‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Cristina Might Have Been a Terrible Doctor, Actually
Medical dramas have been popular for decades, though one show has stood the test of time and continues to enjoy a hearty fan base. Grey’s Anatomy was just renewed for its 18th season, and it has been on ABC since 2005. Many fans of the show continue to rewatch Grey’s Anatomy from the beginning, though it has some fans rethinking the qualities of main characters from previous seasons.
Learn more about one main character from the show, Cristina, why some fans question her attributes as a doctor, and why many want the actress that plays her to return to the show before its conclusion.
Cristina’s time on ‘Grey’s Anatomy
Cristina Yang, portrayed by Sandra Oh, is first introduced as a surgical intern before later becoming a resident, and finally a cardiothoracic surgical fellow. Yang possesses an MD from Stanford and a Ph. D. from the University of California Berkeley, and she decided to become a doctor after a car accident killed her biological father when she was a child.
Christina is one of the main characters on the show, at least through the first 10 seasons. Many fans appreciate the friendship formed between Christina and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) on their first day together, and the bond these characters share is often deemed iconic. This famous friendship was the origin of the term “you’re my person”, when referring to a close confidant or someone who completes you. According to The Washington Post, Christina first tells Meredith she is “her person” after putting her down as an emergency contact, later saying of Meredith, “If I murdered someone, she’s the person I’d call to help drag the corpse across the living room floor.”
Aside from her incredible friendship, Cristina also had her share of interesting romantic relationships throughout the series, including her engagement to Preston Burke, her marriage to Owen Hunt, and more. Cristina is highly intelligent, driven, focused, and has an impressive array of medical knowledge. Despite these positive attributes, some fans don’t think she would actually make a great doctor.
Why some fans don’t think Cristina was a great doctor
Although Cristina is a talented surgeon and hard-working doctor, she is also often described as competitive, cutthroat, and even robotic. Because of her past traumas, Cristina has trouble dealing with her emotions and often comes across as cold and uncaring.
One fan on Reddit created a post about how they don’t believe Cristina would make a good real-life doctor. They say that she has the most knowledge and skills, but that “Patient care, bedside manners, and empathy are very important, and Cristina is lacking in all of those.” The Redditor also remarks that she seems to view her career as a video game, constantly wanting to level up and take on more exciting things, while not seeming to care much for the person she is treating.
Other users chimed in to say that Cristina grew in the areas she was lacking, like empathy and patient care, in later seasons. One fan even states that Cristina’s character seemed to be less hardcore and cutthroat after she returned from her time in Minnesota at Mayo Clinic. After ten seasons on the show, Sandra Oh left the show, and her character relocated to practice medicine in Europe, but many fans still hope she will make a return before the show ends.
Fans want Sandra Oh to return
Since leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Sandra Oh has taken on plenty of ambitious and acclaimed projects, according to IMDb. From 2018 to 2020, she voiced Castaspella in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. In those same years, she played Eve Polastri in the Emmy-winning series Killing Eve, created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The show’s fourth season is set to air in 2022.
Unfortunately, Sandra Oh is not planning to return to the series, despite the hopes of fans. According to Vulture, she told the hosts of the Asian Enough podcast that “I left the show, my God, seven years ago almost. So in my mind, it’s gone… I have moved on.”
If you can’t get enough Sandra Oh, you can also look forward to seeing her in The Chair, which is set to come out later this year, and Umma, which should be released in 2022.
