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If you want to know the full explanation, however, this is it, barring the blanket statements of "Sandra Oh continues to spin anything into gold" and "Bailey remains the most kickass character on this show." I wrote this up a long time ago over the summer and added to it over the winter break, but with the news of the spinoff and the latest batch of episodes, I put in some concluding thoughts, and decided to post it here now. Because of that, it's really really long, so fair warning. Still, this pretty much sums up my thoughts on the series as a whole.
Why Addison Forbes Montgomery Shepherd was the Best and Worst Thing to Happen to Grey’s Anatomy
When Addison Forbes Montgomery Shepherd walked onto our screens and introduced herself to the titular character with the line, “You must be the woman who's been screwing my husband,” Meredith Grey wasn’t the only character who’s life changed. The entire landscape of the Grey’s Anatomy universe changed. In many ways her addition improved an already outstanding cast. We’re talking about a character who has, to date, cheated on her husband with his best friend, aborted the baby of said best friend during her separation with her husband and went crawling back and stayed in a loveless sham of a marriage until Derek finally cheated on her. The word pathetic does not even begin to describe her choices. Nevertheless, Addison is a fan favorite who is “impossible to hate,” because she is also incredibly self-aware, accountable for her actions, and overall a decent person, even to the woman who was screwing her husband. That she saves babies and their mothers on a regular basis while rocking the sexy librarian glasses is only a bonus. Thanks to the strong acting skills of Kate Walsh, the character is utterly human and one of the most flawed, yet sympathetic characters on television and the show is better off for it. On the other hand, however, her likeability as a character damaged the leads’ likeabilty for some fans, particularly the Derek character. When it became clear that she was just an temporary speed bump for the McCouple, Derek went from a torn husband, struggling to forgive his wife and get over a new love, to a childish, indecisive, selfish prick who hurt both women by putting them into a holding pattern. (see: the “You don’t get to call me a whore!” argument).
What is most interesting, though, is the way that the Addison character fundamentally changed the show. As a new attending who was guaranteed not to sleep with one of the interns, she expanded the older doctors’ playbox, gave the interns new interactions to explore their professional careers, and she brought with her a history for Richard, Adele and Derek (said history even manifesting in the addition of the Mark character). The storylines that the Addison character has sparked have elevated the show to its award-winning appeal as the relationships have become more and more complex; however, this same growth is now threatening the quality of the show in its current season as things have grown beyond the writers’ control.
PRE-ADDISON GREY’S ANATOMY (two lines is good relationship, one line is a bad relationship)
1. Season 1 (1.01-1.09):
====Chief == Ellis Alex
|| || || / \\
|| Derek == Meredith = Izzie Olivia
|| // \\ || //
Burke == Cristina George
Major relationship developments: Derek / Meredith, Burke / Cristina, Ellis + Richard friendship, George + Izzie friendship, Izzie v Alex, George/Olivia
If you look at the relationships pre-Addison (with the understanding that Bailey is the common link among all of them because she is just that cool) you can see pretty clearly that there's a pretty clear separation between the attendings and the interns. In part, this is because the attending : intern ratio is 2 : 5 (with Bailey on level with the Chief, and Olivia being a nurse), so only Meredith and Cristina got the romantic developments with the attendings, while Alex, Izzie, and George lived at the fun medical competition level.
Still, if you look at the two circles, Meredith is the common link holding them together. She and Cristina were the only ones with relationships to the attendings; she and Derek are the only ones with significant ties to the Ellis-Chief generation, and she is the strongest common link among the interns with Izzie and George as her roommates and Cristina's best friend. Alex remains on the outskirts but connected to Meredith because of their interaction in the pilot.
POST-ADDISON GREY’S ANATOMY
After Addison’s arrival, however, the show takes on an extremely different look, and what was once a simple diagram shifts to a complex matrix of relationships. To illustrate the evolution, I’m going to break S2 into the 3 natural breaks: from Addison’s arrival to the Thanksgiving episode where Meredith resolves to move on, from the arrival of Doc to the bomb episode, and from the arrival of Mark to the season finale Prom!sex.
2. Season 1.5 (2.1-2.9): Up until Meredith tells Derek she’s okay with him trying to work it out with Addison and tries to move on. (Thanksgiving episode)
A d e l e
// || \\
Chief = Derek == Addison
// \\ \\ /
Burke Ellis == M e r e d i t h = Cristina == Burke
// || \\ //
Alex == Izzie == G e o r g e
Major Relationship developments: Addison/Derek/Meredith, Cristina / Burke pregnancy and reconciliation, Adele/ Chief / Ellis, Alex / Izzie, George is Burke’s guy.
With Addison’s arrival, we get more Derek AND Richard development. Not only do we meet his wife, but we also learn about Derek's NYC history which was absent in S1. Some of that history we even get to see early on in the form of Savvy and Weiss' visit. Addison also gave us more insight into Richard. In addition to being his old intern, her arrival sparked Derek to call Adele (“You called my wife, I called yours), and it’s clear that all four share a friendship or at least familiarity. This facet makes the triangle between Adele, Richard, and Ellis all the more interesting when it is revealed, because it makes Adele more fleshed out as a character. She’s not just the wronged woman; she also has connections to other characters we know.
The other really huge development we get from Addison’s arrival is the strengthening of the relationships between the five interns and Bailey who band around Meredith. With the brakes pulled on the MerDer ship, the side effect was more development among the friendships of the Fab 5. (See: Izzie, George, and Cristina blocking Derek) By distancing Meredith from the attendings, Meredith and Alex start to bond, she builds her "family" of Izzie and George, and most importantly, she cements the real OTP of show, Mere/Cristina, with the establishment of the "I'm your person" status.
3. Season 2 (2.10 – 2.17)- (Up until the bomb episode)
Chief == Adele
// \\
Addison = Derek = Bailey = Addison
\\ / \ \\ //
George = Burke Meredith == George
\\ // || \\ //
Cristina Alex = Izzie == Addison
Major Relationships developments: Addison / Derek rocky reconciliation, Meredith gets a dog, George / Meredith angst, Alex / Izzie breakup and makeup, Izzie and Addison work together, Cristina and Burke get closer, Addison and Burke get along, George become better friends with Bailey’s delivery
Addison’s addition to the cast also brought the attending : intern ratio to 3 : 5, which changed the dynamics in two ways. First, as a new peer (rather than subordinate) Addison changed up the Burke / Derek rivalry. The attendings now had their own club to play in away from the interns and they could develop their own relationships. Addison also gave Bailey another woman to interact with and befriend, particularly since her storyline was her pregnancy and Addison's specialty is neonatal. In these ways, Addison really fleshed out the non-intern characters.
Second, Addison brought the teaching aspect with her. Particularly because she was romantically cut off from the other interns, this meant that Addison’s storylines with the interns had to revolve around teaching medicine only. This forced the writers to really bring their A-game with the cases, because the cases had to interesting in their own right (see quints), or reveal revealed insights into the characters beyond functioning as metaphors for the romantic relationships (see: Izzie’s trailer!baby). Moreover, Addison allowed George and Izzie to have interesting attending/intern interactions, given their loyalties to Meredith, without forcing them into romantic relationships with their superiors.
4. Season 2 (2.18 – 2.27) (Up until the Prom!sex and Izzie’s House of LVAT pain)
Adele = Chief == Ellis = Thatcher
|| \\ \ /
Mark -------- Derek | Cristina = Burke
\ || // \\ | // //
Bailey = A d d i s o n = M e r e d i t h -- George
\ || //
Alex == Izzie -- Callie
\ ||
Denny
Major Relationships developments: Mark visits and is still in love with Addison, Bailey + Addison friendship, Addison / Derek / Meredith “friendships,” Meredith vs George post crying!sex, George + Burke friendship vs Burke / Cristina’s relationship, George / Callie, Callie vs Izzie, Izzie vs Alex , Izzie / Denny, Meredith reconnects with Thatcher and figures out the Chief’s affair, Meredith/Finn (whom I am not diagramming as he was just a blip on the radar), Addison forces Alex to be the JV captain of the Gynie Squad, Richard and Adele are still on the rocks, Derek / Meredith fight, then have Prom!sex
In this last batch of episodes, we get introduced to Denny, Callie, Mark, and Thatcher, 3 of whom Addison was the catalyst. Without Addison, we clearly would not have gotten Mark. Without Derek choosing to work on his marriage, Meredith would not have slept with George, resulting in the rift in their friendship. This distance allowed him to get closer to Callie. On top of that, Thatcher arrives at SGH because of one of Addison’s patients. (That’s sort of a cheat, because they could have added him in some other way, but still.) One could even argue that Addison is a little bit responsible for Alex being isolated from the rest of the interns, and because of his punishment, he was unable to get help in stopping the Izzie/Denny hook up.
All these additions truly made Grey’s Anatomy an ensemble cast. If you take a good look at this diagram, you’ll notice that Meredith is no longer the center, she needs Addison and George to sustain it. Unlike S1 and early S2, Izzie and George now have love interests that are developing outside of Meredith’s realm, and Addison is developing new working relationships with Alex and Bailey when she’s not propping up the MerDer love saga. I guess, coming off the success from the bomb episode, they felt the need to be very ambitious and since expanding the non-intern universe worked out so well with Addison, they decided to bring in more non-intern characters. This is what I like to call the Addison Effect. It is here that GA writers really started to set things in motion that would expand their universe in ways that they are only now beginning to realize is very hard to sustain.
5. Season 3 (3.01-present)
Adele -- Chief == Ellis = Thatcher
|| \\ \\ /
Mark ------ Derek | Cristina = Burke = Derek
// \\ || / \\ | // //
George = Callie = Addison -- M e r e d i t h = George
\\ || // || \\ // \\ //
Bailey --Burke Alex == Izzie
/
(Denny)
Without getting into the details of whom has already slept with whom, it’s clear that in S3, the complexity of the relationships has gotten out of control. The developments Addison has set in motion are too much for them to handle. Skipping ahead to get rid of Finn, you’ll notice that in order to show all the connections, I had to double up multiple times because the attendings and residents’ interactions are just now just as complex as the interns’ relationships. You have the relationships between the four attendings (see: the race for Chief) and the interactions between the female non-interns (see: Callie-Addison-Bailey friendship), in addition to the NYC transplants- and you'll notice that the common link of all these is Addison. They aren't just one-on-one friendship and rivalries at play here, because Addison links them together and makes it feel like a group.
Consider the Callie-Addison-Bailey circle. We've seen a handful of Callie-Addison scenes and Addison-Bailey scenes, but only recently have we seen any Callie-Bailey scenes even though they are both residents. If we hadn't seen Callie, Addison and Bailey talking to Addison about her rings, it would have felt like this was a new developing friendship, but because of Addison, it feels more like they already have an existing friendship since Addison is their mutual friend, and we just haven't seen many scenes with them.Addison adds a richness to the characters that aren't associated with Meredith's family too. It's not really a surprise that Callie has been received better this year than last season when she was seen through the Meredith/Izzie lens. Addison gives Callie more depth because their interactions are not hostile, and in some ways does the same for Callie in regards to Izzie and George that she did for Adele. Addison develops Alex (who is the most isolated intern and not part of Meredith's family) and Mark (who has been cut out of Derek's life, and therefore Meredith's life). She moves their storylines along, on the romantic level and on the professional level as the buffer between Mark and his mistreatment of Alex, Alex's mentor, and Mark's fellow darkhorse contender for Chief.
ADDISON AS THE MEREDITH FUNCTION
With her new friendship with Callie and her history with Mark, Addison now has just as many strong connections to the characters as Meredith. It’s almost as though there are two shows going on: one in which Meredith, Cristina, Derek, and Burke function in, and the other where Addison, Mark, Callie, George, Alex, and Izzie function in. Bailey and the Chief float between the two, but you'll notice their storylines are more about their own personal journeys as they are affected by "the clowns and the fools with their messy love lives."
In some ways, we’ve come full circle in that we’ve reverted to the same separation of the Meredith-Cristina and George-Izzie-Alex circles, only on a much larger scale. It just so happens that the center of the George-Izzie-Alex circle is Addison because the important people in George, Alex, and Izzie's professional and love lives all have strong connections to Addison. By introducing Addison, they attempted to create the anti-Meredith. Ironically, Addison serves the same role as Meredith on the show as this new circle of friends’ center because she is the common link. As with the Meredith character, one does not have to like the Addison character to acknowledge the purpose and important place the character has in the group dynamics.
CONCLUSION
So the question now arises of how the writers are going to fix these problems, what with the new spin Addison off in the works. On one hand, I am excited because Kate Walsh deserves her own show and the Addison characters is pretty fantastic. Most of my hang-ups with the character come when the writers use her to prop up the MerDer relationship or have her interact with the Brothers McStupid. The spinoff could be really great for the Addison character because it'll get her away from Derek, Mark, and Meredith. A new cast and a fresh start is just what the character needs to keep growing and avoid regressing. Really the only thing I am worried about is that spin-offs of this variety (coming off of a big success and not being the procedural style show) often get axed before they are given a chance to flourish due to high expectation.
On the other hand, however, I do wonder what state Grey’s Anatomy will be in with the removal of Addison’s character, because of the richness she adds to the plotlines and relationships on the show. That the producers are even thinking about trying to spin off Addison and remove her from the matrix completely boggles the mind. It’s already in pretty precarious shape because the writers are having problems balancing the relationship development and the cool medical cases. The complex matrix of relationships that began with Addison are enough to fill a one hour show, even without the surgical aspects. Whereas it was easier in S1 to send the unattached interns on crazy hijinks or allow Addison to take the helm in S2, now everyone is either in a serious romantic relationship or is coming out of one and the writers are more interested in dealing with the consequences of that. (The exceptions to this are Bailey (of course) and Alex- which may explain why he remains the only intern without a significant storyline).
It doesn't help that Addison is now open to the same problems of juggling the romantic prospects with the dissolution of the McMarriage. Although she is still the best teacher out of all of them and the race for Chief is on, the writers are also having her bounce back and forth between Mark and Alex as her potential love interests. As a result, the medical cases in S3 have almost all been clunky metaphors, because they need to service to development of the character relationships. They don’t have time to take those quiet moments in every single simple surgery anymore, because the universe has expanded too much. This may also explain why the writers keep alternating between “relationship” episodes (see: the hiking episode) and plot driven, “BIG” episodes (see: Tremorgate, George’s dad, the ferryboat crash trilogy)
The reality is, the show is doing well because the fan investment in the characters built from last season runs very deep. Eventually, that goodwill will run out, though, and the strength of the cast, even with powerhouses like Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson consistently hitting the right notes, will not be enough to sustain its success. The loss of Kate Walsh is going to be a really heavy blow in and of itself, and if they decide to push through with a spinoff and it succeeds, then they’ll have to develop a new center for the George-Izzie-Alex circle. It’s looking like that George would be a good replacement, since TR Knight has developed into one of the heavy hitters on the show. If they can develop his friendship with Alex, maintain his friendship with Izzie and build the Mark-Izzie working relationship, and strengthen the Mark-Derek relationship, George can fill in the gaps that Addison makes. Izzie is actually a better choice if they can revisit the Izzie-Alex relationship and build up the Mark-Izzie work relationship. However, Katie Heigl is not as strong an actor as Walsh, and neither George nor Izzie will fill the gap in the attending crowd since they are interns. Now, if they decide to bring it back to the interns and focus less on the attendings, they might succeed. However, it will take a lot of tooling on their part and we will lose some of the great insights into Callie, Richard, Bailey, Burke, Mark, and Derek that we got from their relationships outside of the interns.
On a final note, Addison's departure is going to leave the writers scrambling to fix the dynamics in the midst of their establishing a new show. If the spinoff happens and fails, they'll have to figure out a way to write Addison back into the show. If it does well, a successful spinoff will also mean a long term split focus for an already unfocused group of writers. The track record of show runners doing two shows simultaneously does not bode well in our favor (see: JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, David E Kelly). Regardless of how well the spinoff does, this could just be the point of no return.
Bottom line: Even if you don’t like the character, Addison fundamentally changed the show from a show about interns into a show about doctors. What Addison does to the other characters and the storylines she sparks are what make her a vital part of the show, and either they find a way to refocus the show to be about the interns again, or they try to function as it is without her (a tactic that will fail, guaranteed). Either way, we lose some of the awesome layers and complexity that we got in S2. If the writers thought an Izzie-less SGH was bad (hence their haste to reinstate Izzie post L-VAT scandal), just wait until Addison leaves. Without that flash of Red, an Addison-less Grey’s Anatomy is definitely going to be a little less vibrant, and, if you'll pardon the pun, just little more gray.