Competition in the real world is entertaining. But, competition in the surgical world is inevitable and necessary. It creates sharks — and surgeons who win Harper Avery Awards. Remember when Alex was an "evil spawn" and all you wanted to see was Meredith beat him with her tiny ineffectual fists?
In this episode, Meredith and Alex have their first real competition with each other when casualties from the Dead Baby Bike Race come rolling through Seattle Grace Hospital. They fight for Viper, a biker who has some pins in his side and wants to get back out on the road as soon as possible. We see inexperienced and full-of-himself Alex Karev brush off Meredith with his overconfident attitude that made him very hard to love early on — good thing he was easy on the eyes. When Alex gets too big for his britches, Meredith makes sure to set him in his place, and Meredith has to end up saving Viper because of Alex's mistake. We didn't know then just how important these two would be in each other's lives. Oh, how "our people" change us. Alex and Meredith have come a long way on such different paths, and Dr. Richard Webber was right when he said, "The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life."
They say our people make us better, but they also make you fight to be better. The theme of this episode screams competition. In Grey Sloan Memorial, there's always enough competition starting from the very beginning. Going into season 15, we hope the competition continues, because it's more exciting with it around!
