ABC’s popular Grey’s Anatomy boldly addressed a myriad of domestic violence issues in their 98th and 99th episodes as a prelude to May sweeps.Early in tonight’s episode, an ambulance arrived with a man who had been shot multiple times (I can’t remember if it was 17 or 25). . .by his young daughter. . .who used his target practice gun to protect her mother from further domestic violence.  The tot asked Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) why he hadn’t died.  He should have died she thought give the number of times she shot him.

When her mother suggested the little girl apologize to her daddy before his surgery, Meredith went off on her.  She chastised the mother for failing to protect her daughter.  In turn, the Chief (James Pickens, Jr.) went off on Meredith for verbally abusing a woman who had sought sanctuary at their hospital.

This was followed by a war of words between Meredith and the Chief about boundaries.  In the end, we learned that Meredith was the psychologically neglected and abandoned daughter of a narcissistic, driven mother.  The Chief apologized to her for failing to have the courage to serve as her guardian angel and Enlightened Witness.*

The mother and daughter seized the father’s recovery time in the hospital to flee.

In an earlier episode, a vet-trauma surgeon Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) had a PTSD episode during which he nearly strangled his lover, Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh).

Tonight’s episode closed with Hunt’s acknowledgement that he is incapable of having a healthy intimate relationship with Yang.

This site is almost at the 1300 visitor mark.  I think it is time for y’all to start sounding off with your comments.  What did you think of tonight’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy?  I’m doing a happy dance that a network other than Lifetime addressed domestic violence and child abuse during prime time.

*An Enlightened Witness is an adult person who acknowledges for a child that abuse is inappropriate behavior and attempts to shield the child from further abuse or neglect.  For those of you who don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith’s late mother was a surgeon who had an affair early in their careers with the hospital’s chief of staff.  Meredith has been obsessed all season with reading her mother’s journals to try to understand her.  Tonight she packed up the journals to give them to the Chief.

Orcas Island is one of the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound near Seattle. . .the setting for Grey’s Anatomy.  The gray whales are migrating now.  In a few weeks, we’ll be able to see the orcas from the shore of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.