Meredith's fake mommy needs a thread of her own. I was thinking of Susan Grey: Fake Mommy. But this sounds more accurate.


I loved Susan. I really did. She could be pushy, and over bearing, but she was sweet, and truly wanted to help Meredith. Meredith did resist at first, because Susan was a little scary, but she warmed up to her. Then they killed Susan. Which sucked. You don't kill Mare Winningham.

Shonda does whatever she wants!!

I miss her. She was so normal and so sweet and felt so bad for Meredith and really went out of her way to help her when she could have just said to heck with her and her coldness and rudeness and just gotten on with her own life.

She wasn't cold, rude yes, cold no. Meredith was feeling overwhelmed by Susan, because all she knows from mother figure's is neglect. So while Meredith shouldn't have snapped at Susan like that, I understand why she did. But look what happens at the end of the episode. Susan stands up for herself, and Meredith stands up for herself. Both women explain their positions, and from then on, it's smooth sailing, until Susan dies. By the end of the episode, everything is cool.

Yeah, there was a degree of warmth between them towards the end, but at the beginning when Molly was in the hospital and Mer told Susan that she wasn't her family, I though that was cold. I don't blame her. She's been screwed over so many times by her family who are supposed to love her, that I don't blame her for erecting a wall around herself to stop it from happening again. But I still think it was a cold thing to do. Justifed and understandable, but still cold. It is to Susans credit that she fought to get thru to Meredith that she wasn't like Ellis or Thatch and that she could be a force of good in her life and not bad.

Dammit, why did they have to kill her?

The show had real potential in Susan. I would've loved to see the relationship between Mere and Susan progress in a way that allowed Meredith to accept that she deserves love and nurturing, and this would've provided far more character development for Meredith than her McDreamy relationship ever could. The show hinted at the possibilities - such as the example you cited above, Gideon Brown - and then threw them all away with Susan's death and Thatcher's rejection of Meredith.

I never saw that as cold really, just the truth. Meredith really doesn't know these people, and it is weird and awkward. And I thought she explained her case in the most polite way. Cold, I didn't see it. But I will agree to disagree. I think Susan understood Meredith, and wasn't offended, or took it personally. That's why she pushed. And look what happened when she did. Meredith became very open, and kind and friendly to them, in the episode falling 220. Susan knew how to get to her. She didn't have to, but you're right, it is a testament to her character(or guilt) that she did.

Yup, I'd put it down to her character more than I would guilt. That speech she made about guilt didn't really ring true to me. She has/had nothing to feel guilty about. Meredith was Thatch's daughter, not hers. Thatch is the one who abandoned her, not Susan. It is his fault that she grew up feeling lonely and neglected, not hers. Susan didn't force Thatch into choosing to abandon Meredith at the age of 5. That was something he did all by himself.

I completely agree with this. I initially thought they were attempting to redeem Thatcher somewhat by trying to shift some of the blame for Mer's abandonment from him onto Susan. Of course that theory was shot to hell with the slap heard round tvland.

The thing that I will miss about Susan is the potential the writers had with this character. While I loved all the scenes between Mer and Ellis (and hated that they killed her off too), the writers were limited in what they could offer us because of Ellis' condition. She and Mer were never going to get the chance to develop their relationship and make amends with each other. But with Susan there was the opportunity to see how Mer would react and evolve if given the chance to be part of that mother/daughter type of relationship. I think Susan was a far greater asset alive in regards to story lines then her death provided. If they wanted to have Mer and Thatcher estranged again, this could have been achieved with less finality (although with the way dead Denny keeps popping up, perhaps we shouldn't write off Susan just yet - maybe she'll be the breakout star of season 4!). Killing her off cheapened both the character and the great Mare Winningham, all to service a 5 second slap.

I totally agree. Susan had great potential as a character, both by herself and in terms what she could come to mean to Meredith long term. It is a crying shame that they decided to kill her off all in the name of cheap, sensational drama. Ellis I won't miss. She is and always has been pretty much a one way street of chaos and carnage, but Susan bless her heart, had the potential to become so very much more.

One of the things that pisses me off about the show is that Shonda seems to love emasculating the males in Meredith's life (Derek and Thatch in particular) and making them appear totally unworthy of her love, loyalty and devotion, all the while falling all over herself to pimp the gal pal aspect of her life..cue yet another Meredith & Christina bonding moment. Barf.

I love the Mer-Christina stuff, don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful and precious thing. It's just that sometimes it is so over the top (like Mer breaking up with Derek just because Burketina didn't make it for example) and unbelieveable and makes so little sense, that it drives me nuts. Hello Meredith saying in 3.11 that Christina was "her sister" & that she was "all she had" to saying how happy she was with Derek and how cool it was to have someone that you "really,really love" in the next. Meredith in S3 just made no sense.

So there was something about the S3 Mer-Susan dynamic that was so real and tender and simple and just, I dunno...believable and uncontrived that for once, I would not have been rolling my eyes and shouting at my TV "Oh come on now !!" The show is all the poorer for deciding to kill of Susan & do away with all that wonderful potential.

One of the things I found saddest or most poigant about the relationship was the fact that Mer sort of reacted like Susan was a stalker. e.g. "Why is she following me around, calling to ask how I am, bringing food and comfort after I've just suffered a big emotional loss and almost died" when in fact Susan was just doing the most normal mother things you do in that situation and Mer didn't seem to have much of a clue period, not just why Susan herself was doing it. It spoke volumes (as if we need to be remined) about Ellis's complete absence in her life growing up other than to emotionally terrorise her and that she was almost certainly bringing herself up and extremely lonely, no wonder she probably found comfort in booze and sex pretty early on.



I agree, whilst I love the Mer/Christina and later Susan dynamic at that point in S3 Derek deserves to be included in the "what she had thing" especially as in complete contrast to Burke he gets the girls' relationship and the fact that Cristina has been there when he wasn't, and had been a pretty supportive boyfriend up until then.

Agree with everyone else here also. Her death served no purpose apart from the "shocking slap" by Thatcher and to further drive a wedge between Mer/Der, which incomprehensibly had Derek decide the time to give his already extremely fragile girlfriend relationship ultimatums was in the middle of all this. I can't think of a single potential storyline for next year that wouldn't be better if she popped up every now and then, might even have made the many probable Lexie plots vaguely interesting to be.

Agreed as well. The decision to kill Susan off was probably the most shortsighted, pointless decision I have seen on TV. Ugh. Just irritating.

The fact that Susan's death was only touched on because of that stupid piece of shit Private Practice, makes her death all the more callous.