Oh yeah, I get Izzie's reasons for leaving, I really do. But like I said, they were her issues, up to and including jumping to conclusions about Alex based on half a conversation. And then because she left, we are automatically excluded from her perspective on what happened next.
It's the impact on the group dynamic I'm interested in, the people left behind, because it really wasn't shown and yet had great potential for storyline and character development. We saw Alex telling Mer and Cris that Izzie left him and he didn't know why, and then...nothing, not in terms of group dynamic. When the relationship between that group of original interns started out as the key group dynamic of the show, is one of the oldest and most established relationships the show has. We saw Alex off on his own, fretting and pining, and slowly learning that he was capable of being without Izzie and not self-destructing - and it's in character for him to want to lick his wounds in private rather than turn to anyone for support. It's also in character for Mer and Cris to give him that space, because they don't do touchy-feely. Fair enough. But there are so many blank spaces in that story - months going by when as a group of friends they have pretty much no interaction with each other at all to know how anyone is reacting to Izzie's departure.
What we did see, Meredith and Cristina mostly seemed to be on Izzie's side. Which, again, is fair enough. She's their friend, they've seen her go through hell. But what we don't know is how they have interpreted her departure. They know Izzie well, they've seen her flip out in the past. But they also know Alex well, have seen him self-destruct in the past. So what do they think? What's the most automatic assumption - that Izzie has flipped out for reasons of her own, or that Alex has done something to push her over the edge? Their attitude often suggests that they suspect the latter, but we simply aren't shown enough to know for sure. In that episode where Izzie doesn't show up for her cancer treatment, Cristina really lays into Alex about it, as if it's his fault - how much of that is genuine blame-laying and how much misdirected anxiety? Again, we aren't shown, not least because the storyline choice for that episode was to have Reed be the one to see Alex slowly fall apart over it. And I get the reasons for that, in terms of storytelling - the writers needed to establish the Mercy Westers, needed them to form connections with the existing cast, wanted to explore potential new relationships. But it would have resonated so much more, in terms of existing relationships, if the Cristina-Alex angle had been pursued through that storyline instead. No?
I'm rambling and have forgotten my original point! Mostly, I think, I was trying to say that yes, Izzie's side is valid, but it was the group dynamic and what Meredith and Cristina made of it all that interested me, as the ones left behind - that they chose mostly to side with the friend who left rather than the friend left behind, whose pain they actually had right there in front of them. And the fact that I doubt either of them ever knew the full story - and maybe never will.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-06-29 08:07 am (UTC)It's the impact on the group dynamic I'm interested in, the people left behind, because it really wasn't shown and yet had great potential for storyline and character development. We saw Alex telling Mer and Cris that Izzie left him and he didn't know why, and then...nothing, not in terms of group dynamic. When the relationship between that group of original interns started out as the key group dynamic of the show, is one of the oldest and most established relationships the show has. We saw Alex off on his own, fretting and pining, and slowly learning that he was capable of being without Izzie and not self-destructing - and it's in character for him to want to lick his wounds in private rather than turn to anyone for support. It's also in character for Mer and Cris to give him that space, because they don't do touchy-feely. Fair enough. But there are so many blank spaces in that story - months going by when as a group of friends they have pretty much no interaction with each other at all to know how anyone is reacting to Izzie's departure.
What we did see, Meredith and Cristina mostly seemed to be on Izzie's side. Which, again, is fair enough. She's their friend, they've seen her go through hell. But what we don't know is how they have interpreted her departure. They know Izzie well, they've seen her flip out in the past. But they also know Alex well, have seen him self-destruct in the past. So what do they think? What's the most automatic assumption - that Izzie has flipped out for reasons of her own, or that Alex has done something to push her over the edge? Their attitude often suggests that they suspect the latter, but we simply aren't shown enough to know for sure. In that episode where Izzie doesn't show up for her cancer treatment, Cristina really lays into Alex about it, as if it's his fault - how much of that is genuine blame-laying and how much misdirected anxiety? Again, we aren't shown, not least because the storyline choice for that episode was to have Reed be the one to see Alex slowly fall apart over it. And I get the reasons for that, in terms of storytelling - the writers needed to establish the Mercy Westers, needed them to form connections with the existing cast, wanted to explore potential new relationships. But it would have resonated so much more, in terms of existing relationships, if the Cristina-Alex angle had been pursued through that storyline instead. No?
I'm rambling and have forgotten my original point! Mostly, I think, I was trying to say that yes, Izzie's side is valid, but it was the group dynamic and what Meredith and Cristina made of it all that interested me, as the ones left behind - that they chose mostly to side with the friend who left rather than the friend left behind, whose pain they actually had right there in front of them. And the fact that I doubt either of them ever knew the full story - and maybe never will.
Does that make sense?