Grey’s Anatomy: Should we feel sorry for Maggie?
By Meg Dowell
This past week of Grey’s Anatomy has us asking: Does Maggie have a right to be this upset over one mistake? Let’s look at her grief from all sides.
Learning your biological uncle has sued you for malpractice after the tragic death of your cousin, who you just met, can’t be an easy pill to swallow. Hence the name of this past week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
Maggie is a mess. She quit her job, and she doesn’t want to face the world. Relatable. She made a mistake (or feels like she did). Yet plenty of fans still aren’t in the least bit sympathetic.
Up to this point, Maggie has been one of the most disliked main characters on Grey’s Anatomy in recent seasons. Fans don’t like the way she reacts so emotionally to almost every situation. They still seem to have issues with her character even after she separated from Jackson.
The writers have come up with a few ways to consistently “excuse” her behavior, which hasn’t helped boost her reputation much. They made her a genius, which can sometimes (but not always) explain away her difficulty in certain social situations. (She never had any friends and never learned how to relate to people her age, for example.)
Maggie is also adopted. (Ellis Grey, Meredith’s mother, gave her up without ever telling Richard he had a daughter.) This has led to complications with the way she views and handles family matters, which could (but doesn’t completely) explain why she grew so attached to her cousin so quickly… and can’t seem to accept the fact that she’s partially responsible for the woman’s death.
What’s tough to swallow about this is that Maggie barely knew her cousin — why is she so upset? Really, it’s not their relationship that’s causing Maggie so much pain. It’s partially due to the fact that she did something that hurt Richard, sure. But it’s mostly about the fact that she has always been the “perfect” student and doctor, and suddenly, for the first time, she isn’t.
This is the first storyline in a long time that has really given Maggie a legitimate reason to fall apart — possibly since losing her mother. She has never had to learn how to deal with failure. True, that’s the privilege of a gifted child, but that’s not her fault. She didn’t choose that life. She didn’t ask to be a genius. It’s caused her more pain than anything else at this point.
Maggie puts all her worth in her work. It’s the reason she can’t stand to fail. How does she come back from this? There may or may not be another ongoing storyline that could very easily rope her in… almost as if someone planned it that way.
Keep in mind that DeLuca’s patient with a “mystery illness” is having problems with her heart. It’s a shame no one at Grey Sloan knows a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon who might be able to save the woman’s life with her brilliance and expertise.
No doubt this will be Maggie’s comeback, not just in the physical “OK fine I’ll come back to work here, everyone does” sense but in terms of emotional healing as well.
She has always struggled in her personal life. She likely has plenty of room still to grow. But, aside from one big mistake (that wasn’t even technically her fault, at least according to Richard), the one thing she has always been good at — almost perfect at, in fact — is her job.
Maybe she needs a reminder like this that one mistake does not define how worthy you are of continuing on down the same path.
Of course, Richard’s mention of the insurance company settling with his brother could have just been a throwaway comment and Maggie is headed for a major legal battle. Would it surprise us? No. Could we live without it? Yes. We just went through that, sort of, with Meredith. We don’t necessarily need to dwell on a similar storyline.
One thing is for sure: Fans are never going to “come around” to Maggie’s character if she doesn’t show some serious development — and stay in that more mature state. Maybe Maggie’s work is what fulfills her the most. Maybe she doesn’t need the romantic or family drama to make her character interesting.
Maybe what Grey’s Anatomy needs is to show what a really good surgeon can do… by showing one do a really good surgery. Right?
If past seasons are any indication, when a character stops growing, the writers really don’t know what to do with them. Maggie needs to actually change.
How they’ll go about doing that (or not), we’ll just have to wait and see.
Next. Grey's Anatomy: Is Maggie headed down a dark path?. dark