By Michelle Lerner

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! What’s that noise, you ask? That is me, banging my poor head against a wall, on behalf of poor poor Chandra Wilson, and her GREY’S ANATOMY character Dr. Miranda Bailey.

Once the heart and soul of GREY’S, Dr Bailey has recently turned into Seattle Grace’s own Napolean. Small, mean, and marching around like she owns the place, Bailey has become a caricature of her worst impulses and tics. Gone is the pragmatic person who told Dr. McDreamy to stop messing with the interns.

I feared this day would come. The writing staff of GREY’S has so tampered with the rest of the cast that they are hardy recognizable shells of their original shells.  Dr. Derrick McDreamy Shepard has gone from something of rake to a whiney mushy emo boy. Izzy has turned from a lingerie model with a pair of balls, to an insecure twittering idiot. Yang may actually have a heart. George has no morals! And Karev does! The only person who seems to have moved in a direction that does not end on the opposite side of a personality transplant is Meredith. She’s basically the same but I like her more.

But let’s get back to Bailey. This week the ritualistic  GREY’s taking-apart of her character, began last year, continues when a bookshelf falls on her baby. Her husband, already mad at her, becomes understandably further incensed when she immediately blames him. I like to think, and perhaps I am optimistic about humans this way, though no one has ever accused me of it before, that in this situation most parents might wait a few days to really point a finger. Isn’t the child’s welfare the most immediate concern?

Bailey become hysterical when it turns out her baby’s injuries are bad. Who wouldn’t? But when she tries to command her way into Dr. Hahn’s operating room like it’s her own personal Austerlitz, she takes the histrionics a bit too far. Hahn is well within her rights to keep the crazy lady out. And Bailey goes way too far over the edge when she tells Hahn something along the lines of “Thanks for saving my baby. You’re new here, so you don’t know me or how I work, but if I never have to see you again that’s fine with me.” Am I allowed to write “fuck you?” here? It’s ridiculous that she would say anything like that. Mothers are no allowed in operating rooms. Ever. It doesn’t matter what show you are on. I learned that on E.R. Duh. Even House doesn’t let ‘em in.


Bailey’s husband spends the episode glaring at her like a malignant giant. He has been blamed for the last time. Bailey runs away into an office, and banging HER head against a desk, tells herself she didn’t do it! She didn’t leave the gate open! She is only calmed by the always welcoming arms of Dr. Shepard. I wanted to reach through the T.V. and slap some of her old sense back into her. Anyone would go nuts if their baby was hurt, but a scene like this, a nattering outburst of self-hate, is too ridiculous and annoying even for GREY’S. Please, writers, I implore you, give Miranda Bailey back some of her diginity! She wore it so well!

I always loved the fact that Bailey had a normal real life outside the hospital. She was a perfect contrast to the other messed up doctors grabbing each other in break rooms. By messing with her life, the show takes its last step off planet earth.

I guess I should also mention that Shepard and Meredith finally broke up. But it happened with more of a sputter then a bang. Meredith found out about the kiss Shepard shared with Rose. It turns out she still, after all this time, doesn’t trust him. Done. Hands wiped, that’s it. I just really and truly prey that next week we don’t have to sit through a “Meredith is heartbroken” episode and all the Kate Nash music that will entail. Please at least let Meredith retain her newly won dignity- let one character walk around with a little pride!