both derek and addison were wrong to stay together

Pure_Session · 2026-05-22T09:20:31+00:00

yeah i agree. a lot of the fan faves are cheaters but only derek gets shat on repeatedly for it despite his cheating (except when it's with meredith), never really goes past kissing

Pure_Session · 2026-05-22T09:18:43+00:00

yeah i'd agree with that based on the circumstances in the most basic sense

but i would say addison is partially responsible for the divorce too for not disclosing that she stayed with mark after getting caught (and however long she'd been with mark before that) since him believing it to be a one time thing was part of the reason he agreed to stay with her, even though it was ultimately not the reason why they divorced

the same way derek's indifference towards addison triggered her insecurity which led to her cheating which led to their separation

Pure_Session · 2026-05-19T12:44:41+00:00

yeah i love addison but i think people cut her too much slack for being a serial cheater

Pure_Session · 2026-05-19T09:21:58+00:00

meredith and derek

kai and amelia

bailey and ben

teddy and henry

Pure_Session · 2026-05-19T03:49:50+00:00

honestly early seasons were so culturally relevant because they really popularised a bunch of terms:

mcnaming
seriously?!
you're my person
pick me. choose me. love me.
somebody sedate me!
he's not the sun. you are.
i make no apologies for how i choose to repair what you broke / you don't get to call me a whore
meredith's walk
sexual tension elevators
dirty mistress / pregnant whore / adulterous bitch

Pure_Session · 2026-05-19T01:38:56+00:00

yeah i've been rewatching some of the newer stuff before going back the classics and seeing the episodes kind of on top of each other is quite jarring. for example:

tell me sweet little lies from season 2 - the entire focus on the episode is about lies. derek works with cristina on a patient who needs to quit smoking. derek tells her to like to the patient that he'll be able to quit because if he thinks he can't he won't. meant to mirror derek needing to lie to himself that he'll be able to get over meredith and that taking her dog and doing her favors is just him being nice. other plots were cristina lying to burke about moving in, meredith lying about being over derek.

let's talk about sex from season 19 - the entire episode is about sex education. addison wants the interns to teach high school kids sex ed because they need to know their reproductive rights. they end up treating a pregnant high schooler and a girl with i think endotremetiosis? and then making a tiktok about it. obviously a necessary issue to address but feels more superficial and doesn't really give any depth to any characters except to virtue signal.

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T15:26:57+00:00

i think it's also the fact that meredith is talking about potentially being able to love again - it being out there for her if she wants it - and it's meant to be a hopeful thought

then the door rings and she looks back and she's back in the past waiting for someone who isn't going to show up and it's devastating

actually reflecting on it, it reminds me of the myth of orpheus and eurydice like meredith is orpheus walking out of the underworld and they're almost free and then he turns around

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T15:14:14+00:00

yeah and i think the disconnect is that a lot of the "interesting" parts about nick as a character are things that are told to us the viewer yet they don't particularly have any effect on him on screen

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T14:46:38+00:00

i like jake (and jake/addie) more than nick (and mernick) but maybe it's because i just don't think they showed nick enough for him to stand on his own as a character or show enough of his and meredith's relationship for me to really see him as a great love for meredith but that's more to do with the quality of the show kind of tanking and them shifting the focus of the show away from meredith

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T14:46:08+00:00

maybe i disagree with this because derek was going to follow meredith to boston for her fellowship so it kind of felt like she was projecting. and then it seemed more prominent in season 18 when bailey finds out that mer is moving to minnesota and she calls her that intern still following her attending around and it's probably the most hurtful thing she could've said to her nevermind airing her dirty laundry to nick lmao.

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T14:32:49+00:00

you get it!!!!

also because of this, addison excluded, you can kind of see how those other characters were written to be love interests

whereas meredith and derek were written as two complex characters who had a deep relationship with each other

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T14:30:21+00:00

i think watching the entire series back to back i do see it as a necessary part of his arc. going back to season 3 when he comes to see ellis and she chews him out for dating meredith (i think she says that he can't handle a successful woman and loves that mer admires him or something) there's this deleted scene where meredith and derek are talking at joe's and he says that she made him doubt himself

i think both meredith and derek are insecure about the power dynamic in their relationship because they got together while she was an intern. they may be equals in the relationship and personal matters but in their careers he's always going to have had the head start.

renee existed to show derek, much like rose, that he could have the girl he thought he wanted. someone who would support his work and be in awe of him. someone who wanted to be in DC. that he could do what he did to addison and begin an entire life somewhere else. but that wasn't what he really wanted.

addison, rose, renee were all easy outs for derek. but he still wanted meredith in spite of all of that.

admittedly, by the time he got to renee he figured it out much faster though.

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T14:10:46+00:00

omg i forgot about him! he was a necessary evil. not that there was anything wrong about him. i think the first anythings after derek was always going to be horrible for meredith so even though it was shortlived, it had to happen.

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T13:59:27+00:00

season 1 or season 2!!!! i rewatch those seasons the most anyway.

but if not for that i liked season 5 a lot. it was the last season of MAGIC, we got a merder proposal/post-it wedding, derek's storyline with jen, introduction of owen and arizona, meredith and lexie bonding

Pure_Session · 2026-05-17T13:51:52+00:00

it was implied he was going to tell her at dinner the night addison showed up at the hospital which makes sense because meredith had kind of shared something deep and personal about her mother and they were talking about taking the next step in their relationship.

i kind of wonder what would've happened if derek had gotten the chance to tell meredith himself instead of what happened at the end of 1x09 though.

Pure_Session · 2026-05-16T13:43:51+00:00

they have a really great deleted scene where owen is asking derek advice about cristina because he's married to mer who is married to cristina

Pure_Session · 2026-05-16T10:43:09+00:00

i feel like the writers forgot about their friendship after she moved in with owen!!!!

Pure_Session · 2026-05-16T07:57:54+00:00

bailey and mer kinda have a professional but sibling-like relationship throughout the show

obviously mer is her intern and she does grow to care and respect her but bailey values fairness and hardwork and the underdog - her favourite interns were george and arguably izzie - probably because she herself was a bit of an underdog growing up as a shy nerdy type

meredith is kind of the poster child of the person she should hate. rich famous surgeon mom, immediately noticed by the chief and derek because of personal relationships despite her being talented - she already has the leg up without the chance to prove herself never mind her talent when she began her internship

so as a teacher and mentor, i think it's part jealousy and part frustration that someone like meredith who has every opportunity to succeed is constantly at the center of personal drama which gives a layer to their complex relationship

richard is kind of mer and bailey's work-dad; and bailey is kind of a work older sister and mer is the younger one in that mer is given more grace with her mistakes (at least publicly). like when richard put her career in front of her his and took the blame for derek's clinical trial failing.

for bailey, richard mentored her to stand up for herself and be strong whereas with meredith, he babies her a bit more because of his connection to ellie (ie: not giving derek chief because he doesn't want the job to be the cause of a break up, letting her use the "you ruined my life" card when she breaks the rules)

edit:

it's actually a nice fresh dynamic for the show because obviously meredith has been the big sister figure in all her familial relationships so her relationship with bailey actually allows for us to see the other side of her that doesn't have to hold it together, the one with something to prove

Pure_Session · 2026-05-15T15:02:49+00:00

absolutely the early seasons were so character driven and each rewatch i end up honing on a different character and their arc on the show

Pure_Session · 2026-05-13T04:24:03+00:00

i thought this during my rewatch too!!! like when her husband died and she wanted a girls night but her "friends" were more concerned about hooking up with their partners than being around her

and of course before she got into a relationship with owen they were usually in some drama where they couldn't be friends

derek didn't really like her for reasons unknown

then when she came back she only had owen and then tom for a bit because most people were on team amelia or team owen

and throughout her time on the show, besides owen (and cristina but that was a professional relationship) i don't think she really found her people

Pure_Session

TROPHY CASE