When Grey’s Anatomy first introduced fans to Meredith Grey back in 2005, she was a fresh-faced intern ready to make her own mark on her mother’s legacy. Fast-forward 20 years, and she’s a Harper Avery winner as well as a prized surgeon. But Grey isn’t the only main character on the show. Since the first season, this hit medical drama has welcomed a plethora of characters, all of whom are eager to make a difference to Grey Sloan.
Interns are a pivotal part of Grey’s Anatomy, and without them, the show would have very little sense of direction or growth. But for the past couple of seasons, the show has been introducing a tirade of new characters, overwhelming the audience with their storylines. While these characters offer a refreshing take, some audiences believe that they are overshadowing other, more important characters.
The Show’s Obsession With Workaholism Is Getting Tedious
Before criticizing Grey’s Anatomy’s obsession with interns, it’s important to first discuss the show’s relation to them. Although the staff at Grey Sloan now worship the ground that Meredith walks on, it’s vital that audiences note that she was once the new kid with a lot to learn. As such, the MAGIC-era interns were once viewed as screw-ups who saw their roles at Seattle Grace as the only way to achieve their dreams of becoming surgeons. While the show introduced a new batch of interns called The B-Team back in 2018, the most recent group arrived at the hospital in Season 19.
Like their predecessors, the newest group of interns had dreams of climbing to the top and rubbing shoulders with their favorite surgeons. However, a lot of fans can’t help but think that all these interns are doing is working themselves to the bone. When the interns first arrive in Season 19, Episode 1, “Everything Has Changed,” the group accompanies Amelia to the ICU, where they meet a selection of tragically brain-damaged patients. The interns are then required to tell the patients’ families about their conditions, which seems a bit much for their first day on the job. While it’s important for the show to establish that working in a hospital like Grey Sloan is no walk in the park, these interns have it a lot harder than the first batch. So, while Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie, and Cristina were all living it up in Joe’s Bar after a long day of work, it seems that the show is keen to throw the newbies in the deep end straight away. Not only does this seem really unfair, but it also makes their arcs less fun because fans don’t get to take a peek at their scandalous personal lives.
The show tackles a similar issue in Season 20, Episode 6, “The Marathon Continues.” Bailey creates a wellness program for the residents to enjoy with the hopes that they can create a more effective work-life balance. But, just as Bailey starts expressing her plans, the interns are distracted by their pagers and scatter off throughout the hospital. Admittedly, this is just a small scene that is probably used for comic relief more than anything else. Yet, it continues to reinforce the idea that all these interns do is work their socks off. Plus, because these characters don’t have the chance to expose their personal lives or even work on any prevalent cases, they seem to just be overworked for no reason. As such, it’s evident that the writers want to emphasize the idea that Grey Sloan is a bustling hub of innovation and care, but the intern’s lack of direction and purpose makes the hospital look like it’s run by headless
The Interns Are Far Too Obsessed With Their Love Lives
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Grey’s Anatomy focuses more on its long list of love triangles and steamy dalliances than it does about the accuracy of its cases. But, in the modern world, that’s what fans crave. Grey’s Anatomy broke the mold with its risqué subplots and arguably prompted other Shondaland hits like Bridgerton and Scandal. However, the latest group of interns seem to be so wrapped up in their love lives that they act more like hormone-driven teenagers than the next leaders in medicine. Plus, the show doesn’t really work to diversify these arcs, so it’s pretty much the same as always. For example, in Season 19, Episode 3, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” Benson and Jules share a sneaky kiss in the on-call room and then vow to never speak about it again. Yet, the pair later had sex. Of course, this pairing helps to make the show much more dramatic and helps the procedural to push away from the monotony of life-and-death cases. But fans have been watching the same intimate scenes for the past 20 years, so Benson and Jules’ fling doesn’t mean much to the audience. Thus, the show has managed to create a glaring divide between the characters’ desires and the audiences’ wants.