How long before Richard Webber breaks and can no longer take the fact that he has to submit to Chief Derek’s whims, particularly when Derek still looks so ill at ease as the chief and doesn’t wear his power well?
How long before Richard tires of having to compete with the likes of Owen Hunt, whom he’s fond of saying was “in diapers” when Richard was already doing operations?
How long before Richard reaches his limit of having to accede to things like Derek’s decision to favor Owen’s seat-of-the-pants/non-plan operation plan for a tumor the size of Montana instead of Richard’s well-researched one?
I honestly don’t see what Richard’s other options are, really, unless Derek voluntarily gives up the post of chief (so he can do more surgery), or the hospital’s board ousts Derek in favor of Richard based on Richard’s wealth of experience, unless Richard goes to another hospital, or becomes some major researcher, wins the Avery Award.
As I watched the new Grey’s Anatomy episode “Push,” I also wondered how long until Owen’s real feelings toward Teddy Altman — you know he’s in love with her, seriously — manifest themselves so that more than just Meredith Grey can discern what he’s thinking. Clearly Owen and Teddy have a deep bond, have significant history that binds them together.
When you put that history up against the fact that Cristina Yang has already said she’d pick surgery and learning from Teddy over her relationship with Owen, that she chose to work with Richard instead of helping Owen with the mammoth tumor case, it won’t exactly be a surprise for Owen to, at some point, feel betrayed and long to be cherished in the way in which Teddy would cherish him, particularly if Teddy’s being actively and sincerely courted by someone else.
And how ’bout Callie Torres, Den Mother, huh? Loved seeing Callie embracing her awesomeness, getting past all that awful George/Izzie garbage and the abruptly interrupted Hahn storyline. A confident Callie, combined with a vulnerable-yet-strong/no waxing/no yoga Bailey will always put a smile on my face.
But that twist at the end of the episode, where the ever-cheerful, child loving, heart-on-her-sleeve Arizona Robbins said she doesn’t want to have kids, does not bode well. Not. At. All. I worry that it screams, shrieks actually, of foreshadowing for Callie and McSteamy to pair up and have a kid together, rendering Arizona, Little Grey and Teddy heart-broken (unless Owen snaps Teddy up first).
So, how long before Richard and Owen snap, before Callie and McSteamy decide to have a kid?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Mar 12, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
In answer to your last question, probably 6 weeks or so, or whenever the series ends for the summer. That would be the episode where McSteamy is shown having baby-making sex with some mysterious woman who Shonda will want us to think is Teddy but will be revealed at the last second to be Callie.
As for Richard, he doesn’t deserve his job back after operating DRUNK on a patient, causing him to have liver failure and probably a colostomy bag too. He lost the privilege to critique, just like Mr. Big can’t accuse Nurse Hathaway of infidelity given what he did to her. But I digress. Luckily this isn’t a law show and Richard can’t go start his own hospital somewhere else, so I predict, in true SCRUBS fashion, the creation of Co-Chiefs, putting the two men back on equal fitting, though McDreamy clearly has the better hair.
McSteamy and Teddy have zero chemistry together, so that’s going nowhere. I predict the next man for Teddy is Alex, given his look of something in last night’s episode.
Well, there you have it. My favorite part of all, which I can’t believe you didn’t even mention, was Baily’s excellent rant on prepping of surgical areas for third dates. Whoever wrote that one was dead on and also quite clever, right up there with Master of Your Domain on Seinfeld. And before I bring even more tv shows into this comment, i’m out!
Amy, I disagree. I think the whole surgical area joke was played out way too long. Honestly, I laughed at it at the time, but in retrospect, they played it out just a little too long.
Meredith, I thought it was fun to see Webber working as an attending. We saw the flashback, sure, but to get to where he was, you know he had to step on some backs to get there, and I think we saw some of that mentality today.
How long can he work for Derek is a different story. The thing is, though, I don’t think he can ever be Chief again. I think he’s lost his chance, but watching him like this is pretty fun.