca? I think not. At his worst, he can be a bit dull, but for the most part, he’s a likable guy. Plus, look at his face. How can you not like that face?
Remember when Andrew was first introduced as the badass resident everyone thought was an attending because he was so damn good? What happened to that guy? We miss him. So far, he’s been the guy stuck in the middle of crappy situations and conflict. He’s the awkward third wheel of everything. He’s not nearly as confident as he used to be.
He got beat up and ostracized for being a good person, and he probably hasn’t had more than twenty lines all season. And while we’re at it, what was the point of breaking up a perfectly adorable relationship between him and Maggie only to stick both of them into the craptastic end of pointless love triangles no one asked for? Giacomo Gianniotti is too talented for what he’s been given this season; DeLuca deserves better!
Terrible Pacing and Stagnant Storylines
One of the biggest pitfalls of Season 13 so far, is the number of storylines and arcs that should have only lasted two or three episodes, tops, being dragged on for eight or more. On the flip side, arcs that are infinitely more interesting are put on the backburner for long stretches of time, only to be randomly tossed back in.
The infighting as a result of Eliza should not be consuming the entire back half of the season. It’s. Still. Going. The Omelia drama should not be dragging on for so long just for it to still remain stagnant. It took weeks, WEEKS for her to actually talk to her own husband!
Then there’s the Meredith and Nathan romance. They went from sleeping together and playfully bantering and flirting, to not even interacting with each other for multiple episodes, to suddenly having Nathan profess his feelings for Meredith out of the blue. What even is going on with Jackson and April? Will Maggie ever find out that her mother has cancer?
Jo Wilson
Contrary to popular belief, there is no joy to be had disliking Jo. Camilla Luddington is delightful. Jo, however, is one of those characters that has been so annoying for so long, that even mentioning it anymore is redundant. Is it her fault that Alex assaulted DeLuca? Absolutely not.
Yet, everything about her role in this storyline has been irksome. Given her past, she should be a sympathetic character, but she just…isn’t. She’s secretive and even dishonest at times but gets so self-righteous about other people being open and honest all the time. She finds a way to self-insert and makes every case she comes across personal. And not in the Izzie Stevens, too emotionally attached to patients as a result of caring too much, kind of way.
No, Jo usurps her patient’s angst and trauma and somehow makes it about herself. Whether it’s a misunderstood, pregnant teen prisoner, or an abusive husband and father, every case she takes on somehow ties into her own personal saga. She’s easily flustered and distracted and checks out on cases. Does she even have a specialty? She’s just perpetually lost.
“Twists” That Don’t Come to Fruition
No one likes a tease. Yet, a great deal of this season has dedicated itself to teasing two potential reveals, but not giving them to us. Fans have been anxiously – and impatiently – waiting for what feels like the inevitable arrival of Jo’s husband and Owen’s sister. We have been waiting since last season.
If it ends up being one of those things where one or both of them don’t appear until the season finale, it’ll feel like a cop out. It’ll feel like a bunch of filler rearing up to a gasp-worthy finale. We’ve had Alex nearly going to prison and Eliza. We’ve had plenty of pointless drama that feels like a waste. You know what we still don’t have? Megan and Jo’s husband. Just give it to us already! Or at least get closer to it. Tick-tock.
Ghost Children
Can someone put a BOLO out on the Grey-Shepherd children, please? Kids and babies can drag down a show and become a nuisance sometimes. It happens. But if a character has children, especially enough of them to start a little league team, shouldn’t we see them sometimes? Where are Meredith’s kids?
She talks about them. She does their laundry. She has a houseful of “siblings” who help her raise them. Where the heck are they? We see baby Harriet all the time. Is there a special daycare for the children on Shonda’s shows? Are the Shepherd kids off somewhere with missing baby (?) Teddy from Scandal? Where are they?
Eliza and Arizona’s Romance
We have already established that Eliza is the worst, but this spills over into her relationships too. You know what sucks? Assuming that every lesbian or bisexual that roams the halls should immediately be paired up with Arizona. We’re pretty sure that’s not how it works. Why couldn’t they be platonic? Their relationship feels forced and they have no chemistry. Are they even compatible? Who knows?
Eliza has flirted outrageously since she got there. Arizona is the only person she’s been genuinely nice to. But Arizona didn’t even appear interested until Eliza cried once. Now they’re dating and Arizona tried to hide it from everyone else lest she looks like some sort of traitor. Richard’s disappointed face upon walking in on the pair smooching spoke volumes. This romantic pairing is awful. It’ll take a lot more effort to win over Calzona fans or most fans in general if we’re being honest.
Disappearing Friendships
Some of the best moments of the season have been when Meredith and any combination of her friends/family have domestic, cutesy moments at her house. You know why those moments are so special? Because they remind us of old-school Grey’s.
Also, because all the fun-filled, friendly moments are so far and few between these days. What happened to all the friendship? What happened to bonding outside of the hospital? Does anyone even go to Joe’s anymore? Friendship has been one of the most important themes of the series. They have one of the most iconic friendships in existence with Meredith and Christina. There were so many variations to choose from.
This season, if not for Alex and Meredith being true ride or dies for one another, we’d barely have any deep friendships to talk about at all. With differing opinions on Alex and the whole debacle with Eliza, friendships have taken a backseat or have flat out been ruined. Petition for everyone to just get together and have a drink at Joe’s for old times sake. Please.
Meredith, Nathan, and Maggie Love Triangle
Love triangles are a common staple used to increase the drama. Unfortunately, they’re unavoidable these days. You either love to hate them or you hate to love them. If we must have them, we’d at least like them to make sense or be tolerable.
The situation with Meredith, Nathan, and Maggie is nonsensical and intolerable. It’s just so unnecessary. Maggie, for some reason, thought she connected with Nathan. Meredith, on the other hand, literally connected with Nathan in the backseat of her car. Nathan let Maggie down gently because he’s into Meredith, but Meredith was NEVER honest with Maggie about her own relationship with Nathan.
The entire situation is absurd. Mostly because Maggie gives Meredith every opportunity under the sun to be honest with her, and Meredith flat out lies to Maggie’s face for no good reason…even after Maggie asked her multiple times to stop being dishonest with her.
If Meredith would have been honest with Maggie from the beginning, Maggie probably would have gotten over it and been happy for Meredith. But we’ll never know because this huge lie has been hanging over their heads for a while now and it’s going to implode. Burn it with fire!
Boring Unmemorable Cases
There has been a case here and there, of course. They dedicated an entire hour to a pregnant teen in prison. There’s the case where Minnick basically killed a kid, and one with a schizophrenic homeless woman. For the most part, though. There haven’t been any memorable cases. There aren’t any outlandish cases that have us just as interested in the patients as we are in the doctors.
There aren’t any cases that have us googling whether or not something like that really exists or could happen. There is nothing out of the ordinary that piques our interests. They’re just dull. Most of the time the patient(s) of the week are used to draw some parallels to whatever is going on with whichever doctor at the moment. Meh.
The Catherine Effect
Catherine Avery is a no nonsense type of woman, and that’s one of the best things about her character. Unfortunately, she’s also the woman, behind the woman, behind Minnick. The situation wouldn’t be so bad if she actually owned up to the fact that it was her pushing Eliza onto everyone first. Not Bailey.
She’s behind her own husband feeling ousted from a hospital he’s spent decades working at. She has picked fights with her own son. She’s formed an odd friendship with April, which has had April reverting back to being the annoying and opportunistic character she was before she went overseas. She’s partly responsible for Miranda being unlikeable as Chief. She has certainly left her imprint on the season, and it’s not all positive.
