shannon lucio grey's anatomy the o.c.

We Must Discuss This Actress Who Ruined All Our Favourite ’00s TV Shows

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As someone who lives alone in Australia’s lockdown capital Melbourne, 2020 was a surreal experience to say the least.

Stage four lockdown restrictions were enforced in August, and meant that I couldn’t see my friends or family, or have any company whatsoever, so I decided I had to do something with my time — something that mattered! I had many hours of being confined to my home ahead of me, so I elected to live permanently on my couch and binge some of my most beloved TV shows.

I was a woman on a mission — a mission to watch a lot of television.

I started by rewatching The O.C., convinced that a bunch of rich teens living in coastal California would be sure to keep my spirits high. In the early stages of lockdown, I was still optimistic and full of hope for the future, and The O.C. was just the right amount of frivolous drama, paired with hot men in band tees, and pretty women wearing Keds. As lockdown showed little sign of being lifted any time soon, I stopped watching before Marissa died because I didn’t need any more negativity in my life.

Next, I began rewatching True Blood, a much darker show, but again reflective of my mood as stage four became less of a novelty, and more of a nightmare. Vampires. Werewolves. Fairies. It has it all. While at first True Blood provided the ideal escape from reality, for anyone who has watched this show, it gets increasingly bad as it goes on, so I had to quit after season 5.

Finally, I found my sweet spot when I began rewatching Grey’s Anatomy. This show was nothing short of a phenomenon throughout the ’00s and it turned out to be the ultimate coronavirus accompaniment. The medical drama made me feel much better about my current circumstances, as I watched almost every beloved character on that show become diseased or die in a freak accident.

I was enjoying the early seasons but things took a turn when George died, after he got hit by a bus while attempting to save a woman’s life. This would be upsetting enough in itself, if it weren’t for the woman in question. I had seen her before, in fact, I hadn’t stopped seeing her since I began my lockdown TV quest.

THIS BITCH.

Shannon Lucio The O.C. Grey's Anatomy

The actress’ name is Shannon Lucio and, while I have nothing against her personally, during lockdown I cursed the day she was born. She has plagued me. She was everywhere. And she left nothing but destruction in her path.

First, she burst onto the scene in season two of The O.C. as Caleb’s lovechild Lindsay. She was introduced as Ryan’s rather rude and moody study partner and they eventually began dating. This was around the time that Ryan returned from Chino and viewers presumed that he would get back together with Marissa. But nope. Lindsay was in the way. Lindsay sucked.

Lindsay became one of the most hated characters on The O.C. and for good reason.

Next up, I was minding my own damn business trying to enjoy True Blood and guess what:

SHE’S BACK!

And pointing a gun, no less! This time, she’s playing Bill’s wife Caroline from before he turned into a vampire — and she’s equally annoying as she was as Lindsay, but this time with much more screaming. In a flashback episode, Bill returns to her as a vampire after the Civil War to find that their son Thomas had died from the pox.

When Caroline realises that her husband is a vampire, she screams at him and shoots him. This moment was a turning point for Bill, who realised he had to leave his human life behind and embrace being a murderous vampire. I get that in those days, any sign of supernatural occurrences was the sign of the devil, but you’d hope that Caroline would have heard her husband Bill out first, rather than scream hysterically in his face.

She needs to chill TF out, which leads me to her next appearance…

HERE SHE IS AGAIN.

shannon lucio grey's anatomy the o.c.

While she was annoying as Lindsay, and extremely grating as Caroline, nothing compares to this actress’ short stint on Grey’s Anatomy as bus crash survivor, Amanda. She arrives at Seattle Grace at the bedside of John Doe, telling the surgeons that the man stepped in front of a bus to save her life. We eventually find out that it’s in fact George, who was injured so badly he was unrecognisable and doesn’t survive the accident.

I’m not saying that Amanda should have been hit by the bus instead of George… I’m just saying that Amanda should have been hit by the bus, instead of George. Does that make sense?

Even if it was George’s time to die, Amanda’s behaviour after his death was just so damn annoying. She was hysterically crying at his funeral, sobbing so loud that Izzie, Meredith, Cristina, and Alex eventually left the ceremony early to get away from her.

OMG PLS STFU.

Shannon Lucio The O.C. Grey's Anatomy

Then she started stalking the hospital, sitting out the front every day. In the end, Izzie snapped and told her she needed to move on and live her life, as George can’t live his. Thankfully, we never saw her again.

The nightmare was over.

As Melbourne eases restrictions and my weekends are no longer filled with hours of couch time and yelling at my television, “LEAVE ME ALONE, DEVIL WOMAN!!!”, I’ll always tie my struggle with living through lockdown to my hatred for Shannon Lucio for ruining all my favourite TV shows.

Thankfully, the actress hasn’t starred in any TV shows since 2018, so at the very least this woman can’t make the 2020s any worse.