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So, watching Private Practise has caused me to start watching Grey’s Anatomy again. Watching Grey’s this time around[i], the show seems better than I remember. Or it could be that I have been watching PP and this show is just better by comparison. I just finished the fourth season of Grey’s which concludes with an amazing scene. Meredith Grey, the “Grey” of the show’s title, has overcome her fear of commitment[ii] and is waiting outside of her boyfriend’s trailer where she has placed on the lawn hundreds of candles to outline the ground floor walls of what might be their dream house. This moment is meant to be a pivotal point in both the relationship of McDreamy, her boyfriend, and Meredith as well as Meredith’s development as a character. This scene has been posted to YouTube several times. This taught my two things. First, fans of the show refer to Meredith and McDreamy as Merder which is kinda creepy. And second, that at least 559 people like this scene.[iii] In fact, some people think that this is one of the best scenes on the show. One person writes that this scene is “probably my favorite grey’s scene ever! :)”. Someone else argues that this “scene still rocks.” Another person feels that this scene is evidence that “derek will always love meredith forever.”[iv]
This is what romance is. At least on TV. Cause in the real world Meredith would not have been able to buy hundreds of candles. She wouldn’t have been able to carry that many cases of candles. She would have had a really hard time perfectly setting up those candles without a crane or some way to gain perspective. How was she able to get such perfect lines? Where did she find all those candles? How did she carry them around? When did she have the time? Let us just say that she found a really good deal. In fact, that is probable given that most stores don’t carry that much stock. So, she would have had to either spend an entire weekend driving around Seattle trying to buy that many candles and glass containers or, more likely, located the manufacturer or whole-sale distributor. Now, let us just say she got a really good deal and was able to buy to each candle and container for a combined price of ten dollars. And it looks to be a few hundred candles. I paused the show and counted about forty candles on one wall alone. Then I got frustrated at the lack of resolution of my TV and gave up. Anyway, someone, the show’s prop master or whoever, knows exactly how much these candles and glass containers cost and how difficult it was to get them because they were the one who had to actually get them. Anyway, I am guessing that Meredith just spent several thousand dollars on this grand romantic gesture. That lasted for a few minutes. I am not against romance. But isn’t this just a waste? What did she do with all those candles and containers when she was done? Did she donate them? Pack them up for when she next needs hundreds of candles or glass containers? I also can’t help but wonder if McDreamy, moments after the camera cut to credits, had to spend the next few hours helping Meredith clean up all that romance. Now, I am by now means the first, or even thousandth, person to point out that media can be responsible for creating unrealistic expectations in people.[v] But, as I watch this scene, this seems excessive even for excess. I can’t help but think that the people who love this scene haven’t really thought this through. Maybe they feel, as it seems so many people do, that thought and reason are somehow antithetical to romance. But how many people, if given a few thousand dollars, would actually spend all that money on candles? And what did Meredith end up doing with all those candles? We never see. But chances are she threw them away. What else would you do with all those candles? So, this romantic gesture is actually tantamount to burning a few thousand dollars and then filling up a landfill. But, if the people on YouTube are right, then this is romance.
[i] A few years back I watched the first few seasons.
[ii] I suspect this is temporary as the show heavily relies on the on again, off again relationship of Meredith and McDreamy.
[iii] Other postings of this scene on YouTube have 292 and 221 people liking it. I don’t know if this means at least 1072 people like this scene or some people think it is so great they had to like it three times.
[iv] “Even after the show is cancelled?” Wow, that is love. Between two people that don’t actually exist.
[v] For instance, it is harder to get accepted to a good school than Saved by the Bell would have one believe.
