Tell-Tale TV Panel: Grey’s Anatomy Season 12

As long as the show has been on the air, it’s hard to believe that Grey’s Anatomy Season 12 was able to offer new surprises and continued character development.

It even moved forward without a major character, and somehow, that became a good thing. See what our panel of writers had to say about Grey’s Anatomy Season 12 below. And don’t forget to join the discussion by leaving a comment!

Our panelists are:

• Ashley Bissette Sumerel, founder and editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV
• Sheena Bosket, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Smriti (aka Sim) Jasra, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Lauren Busser, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank the season overall?

Sheena: I would give this season a 7. The only thing that excited me this season was Sarah Drew’s performance during her rudimentary C-section in the finale (BTW, that performance was out of this world. I kept rewinding it and watching it over and over).

I, like many people, still enjoy watching Grey’s Anatomy, but I’m kind of ready for the show to end. So many seminal characters have left and I think Shonda’s told all of the stories she has to tell with these characters. There’s nothing left  to be said.

Sim: I was so worried about how the show would be like this season without Derek, but it felt so refreshed. I give it an 8!

Lauren: I give it a 7.

Ashley: I’m going to go as far to say I give it an 9. To me, this season was much better than the past several seasons, and like Sim said, it felt refreshed.

Okay, it had some moments that weren’t so great, but mostly it felt the show had been re-invented, and that it had almost returned to its roots. So often I was reminded of Seasons 1 and 2, which was really fantastic.

What was the season’s biggest mistake?

Sheena: The custody battle between Callie and Arizona. That plotline was just unnecessary. It of course made sense that Arizona wouldn’t let Callie take Sophia to New York without a fight, but it made no sense at all that Callie would desire to move to New York in the first place and give up her job as chief of Orthopedics.

The showrunners could have thought of a more creative way for Sara Ramirez to leave the show. It would have been much more exciting if they’d killed her off.

Sim: Penny. Penny was this season’s biggest mistake for me, hands down. I still have not recovered from Derek’s death, but I believed that Shonda had a story in mind, and that I should let her tell it.

But bringing Penny into the mix of our doctors, let alone having one of them fall in love with her — after knowing she was there the night Derek died — unsettled me and even made me think it was close to impossible.

And this show has had a plane crash in the Amazon or something. So that says a lot.

Lauren: I think the season’s biggest mistake was forgetting what made the show worth watching in the first place. There were a few really good episodes here and there, but in between those episodes were a few episodes that left me feeling “meh.”

In early Grey’s Anatomy seasons, the cast was young and inexperienced, and that’s what made it fun to watch. Sure, you didn’t want to be the one they were operating on, but when things went sideways you knew why. It’s starting to feel like they’re recycling some plots, such as with “All Eyez on Me.”

Ashley: I’m with Sim on this one. Bringing Penny on made the show take a weird turn that wasn’t exactly believable.

What worked really well this season?

Sheena: The theme of forgiveness that appeared in several episodes. I think forgiveness is something many people, including me, struggle with, and I enjoyed watching several characters on Grey’s Anatomy struggle with it as well.

I loved seeing April and Jackson be kind to each other again, watching Amelia forgive Owen for getting drunk when he knew she was coming over, and watching Meredith forgive the man who nearly killed her.

Sim: I think in some ways we got to see Grey’s Anatomy go back to its roots. It had more great medical cases and less soapy drama. Meredith’s single again, and the whole show almost seemed to hit a refresh button in some ways, after killing off such a major character.

I also have to reference the whole episode of Meredith’s freak out session after she slept with Will. The whole episode seemed so necessary, and raw, and completely real. Shonda Rhimes has done very well in telling the story of losing the person you love the most so suddenly, but still being able to move on with life this season.

Lauren: A couple of the event episodes worked really well. What I mean by “event episodes” is that the story doesn’t try to pay lip service to every single character. There were a few episodes where I felt like the focus should have been on the patient or one particular storyline, but then I was disappointed when we didn’t get to go deeper into a certain plot.

The episodes that focused on one or two characters were the best. When Meredith got attacked by a patient, the two parter that focused on Ben and Bailey’s relationship, #JapriltheMovie, those were the kinds of pieces I wanted to see. They had patients at the heart, and they gave our favorite doctors something to do.

Ashley: What made this season strong, in my opinion, was the way it brought its focus back to Meredith. And it wasn’t all just about how she was dealing with Derek’s death, though that was the major undertone.

It was moving back to her old house, dealing with her “new” sisters, getting a promotion, getting attacked, learning new things — I mean, I could go on and on. I just loved getting see her character to continue to develop in some major ways this season.

What was the biggest surprise of the season?

Sheena: April being pregnant again. I really did not see that coming, and it’s my favorite surprise of the season. When April and Jackson lost their first child, I thought to myself (as terrible as this sounds), “They got what they deserved.”

Jackson and April left two broken hearts in their wake when they ran off together, and I’m glad the writers didn’t let them get off scot-free. So when we learned that April was pregnant, I was hoping it would bring the two of them back together. They lost a child and got a divorce. Their debt has been paid. Now they can live happily ever after.

Sim: It’s so small but Riggs. I was just surprised how he seamlessly he fit into the mix. There was a way about him that instantly yelled “new guy,” but I also could not help rooting for him, even when Mer and Owen decided that “we hate him.” The biggest surprise of the season was that I actually liked the doctor that seemed to scream “Derek’s replacement.”

Lauren: April’s pregnancy. I think I saw it coming as Sarah Drew teased about “Unbreak My Heart” on Twitter, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.

Ashley: I think the biggest surprise was Penny. That was just something I don’t think anyone saw coming.

 

What surprised you about this season, and what do you think worked well? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Grey’s Anatomy returns Thursdays this fall on ABC.