5 Ways ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Can Pull Out of Its Season 13 Slump

As a television drama in its 13th season on a broadcast network, Grey’s Anatomy is a phenomenon. Creator Shonda Rhimes’ soapy medical drama has managed to weather well over a decade of hype, scandal, cast departures, and fan outbursts  to be one of TV’s most reliable ratings hits. So when I say last fall’s first half of season 13 represented a slump for the show, I mean creatively, not ratings-wise.

It’s also not the first time that’s Grey‘s has dipped in quality. In fact, one of the signatures of Grey’s Anatomy‘s particular brand of greatness has been its ability to rebound from creative slumps in the past. Izzie starts dating Denny’s ghost? Melissa George shows up to play a life-and-death-brigade intern? Meredith and Cristina feud for multiple episodes over a 3-D printer? All low points that were followed b big rebounds. The greatness of Grey’s lies in its endurance and its ability to get good again at a moment’s notice.

Well … it’s time to get good again. The first half of season 13 has seen multiple dead-end storylines, dominated by two of them: Alex’s legal troubles after be beat DeLuca half to death in last season’s finale, and Owen and Amelia’s strife over whether they should have a baby. With Grey’s and the rest of ABC’s TGIT lineup returning tomorrow night, here’s how the show can get back on track.

Lock Alex Up and Throw Away the Key

Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) beat the crap out of DeLuca (Giacomo Giannotti) in last season’s finale, all because he (incorrectly) believed that DeLuca was forcing himself on Jo (Camilla Luddington). It’s the perfect Karev storyline, one that Grey’s  has gone to FAR too many times: Alex does something awful, but for noble reasons, so he gets off the hook for it. I want to give the show for pushing this particular story arc to the absolute edges of acceptability — it’s almost like an experiment to see how much leeway fans will give this very popular character. But if the show really wanted to do something radical and interesting, they’d send Alex away to prison. And write him off the show. Because Alex is awful. Boy, bye.

Fine, But At Least Get Alex Off This Storyline Carousel

OKAY, okay, fans love Alex. But if Shonda insists on keeping him on the show, they can’t just keep going round and round on this same storyline. Alex needs to suffer some consequences for nearly blinding DeLuca, and then he needs to substantively change. This needs to be a transformational storyline for Alex or else it’s just another drop in the bucket. At the very least, it should cost him his relationship with Jo. It already seems like she and DeLuca are being positioned as a potential romance (which is its own bad idea), but the narrative thrust for the rest of the season shouldn’t be Alex fighting to ultimately win Jo back. He messed up and should pay.

End the Meredith/Nathan/Maggie Triangle

Holy GOD the lack of chemistry in this triangle would be enough to power … well nothing, since it’s an utter void. You can see where this looked good on paper. Meredith needed a new love interest to get her out of mourning for Derek. Nathan needed a second anchor to the show now that his and Owen’s rivalry has cooled. Maggie … well, it was stupid to break up Maggie and DeLuca last season, but it’s the right idea to push storylines that focus on Meredith and her sisters, Amelia and Maggie. Nobody can replace Cristina, but Grey’s has been fairly successful at giving Meredith new persons. But this particular triangle makes everybody look bad. Meredith looks bad for hooking up with the guy her sister is into. Maggie looks bad for following Nathan around with hearts in her eyes even though he’s not interested. Nathan is just not a very interesting character either way.

This is all headed to a Meredith/Maggie confrontation, so let’s just get on with it, so we can hit the fallout. And maybe cast a more compelling male doctor next time.

Give Dr. Edwards a Storyline

When the new batch of interns were introduced a few seasons ago — Stephanie Edwards, Jo Wilson, the girl who caused the staph infection and then slept with Arizona, Tina Majorino, and Smash from Friday Night Lights — the least likely to make a major splash was Edwards. Her only major storyline was being the doomed third wheel in the lead-up to Jackson and April getting together. This is now her FIFTH season, and actress Jerika Hinton has more than proved that she’s got the stuff for a major storyline. She’s great in dramatic scenes as well as comic relief. Edwards herself is sympathetic, strong, and wildly talented. She’s the best shot the show has at creating another Cristina, and it’s somewhat baffling that they haven’t given her a major storyline to lift her up to that level. If there’s one thing I want to see in the second half of season 13, it’s for Edwards to get a lengthy arc; not a romance or some kind of victim thing; give her a medical crisis that it’s on her to solve. Think up a reason for her and Meredith to team up … or face off. She’s currently the show’s best shot at a character who can carry the show into the next five years. Make it happen.

Go Topical

We’re in a whole new world now, and one way for Grey’s Anatomy to stand out is to start reflecting it. I must give credit to Previously.TV’s Tara Ariano for starting me down this path:

It’s a good idea. Shonda Rhimes’s shows have already proved adept at writing to the current political moment. Last year on Scandal, we got a barn-burner of a scene from Norm Lewis’s character, railing against the show’s Trump stand-in, Hollis Doyle:

Grey’s doesn’t need to be nearly that strident. Simply creating storylines that talk about pre-existing conditions or insurance failures or, hell, the global gag order could bring Grey’s squarely into the center of the national conversation. ABC is already doing this with Black-ish. Time for Grey’s to join the fight.