On Feb. 28, the 15th episode of Grey's Anatomy's 15th season will officially make it the longest running medical drama in television history. As we build up to this monumental TV moment, we've asked five writers, all of them Grey's groupies since the first season, in 2005, to tell Shondaland.com why — from Meredith to the medical to the all-embracing depiction of real people — the seminal drama series has meant so much to them over 330 (and counting!) episodes.
The greatest love story Grey's Anatomy has ever told is not the ballad of Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd (don't come at me!). Nor is it that of Cristina Yang and her aspirations to be a top surgeon (OK, maybe I'll hear arguments on this one). No, the greatest love story Grey's Anatomy has ever told belongs to Meredith and Cristina. Not just best friends, not just soulmates, their bond was so strong they had to invent a phrase to describe what they meant to one another: They are each other's "person."
They didn't always agree and they often wanted different things out of life, but they always, always had each other's backs. (Also they both really loved tequila.) Their enduring, complicated friendship is why I fell in love with Grey's Anatomy 15 seasons ago. And, though Cristina left Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in 2014 for bigger things in Zurich (oh, hi Dr. Burke), the way this stalwart series not only caringly depicted this relationship until that final episode, but also continued to foster other female friendships, is why I still love Grey's today.
Let's be honest: Authentic, well-developed, female friendships that are given the space and time to evolve don't come around often on TV. So many times these relationships on television read as superficial, and that's because rarely are women, especially on big-budget, ensemble dramas, allowed to explore why they are even bonded in the first place. That, or they are simply billed as competition. But from the pilot episode, Grey's Anatomy proved it would treat female friendships differently. Was Meredith a shark who would break a promise in order to nab a surgery? Yes. But you know what? Cristina respected the hell out of it. And thus, these two women came to immediately support one another — a crucial element to surviving the high pressure environment that was a world class hospital. How else do you make it through drownings and icicle impalements and dumb boys who have secret wives? Meredith and Cristina were never touchy-feely friends, but they relied on one another from day one, and their bond felt real.
Still, when I think about the one Meredith-Cristina friendship moment that resonated the most with me, that can still bring me to tears, it's not all the dancing or the tequila-drinking or the rare, glorious hugs — it's both of them in bridesmaid dresses working through the worst fight of their relationship. It was season 10 and Meredith called Cristina out for putting her ambition over everything else. Cristina, in turn, chided Meredith for being jealous, having given up so much career potential in order to be a wife and mother. We watched two women speak harsh truths about what many women face every day as they weigh career ambition against desires for a family. We watched them come to terms with a universal certainty of life: that, as they evolved as individuals, so must their friendship. And then we watched them find their way back to each other, different but just as strong. It was gorgeous.
I was at an age where I was learning these same lessons, that as you grow your friendships change. That what you want out of life, that who you want to be, can very quickly diverge from the person who you thought would be at your side fighting the same fight for the rest of time. But I also learned that you can be two very different people and still have a connection, because female friendships are so gloriously complex. Meredith and Cristina aren't each other's person simply because they are both at the top of their field or because they work at the same hospital. They found similarities, sure, but in each other they also found someone who would push them to be better, who would make them question the world around them, someone who would love them even when they made mistakes (and, let's be honest, these ladies made some big ones). Because that's what true friends do, even as life and individual growth might take you in different directions. And to watch that truth be recognized week after week on Grey's Anatomy is one of the reasons I still cherish it so. (The hot dudes with great hair and steamy make-out sessions are, I admit, a welcomed bonus.)
And it's not just Meredith and Cristina's relationship that is exemplary. Let's talk about how Izzie turns to Cristina when she has a brain tumor, even though, up to that point, their friendship had been marked by how oppositely they viewed their work. Or how Arizona and April's relationship revealed that two people who could easily find themselves at fundamental odds — a lesbian and a committed Christian — can come together in the name of love. Or how the show understood that some rifts, like the one between Jo and Stephanie, go so deep, they aren't so easy to come back from. Or even now, in season 15, the importance of supporting your sisters, whether biological or not, is still the foundation of the show thanks to the bonds between Meredith, Maggie, and Amelia.
Friendships may be less sexy to explore than romantic relationships (don't get me wrong, those are top-notch on this show), but Grey's never shies away from showing that, sometimes, to deal with a crisis, whether professional or personal, a girl just needs her girls. Grey's Anatomy has taught me many lessons over its 15-season run — it's okay to put your career first, sometimes voiceovers aren't terrible, and maybe avoid hospitals where the doctors are all hot people — but my favorite one, and the one that will keep me coming back season after season is this: When things get tough, you grab your girlfriends and you dance it the hell out.
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