Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Oh Doctor, My Doctor

Tonight's blog is going to feature something a little different. I mean, I debated whether or not to re-cap the ridiculous hour I spent in front of the TV watching that doofus of a Bachelor last night, but I think I've already wasted enough time on him. So with this edition of the blog, I'm going to better acquaint you, my friends, with the characters on Grey's Anatomy, in the hopes that some of you might actually start watching it...And it also gives me yet another excuse to ramble on about my favourite show!

There's a question featured on the Grey's Anatomy official website, asking viewers which doctor on the show they would trust most. Variations of that question are often fired back and forth between Grey's fans: Who would you want to date? Who would you share your deepest secrets with? Who would you like to roll around with in the on-call room? Who would you trust with your life?

So tonight I'm going to do some choosing of my own: Which doctor would I want to be my boyfriend; which doctor would I want to be my best friend; and which doctor would I actually want for my doctor??

To do so, I'm breaking the MD's down into three groups: The interns, the residents, and the attendings. I'll give you all a little insight into each of their characters, and then at the end, I'll tell you which of the three win big with me!

The Interns

Dr. Meredith Grey - As the main focus of the show, Meredith is one of the best future surgeons in the country, but she has her flaws. For one thing, after being jilted by Derek, she slept with half of Seattle in an effort to get over him. She then broke George's heart. And most recently, she broke Finn's heart. Some might call her selfish, but when it comes down to it, Meredith is always there for her friends - like for Cristina, when she lost her baby, and for Izzie, when Denny died. And even for Alex, when he had to study for the medical board exams. Most of the time, she's just sweet little Meredith, and even her enemies (ie: Addison) end up loving her.

Dr. George O'Malley - George is the epitome of the bumbling class nerd. He harboured a deep crush on Meredith, and once they finally slept together, she ended up in tears and George ended up turning forty shades of red. He's sort of like that hurt little puppy dog that you just want to cuddle. That doesn't mean George is a push-over - he's been known to stand up for himself, in the face of the intimidating Dr. Bailey and the cruel Alex Karrev. He may not be handsome in a conventional way, but he grows on me more and more each week. Plus, like Meredith, he's always there when his friends need him, as we saw last week when he blew off a romantic rendez-vous with Callie to comfort Izzie in her time of need. Gotta love him.

Dr. Cristina Yang - Cristina's the one with the edge. She holds people at a distance, and very few get to know the real her. While it may make her a terrific surgeon, it does mean she lacks severly in people skills. However, since her internship at Seattle Grace began, a few people have managed to crack Cristina - such as attending surgeon Dr. Burke, who became her boyfriend, and Meredith, who became her best friend. Cristina is abrupt, she can be rude, and she rarely holds anything back from her colleagues or her patients. But she knows that, and she takes pride it - so one must admire her for that.

Dr. Alex Karrev - Ah, yes...the studly Alex Karrev. One minute, you want to punch his lights out; the next, he flashes that crooked grin, and you're suddenly weak at the knees. While Alex may come off as a real jerk 90% of the time, the softer side of Dr. Karrev has also been glimpsed on occasion - he's extremely good with children, and really seems to connect with them so that they don't feel like they're talking to a doctor, but rather a buddy. And of course, Alex prying his former flame Izzie from her fiancé's lifeless arms after he passed away was perhaps the most bittersweet moment in TV history. I've always been a sucker for the bad boy with the soft heart - that's Alex, all the way.

Dr. Izzie Stevens- It's hard not to love Izzie. She's the blonde bombshell who posed nude to pay her way through med school, but as it turns out, she's got brains to boot. Like the other interns, she has a promising future as a surgeon, but Izzie's downfall is her tendancy to grow personally attached to her patients. Of course, the biggest example was how she fell for heart transplant patient Denny Duquette, who ultimately passed away, now leaving her at loose ends. At the moment, Izzie isn't even in the program anymore, as she took drastic steps to help Denny and when that failed, she was in hot water with the chief of surgery. But she did what she thought was best for the man she loved, and you have to respect that.

The Residents

Dr. Miranda Bailey - She's the one in charge of those wacky interns, and they call her the Nazi for her tough-love approach. But then last season, Dr. Bailey had a baby, and her maternal instincts have softened her a little. At the end of the day, no matter how much her "suck-ups" piss her off, she'll go to bat for any one of them. She can be a bitch, but you can't help but adore her anyway. Now in Season 3, it seems that her interns no longer fear her, but they do as she says anyways, because she has earned their utmost respect and admiration.

Dr. Callie Torres - Introduced in Season 2 as a love interest for George, Callie's the buxsom Latino orthopedic surgeon who was initially detested by the female interns, but even they eventually warmed up to her. She's smart, she's sassy, and she doesn't take any crap from anyone. But beneath that hard shell, she's another one of those softies. Her feelings get hurt when George chooses his friends over her, but she can't help but love him anyways. A real hopeless romantic at heart. But aren't we all?

The Attendings

Dr. Preston Burke - The head of cardiothoracic surgery at Seattle Grace, Dr. Burke is a stern but compassionate man with a kind bedside manner and a strong reputation for being the best of the best. He has a soft spot for Cristina that has resulted in a tumultous relationship between the two of them. Cristina once told him that, just like him, she is a surgeon first, and he returned with, "No, Cristina, I am a human being first." After being shot at the end of Season 2, he's struggling to regain the use of his precious hands, and one has to believe that eventually he will once again be the best of the best. After all, he is Dr. Preston Burke. The name says it all.

Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Sheppard - Gosh darn it, is there a sexier man on TV? In one of the very first episodes, Dr. Sheppard was in surgery with Meredith, who he had just met at the time, and he looked over at her with that whole doctor face-mask thingy on, and you could tell he was smiling. He was those amazing eyes that crinkle at the corners and just light up when he smiles. He has a way with his patients that allows them to trust him completely. He's smooth, he's soft-spoken, he's sweet...he's McDreamy. And yet, he has his faults too. His wife cheated on him, so in turn he slept with Meredith, fell in love with her, and turned her whole life upside down. He struggles to maintain his morals, and most often he's unsuccessful. But at the end of the day, I do believe he and Meredith are soulmates, and he'll eventually figure out how to make it work with her. Their chemistry on-screen is undeniable. And did I mention he's McDreamy?

Dr. Addison Montgomery-Sheppard - Derek's wife, who slept with his best friend Mark, thereby prompting his move to Seattle in the first place. And when she first showed up on the scene, everyone hated her for messing up the whole Der & Mer fantasy world. But as we got to know Addy, it became more and more difficult to hate her. She's the best neo-natal surgeon in her field, and her wonderful way with patients - both mothers and babies - is second-to-none. She tried desperately to make things work with Derek, but it appears she has failed. Her consolation prize? The delicious Mark Sloan. Yep, that's McSteamy. Not bad for second place!

Dr. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan - He's the new kid on the block, a plastic surgeon who was once Derek's best friend until he slept with his wife Addison, and that kind of killed the buddy comraderie. But he's turned up in Seattle now in Season 3 to try and win Addison's heart for good, and in the meantime, he's setting all the girls' hearts a-flutter. Like Addison, he was initially portrayed as a bad guy, but I get the sense he's really a nice guy deep down. We don't know a whole lot about him yet, so it'll be interesting to see what lies in store for McSteamy.

Dr. Richard Webber - Last but not least - he's the chief of surgery at Seattle Grace. That makes him the big boss man. He's trusted, he's respected, he's admired - but he has a few skeletons in his closet that only we, the viewers, know about. He's a recovered alcoholic. He also had an affair with Meredith's mother that resulted in her parents' divorce many years before, but he didn't have the nerve to leave his own wife. However, now, in the very early stages of Season 3, his wife issued an ultimatum for him to give up his workaholic lifestyle or lose her. He chose his work. There's a lot going on with Dr. Webber, but at the end of the day, he's the kind of guy you want to have in charge. After all that he's been through in the two-plus seasons I've seen - from bombs in patients to crazed men shooting up his ER - that man deserves a medal.

OK - so that's all of 'em. And now I get to pick my absolute favourites. It's tough, because I really do love them all. I can find pros and cons for all of them, but at the end of the day, this is who I'd pick for...

My doctor: I'll have to go with McDreamy. Not only is he hot, but he's great with his patients, and I'd love to see those twinkly eyes gazing at me when I wake up from surgery. He's calm and cool in the operating room, and he just seems like a genuine good guy. And his nickname is McDreamy...need I say more?

My best friend: It's a toss-up between Meredith and George, but I'll go with Meredith just because she's a girl and she'd understand more than a guy would. She's got an uncanny way of understanding her friends even when they don't understand themselves. And she always seems to know exactly what they need from her - a stern lecture, or a shoulder to cry on, or just a big bucket of ice cream. The scenes where she, Izzie and George just lie around with each other...they seem so relaxed - I want to hang with them too.

My boyfriend: I left this one til the end, because I'm all about the hot boys. And for this category, I just have to go with Alex. The safe bet would be George, because I know he'd treat me like a queen. But for some reason, I always go for the bad boy with the troubled past. And because I know Alex would protect his girl and take care of her, even though he needs someone to protect and care for him, too. I wanna be that girl. And he may not be McDreamy or McSteamy, but the boy's downright delicious. Plus, when he puts his arms around Izzie and holds her tight, I can almost imagine how good that must feel. Now, mind you, first time I catch him screwing another nurse in the on-call room, he's dead meat!! Ah, who am I kidding - one grin for Alex, and I'd be mush all over again.

I'm not sure, but this may set the record for longest blog yet. And I wrote it all in only half an hour. I love Grey's, I could write about it all day, every day. Anyways, maybe, just maybe, I've intrigued some of you to tune in and see what these characters are all about for yourself, 'cause Lord knows I'd love to have someone to talk to about it all!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!