Those familiar with the busy halls of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital know that this is a place where bad things happen fairly often. People stroke out after getting new hearts, they shove their hands into body cavities to stop bombs, they get hit by buses, they get held hostage, they're electrocuted; and then there are the actual medical issues that destroy your emotional stability and make you very wary of Web MD.
Over the course of 10 seasons, GREY'S ANATOMY creator Shonda Rhimes has proven that she is not afraid to take plot risks. She is the George R. R. Martin of the prime time television community; daring you to get comfortable with any of the hit show's characters, because she could kill or write them off at any point.
This last season had its fair share of goodbyes, whether the characters left the show alive or dead. The most important, to me, was the exit of original series star, Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). Her character had accepted a position as the head of cardiothorassic surgery at a hospital in Switzerland.
Yang's assumption that she was basically the best doctor at Grey Sloan Memorial could've made her character unlikeable. Her acerbic wit, brutal honesty and unflinching intellect, made her a force. However, through her interpersonal relationships - both failures and successes - Yang became a character I rooted for. Her friendship with Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) should be the stuff of legends. Though rocky and often overwrought with drama (it
is prime time television after all), their's was a bond that could not be broken. There's beauty in that alone.
If you follow GREY's rumors online, then it was no secret that Yang was leaving the hospital at the end of this season. Even though I knew that, I was not ready. I actually put off watching the season finale for weeks because I was terrified of what trainwreck was coming my way.
In the end, even Yang seemed hesitant to say goodbye. She was saying it nonchalantly, but she was still at the hospital, still sleeping with her kinda-sorta ex, still tossing late night drinks back with Meredith. In the last episode, her leaving was more of an extra plot tossed into a sea of a frantic finale. There were pregnancy announcements, explosions, terrorist threats that weren't terrorist threats, racial profiling, talks of moving to DC, fights about moving to DC, Board seats being dangled around, missing children, new half-sisters (really, didn't we kind of do that already?), and, oh yea, Yang was leaving.
For all the promises of a heartbreaking goodbye, it really wasn't. Maybe there's something clever in not giving us what was expected, but I was disappointed. I had put off watching it. I was finally ready for my ugly cry. There were some hugs, some fake out exits, a little "dancing it out" to Tegan and Sara, and then a through-the-glass nodding goodbye with Owen (Kevin McKidd). Yang gets a parting gift when Dr. Shane Ross (Gaius Charles) asks to go to Switzerland with her.
We get to see her in her Swiss office, looking very posh and glam, side swept hair and freshly pressed white coat. As a door closes, we see her impressive new title and get to say goodbye to Dr. Cristina Yang, but I felt empty. Maybe this was just the sadness of bidding adieu to someone I'd watched for so long, but I didn't feel shaken or stirred as promised by executive producer Tony Phelan
this tweet posted in March.
Nevertheless, we have about a thousand other characters left on the show to fill my Sandra Oh-sized void, and the upcoming season has many new questions to answer:
Who will get Yang's open seat on the board, now that both Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) both think they've got it? What fresh hell did the writers create when they revealed that newcomer, Dr. Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary) is Meredith's half-sister and Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.)'s daughter? What will happen to our McDreamy couple? Will Derek (Patrick Dempsey) move to DC without his family? Will Meredith shine bright like the sun?
According to sources (read: Google), Season 11 should offer up some new faces, including Geena Davis (COMMANDER IN CHIEF) and Annet Mahendru (THE AMERICANS). How involved these characters will be has yet to be revealed.
The doors to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital reopen Thursday, September 25 at 8pm/7pm central on ABC, and I will be here all season, so check out the Official Preview below, and check back with me after every episode.
Photo Credit: ERIC MCCANDLESS | ABC
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