The Grey's Anatomy Hysterectomy Episode Didn't Age Well

"Grey's Anatomy" has been on the air for 18 years and is still going strong, despite several cast departures and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) appearing in fewer episodes this season. However, certain installments of the ABC drama haven't aged well with fans who are revisiting the early seasons.

This doesn't mean viewers are actively giving up on the show for being problematic. It's just hard to grapple with older media, which can sometimes reflect different social norms and perspectives — even when looking at it barely a decade later. 

For example, the character of Mark Sloan, played by Eric Dane, is a classic "horndog" character that was common in everything from '80s comedies like "Porky's" to '90s sitcoms like "Dear John" all the way up to late 2000's pop culture, similar to Barney Stinson on "How I Met Your Mother." But as Redditor @sumchinesewill writes, "Characters like him probably wouldn't fly in todays [sic] show tbh."

Taking a deeper dive, the Season 2 episode "Let It Be" is just one instance where "Grey's Anatomy" fans are appalled by such behavior.

When an r/greysanatomy post from u/Azula9671 asked Redditors "What didn't age well from previous seasons?," many commenters had strong opinions. u/Manaphy12 cited Season 2's "Let It Be," where Savannah (Arija Bareikis) decides to have her breasts, uterus, and ovaries removed after testing positive for the breast cancer gene.

It's an intense situation, but Savannah has plenty of good reasons for making such a tough choice. Her mother died of ovarian cancer, and her aunts had similar diagnoses. However, u/Manaphy12 felt "Izzie and the patients [sic] husband were awful in this episode."

Husband Weiss (Joseph Lyle Taylor) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) both protest Savannah's decision, with Derek even entering the surgery room to discuss it. Izzie (Katherine Heigl) also tells Savannah that if it was her choice, she'd take her chances and fight the cancer.

Weiss at least comes to Savannah's surgery and holds her hand. But u/choiceshoee still thought "it was so disgusting how they all treated her, especially Izzie making it about herself for some odd reason 🙄."

Multiple Redditors agree with u/blankpaper_: The show's treatment of Meredith after she sleeps with George (T.R. Knight) in Season 2's "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" is really awful. Everyone blames her for what happened, and Alex (Justin Chambers) even claims Meredith loves to get drunk and sleep with inappropriate men.

u/moonorchid84 writes in contrast about how George deserves more than his share of the blame: "George is so gross for everything that happened and because he's 'the nice guy' he gets away with it." He also told Meredith he was in love with her when she was drunk and emotionally vulnerable, but the show never portrays him as taking advantage; Meredith supposedly "used" him.

Similarly, u/Hufflepuff2001 says "I never understood why we were supposed to take George's side in that. Meredith decided she didn't want to. You're allowed to do that??" Ultimately the show's "slut-shaming" attitude was always problematic, but nearly two decades later, it only looks worse.