Amelia Really Needs A Win On 'Grey's Anatomy'

Grey's Anatomy, you are making me nervous. For the past several episodes, the series has been building up the crazy intense surgery Amelia's about to perform to remove Dr. Herman's inoperable tumor and save her life, and on this Thursday's episode, the day is finally here. I'm hoping she pulls through for the obvious reasons — I like Dr. Herman's character, and haven't we had enough sad stuff this season? — but last week gave me another reason to root for Amelia. Like Meredith, Amelia is struggling to separate herself from Derek Shepherd in pursuit of becoming an amazing surgeon of her own merit. And for that reason, I think it's vitally important that this surgery is successful. Amelia needs to save Dr. Herman on Grey's Anatomy to prove she can be a great surgeon without Derek's help. Plus, her success would bring a giant dose of girl power that the show could really use right now.

I'm not surprised that living in Derek's shadow has been a problem the surgeons have faced before. He gets all the challenging surgeries because he's the fancy brain doctor, and even though he's shown teaching others, no one else is ever really trusted to operate as much as he is. In the cardio department, there have been the show's Cardio Gods, but Cristina was always allowed to operate once she mastered a technique. I don't see it being the same with Derek, so it's no surprise that, as his sister, Amelia's feeling very overshadowed. And even worse, Meredith, as his wife, has to deal with her career taking the backseat to all of his accomplishments, even when she helped make them happen. And that bothered her so much that Derek now lives across the country.

It's disappointing that fellow surgeons would ask Amelia to get Derek on the case — especially Callie, who knows what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated field — and I don't blame Amelia for feeling insulted by it. Asking for his advice? Yeah, that couldn't hurt, but having him fly home to help her with the surgery? Unecessary. Amelia's got this.

Amelia is definitely capable of performing this surgery without Derek's help, and I hope we get to see her show that to everyone in Thursday night's episode of Grey's Anatomy. After that, she would basically be unstoppable, so don't be surprised if the White House comes calling because they realized they offered the wrong Shepherd a job.

Image: Nicole Wilder/ABC