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After the fall finale of Grey’s Anatomy, fans have a lot to say about Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) and Catherine Fox’s (Debbie Allen) storyline. None of the comments from fans are positive. Let’s take a look and see why fans are so outraged at the two doctors right now.

James Pickens Jr., Ellen Pompeo, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson and Debbie Allen
James Pickens Jr., Ellen Pompeo, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson and Debbie Allen | Jessica Brooks via Getty Images

Richard and Catherine have serious marriage problems

The root of Richard and Catherine’s marital problems began at the end of season 15 when Richard was fired from Grey-Sloan hospital for being a part Meredith’s insurance fraud. Bailey fired Richard; however, Catherine did not do anything to help save his job. 

Richard holds a grudge, and Catherine is not helping matters. We are now nine episodes into season 16, and things between the couple are worse than ever before. Catherine assumes that Richard is cheating on her with an old friend, Gemma (Jasmine Guy). He’s not cheating, but he’s not doing anything to help Catherine believe him.

“The Richard/Catherine marriage problems storyline is so aggravating to me,” wrote one fan on Reddit. “From Catherine’s point of view, I understand that she doesn’t want to face it, and she keeps running. But from Richard’s point of view, he should be texting, calling, and chasing after her if nothing is actually going on.”

“Yes, Catherine did not fight for his job, and he’s still upset, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s your marriage, and now your wife thinks you’re having an affair. If you’re not having an affair and it’s all just innocent friendship, then you would be trying harder to tell your wife that,” the Redditor believes.

Fans think Richard is playing the victim for far too long

In the season 16 fall finale, Catherine goes looking for her husband over at Pac-North. A receptionist mistakenly tells her that Richard is busy in his office with his wife. This interaction sets Catherine over the edge, and now she is sure that he is cheating on her. However, he doesn’t do anything to deter her from thinking that. She leaves town, and he doesn’t try to stop her.

“Yes,” agrees one fan. “Richards like, ‘meh, my wife is leaving town, and I didn’t even know she was in town. Whatever. Ok, Gemma what were you saying?'”

He couldn’t even bother to give her a call,” added another Redditor. “That’s how much he cares about fixing the current rift. Part of me thinks he’s just acting like the victim and being so nonchalant about the whole Gemma thing because he wants to get back at Catherine for not having his back with his job.”

Fans feel they are both in the wrong and need to resolve things or get a divorce already

“There’s a lot of anger in both of them,” one fan observed.

“Richard needs to stop avoiding his wife,” added another fan on Reddit. “Catherine should talk to her husband, yes. But Richard knows exactly why Catherine is pissed at him, and he isn’t doing anything to try to say hey this isn’t happening. He just sits and still hangs out with the woman who Catherine doesn’t trust. Come on, Richard. This isn’t all on Catherine.” 

“The lack of communication is just, Ugh,” added one more Redditor. “At least we got one positive thing out of it—the intern sassing Catherine for trying to use her name as power and just not having it with her in general.”

Neither party is in the right here. Catherine needs to apologize for not talking to Bailey on his behalf. Richard needs to get over his anger and call his wife. Or, if they are going to go on like this, maybe we will see a divorce. Either way, we won’t see anything until Grey’s Anatomy returns on Jan. 23, 2020. 

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