Sat Mar 31, 2007
Like most sages, I'm an aficionado of entertainment. Theater has been my
passion, but in recent years, I've been watching a lot of television as part
of relaxing in the evenings.
I watched a lot of TV as a kid. When I left home in the 1970s, I stopped
watching it almost entirely. I didn't feel I had time for it, and most of it
was schlock anyway. It's important to me to surround myself with quality. If
I read or watch something that doesn't nourish me, it negatively affects me.
I am quick to turn off a show or movie, or stop reading a book, that isn't
well-written and otherwise of high quality.
Fortunately, I feel that we are in a second golden age of television. The
first was in the 1950s, especially in comedy, when great old vaudevillians
like Jack Benny and Sid Caesar had classic shows. (My uncle wrote for Sid
Caesar, along with fellow writers Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Carl
Reiner, Larry Gelbart, and other greats.) The golden era now is more drama
centered, or a combination of comedy and drama, although there is also some
great comedy. I'm sometimes blown away with the quality of the writing I
see--it compares favorably with the better movies. Production values are
also much higher than in the past.
As I watch, I observe the Michael teachings in a variety of ways. One of the
main ones is in how the roles interact, especially romantically. On my web
site (http://summerjoy.com/attraction.html), I posted an article I wrote
about various elements of attraction, include role. There are some
stereotypical combinations, such as scholar/warrior, artisan/sage,
server/king, priest/server, warrior/king, and priest/scholar. I don't mean
to imply that these roles are only attracted to each other; attraction is
complex and multi-faceted. However, you do see some combinations a lot more
than others, and they tend to have a built-in comfort level.
Therefore, when I see characters on television who are clearly certain
roles, I look to see if their romances and other relationships reflect what
one might expect from those combinations. Does the writing reflect the
characters? One show that usually gets it spectacularly right in both
writing and casting is "Grey's Anatomy." I think that's part of its
success--it's the most popular scripted show on television.
A caveat here is that good actors might convince you that they are roles
other than their own. Most often they do that by drawing on essence twin
role (if different), casting, and overleaves. So I'm talking about the roles
of the characters, not of the actors. Still, they often match.
(Note: If you don't watch the show, the following illustrations might not
interest you. And if you think television is frivolous, you might tear your
hair out and wonder what the heck this is doing on a serious Michael
teachings discussion list. You've been warned.)
Here's the cast with my guesses as to the characters' (and sometimes, the
actors') roles, with the actors' names first:
***
Ellen Pompeo--Meredith Grey. Both are obviously artisans. The character is
mature. She's adorable and anchors the show beautifully.
Sandra Oh--Cristina Yang. Sandra is a wonderful comedian and a likely sage,
but her character is a brilliant, emotionally constipated young king, not
played for comedy.
Katherine Heigl--Isobel 'Izzie' Stevens. Again, both obvious artisans. This
show has a lot of artisans. The stereotypical doctor is a priest with a
secondary scholar influence (or, less often, vice versa). However, this show
is about surgeons, and they are often artisans, since there is a great deal
of craft involved, so the characters and casting fit.
Justin Chambers--Alex Karev. His character is an obvious blunt warrior. I
suspect the actor is, too, with perhaps some sage influence. There are also
a lot of warriors on the show. It's set in a hospital that deals with
frequent emergency, non-scheduled surgeries. Warriors are attracted to
intensity and work well under pressure, so this makes sense, too.
T.R. Knight--George O'Malley. Again, both are obvious artisans.
Incidentally, the actor just came out as a gay man; it's interesting to
watch him play a straight character. Many straight men are cast in gay
roles, but not many out gay men play straight parts.
Chandra Wilson--Miranda Bailey. Miranda is an obvious warrior, too.
James Pickens Jr.--Richard Webber. Richard is another warrior. He's mellower
than the other warriors on the show. That could be due to him being the head
of the department and needing to be more diplomatic, or simply being older.
Still, he's very grounded and solid.
Isaiah Washington--Preston Burke. The character is a priest but the actor is
probably a sage/priest. Before he got into trouble using a gay slur toward
T.R. Knight, I'd heard that he's a funny prankster. (Priest could be either
his essence twin and/or casting.)
Patrick Dempsey--Derek Shepherd, aka "McDreamy." His character is a sage but
he's not a stereotypical one. He's more soft-spoken and contained (reserve
mode, perhaps) but he still has charm and a twinkle in his eyes. He has a
lighter feeling than...
Eric Dane--Mark Sloan, aka "McSteamy." Another set of obvious warriors; the
character is young.
Kate Walsh-- Addison Montgomery-Shepherd. A wonderful mature king character
who has become more likeable as we've gotten to know her. I suspect that the
actress is a sage/king.
Sara Ramirez--Callie Torres. Both are obvious warriors. Incidentally, I saw
her on Broadway, where she was a big hit as the Lady of the Lake in
Spamalot.
Kate Burton--Ellis Grey. The character, Meredith's mother, is a clear-cut
young king. The actress, by the way, is Richard Burton's daughter and an
accomplished stage actress.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan--Denny Duquette. Both are obvious, outgoing sages.
Chris O'Donnell--Finn Dandridge. Obvious artisans.
***
Okay, so let's put them together in their relationships.
Meredith and Derek are a typical artisan/sage couple and it works like a
charm. She tried to make it work with fellow artisan Finn, but, although he
was a great guy, he just wasn't "the one." Fellow artisan George had a huge
crush on her but it was like sleeping with her brother for her, and he was
engaging in wishful thinking.
Her mother, Ellis, was an impossibly demanding king who never expressed
approval of her until a marvelous scene in the afterlife when Meredith had a
near-death experience at the same time her mother was passing over.
Ellis had had a long affair with warrior Richard. A comfortable combination,
tender and loyal, without big emotional displays.
Derek used to be married to king Addison. She adored him but he never loved
her as much, and when she had an affair with warrior Mark, Derek ended it.
Mark is crazy about her, but has a hard time being monogamous, not
surprising for a very sexual male high-male-energy warrior. They're trying
out being together, with the caveat that they be celibate for two months.
Viewers are eager to see how this warrior/king combination does with that,
but they do make a lot of sense together, more than Addison and Derek.
Addison also flirted with another warrior, Alex, and that, too, made a lot
of sense, but the writers decided not to pursue that story line because
Addison might be getting her own series and Alex is staying put at Seattle
Grace.
By the way, Seattle Grace Hospital (SGH) has the same initials that I do.
That must be a sign or something.
Artisan George impulsively married warrior Callie, and it's rocky. You do
see a fair number of warrior/artisan couples as a case of "opposites
attract." Warriors ground artisans, and artisans bring spontaneity to
warriors, but it's not easy--the fights tend to be messy, with a lot of
misunderstandings.
Warrior Alex also dated artisan Izzie, with similarly combustible results.
Izzie later fell in love with sage patient Denny, a great fit. He was the
love of her life, but, unfortunately, she killed him. Actually, he needed a
heart transplant and she had a harebrained scheme to move him to the top of
the waiting list that seemed like a good idea at the time. It didn't quite
work out. That's life in the mature soul zone.
George is now wondering if he should be with fellow mature artisan Izzie.
They're best friends, but, if they asked me, I'd tell them to forget it.
They'd be like two helium balloons together bouncing off the ceiling.
Christina and Preston, king and priest, have the most problematic
relationship on the show. He is a romantic, and she decidedly is not. She
admires his mastery (he is her attending physician, and she's an intern, a
no-no from the get-go) but she really doesn't want to be inspired. There are
certainly lessons here for them, but we don't see much joy. She's gorgeous,
but Preston should find a nice server nurse, or a scholar in accounting.
Christina should find a good therapist.
Actually, they all could use some therapy, but then there would be no show.
Or it would be a show about therapy. Not a bad idea, actually.
***
If this all sounds like a soap opera, you're right. It's just very well done
and with fleshed-out characters you care about. As you can see, I'm really
into this. What can I say? I have no life. :) I'm going to write more about
shows I love, but this gets the conversation started.
Best,
Shepherd
