Scary and damaged

Why write my own post when I can find one online that says what I want to say? Television Without Pity has a great write up of the first scene of the Grey's Anatomy episode I saw last night (I'm a little behind so I'm Netflixing). Before I get to the paragraph, though, here's the setup. This is Meredith's* first voiceover of the episode:

"We all go through life like bowls in a china shop. A chip here, a crack there. Doing damage to ourselves, to other people."

And now on to the main attraction:
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Damage Case
By Keckler | Season 2 | Episode 24 | Aired on 2006.05.07

"So, ah," Meredith huffs at McVettie's** back, "I don't cook." McVettie calmly tells her he doesn't expect her to cook. Mere babbles more crap about not cooking and not expecting him to cook since she doesn't cook until McVettie finally orders her to sit down and shut up by drinking some coffee, "and I want you to try really hard to act like you aren't scary and damaged." Hee -- he saves animals' lives, he cooks, AND he gets Meredith to shut up. She's going to fuck this up, isn't she? Mere prissily insists that she's not scary or damaged. McVettie puts a plate of food in front of her and asks her to tell him about her family. She won't, but avers that her reluctance makes her neither scary nor damaged. McVettie lets that one go and asks about the last guy she slept with. Mere just stares back at his Paul Bunyan-y unshaven face with a frozen smile of "Not going there either."
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And then the voiceover returns:

"The problem is trying to control the damage we've done, or that's been done to us. Sometimes the damage catches us by surprise. Sometimes we think we can fix the damage. And sometimes the damage is something we can't even see."

And now for my own words... Once again, I am relating to television a little too much. Arghh. Does everyone I meet have to be scary and damaged?

* Meredith Grey (also called Mere here) is played by Ellen Pompeo. She's the main character of the show, in case you couldn't tell from her name.
** McVettie is a veterinarian played by Chris O'Donnell. McVettie is taking care of Meredith's sick dog and they have just started dating. She has slept over at his place twice but they haven't even kissed. Sounds like they really like each other, right?


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(11.22.06 Note: My friend Lana has this to say about "bowls" and "bulls" in the "Scary and Damaged" entry you just read...

"The saying is "like a bull in a china shop" and it means someone who is clumsy and who tears shit up. Someone out of place in a delicate setting, who destroys it. Or just a jolting presence, like a bull in a china shop.

"Now, I think people say it wrong, because there are bowls in a china shop. But really, if you think about it bowls in china shops don't have chips here and there, they may, but then they get put out of the china shop and in the back or sold for cheaper.

"Any way you think about the details of what [Meredith] is saying, it doesn't make sense. Bowls in a china shop are probably in good shape, and a bull wouldn't make a chip here and a chip there, but more like knock over an entire shelf. But the bigger point - yeah, we're all damaged - that comes across.

"I think either the writer thought it [was] cute to have her say bowls instead of bulls, or you heard wrong, or the writer doesn't know the saying. In any case, no point analyzing too much - I just remember you like to be correct so I thought I'd tell you."

Thanks for the correction!)