Farewell Christina

Member of the Family

People spend a lot of time watching TV, it long having been the primary entertainment medium for the vast majority of folks. Investing in a series, be it dramatic, comedic or some form of the new reality is over a period of time that can be as short-lived as a season or last for many years. When a character like Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) is about to leave a long-running series such as Grey's Anatomy, which has played weekly in the living rooms, family rooms and bedrooms of faithful viewers over a 10-season period, there exists among those viewers a sadness and true sense of loss. Although arguably simplistic and maybe bit delusional to liken the event to real loss like a death in the family, it is loss nonetheless.

The relationship between a viewer and the characters they have come to know over time is a serious one, sustained by solid writing and other factors that allow characters to grow and become more human, even in the context of a fictional narrative. Such growth strengthens the connection with viewers who, over time, feel as if those they see on the screen are part of a collection of folks they know.

Mourning Becomes Electra

So no more Christina Yang, huh? And on her last episode, she gets to do the opening narration, usually reserved for Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), unless she or some other important character is either circling the drain or in the midst of a major story arc. When the season is over and Christina Yang sightings are reserved for party or private Grey's Anatomy on Netflix binge watching events, there will be a period of mourning among the Grey's faithful. Oh yeah, there'll be moments of wailing and gnashing of teeth followed by "why did she have to leave?" followed by much curiosity and guesses about what the producers plan to do to fill in the huge gap created by Sandra Oh's departure.

Thanks for the Memories

Perhaps at some point Oh will sit and take stock of her work over the past 10 years and while doing so, wonder how that work has been perceived. Perhaps also while taking stock, the actress will happen upon some of the many fine pieces written about the show and about her character and she will learn that there are thousands upon thousands of faithful members of the Grey's Anatomy audience who have truly grown to love her character's extraordinary presence and considerable contribution to the show they also love. If so, then perhaps also might she get that she is so very much appreciated for a fine body of work. Thank you, Sandra Oh, for 10 seasons of Dr. Christina Yang. She will be missed.

With No Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy Will Just Be Gray

A Whole Season to Prepare

Sure, we knew at the end of last season, or at least by the beginning of this one that Sandra Oh had announced her departure from the venerable series at the end of its tenth season. Sure we've had 22 or 23 episodes to get used to the idea. Still, it kinda stinks that Dr. Christina Yang will no longer be among the ranks of our doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial f/k/a Seattle Grace.

Top 10 Moments . . . Not!

I was all set to spend a few hours of happy research via Netflix or Hulu Plus reviewing past seasons and episodes of  Grey's so as to create a definitive list of the best Christina Yang moments on the show. So as to give new, potential and reluctant viewers a guide to the cream of the GA crop, season and episode numbers complete with summaries was a plan that never came to fruition and was tearfully scrapped. The tears, however, were not bad tears or even really sad tears. What inspired the waterworks and prompted their downward journey from my eyes to places unknown was the gallery of pictures presented by TV Guide.com featuring Sandra Oh's Grey's Anatomy costars providing commentary on the actress's imminent departure.

Sandra Oh's Co-Stars Farewell Love Letter

Oh do they love her -- and we do too!

The only other time I've heard people speak so very highly of a celebrity was on an episode of Biography featuring Don Knotts, the laughably hapless Barney Fife of the Andy Griffith Show. He was so well liked by all who spoke, I wanted to meet the guy myself. Well, the same goes for Sandra Oh, whose Grey's Anatomy co-stars were so complimentary and enamored of her personally and professionally, that in my book, she is even higher than the highest heights, reserved for artists whose work I will receive no matter what.  You see, I already have placed her character near the top of my list of the 10 most outstanding of prime time television's best dramatic characters ever. After reading what Ellen Pompeo, Kevin McKidd, Justin Chambers and others of Oh's Grey's Anatomy colleagues have said of her presence, her impending departure and her person, I daresay that Miss Oh is someone with whom I would love to have a beer -- and I rarely drink beer!

Thanks for the memories!

Until motivated by some future Grey's storyline to imagine what Christina Yang would do in a similar situation or recall enough of what I've experienced by watching the series in its entirety at least three times, I'm happy to remember the one when she and Mer became each other's person, the one when she collapsed in the OR from a pregnancy gone awry, the one with the icicle which introduced Owen Hunt, the one when she softly told the

doctors to try again to revise Meredith and then forcefully ordered them to when they hesitated. I'll also remember the first time she referred to George as "Bambi", first called Alex "Evil Spawn" and almost tearfully asked Chief Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) to tell her what he does to keep his edge. The upside is, if I really get to missing double Doctor Christina Yang, I have somewhere around a deuce and a quarter’s worth of episodes with which to console myself.

Colors, Good Luck and Godspeed

I predict that Season 11 episodes of Grey's Anatomy without Sandra Oh will sort of give me the blues, at least in the beginning. With all due respect and admiration for Shonda Rhimes and the other writers, I’m guessing that plot lines may be fuzzy and not so black and white. In fact, I’m willing to bet that in a few episodes, gray will be the predominant color, at least in underlying, unstated mood. So while the doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial are awash in their navy and light blue scrubs, the hardworking actors going on with the show, the actress who for 10 seasons was Christina Yang has a golden show business future, and I plan to watch her in anything she chooses to do. Break a leg, Sandra Oh and thanks for 10 seasons of character extraordinaire!

A Happy Ending For Grey's Anatomy's Dr. Christina Yang

Calling Dr. Yang --

Somebody must be desperate because our Dr. Christina Yang (Sandra Oh), a Grey's Anatomy regular season 1, episode 1 and the most driven heart surgeon prime time has seen since St. Elsewhere's Dr. Mark Craig (William Daniels), is leaving the halls of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital on one of the last episodes to air before the season 10 finale.  The upside is that Dr. Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), the man/heart surgeon extraordinaire to whom Christina was set to wed in the last episode of season 3, is returning to the hospital after seven l-o-n-g years leaving viewers to wonder will she? or won't she?

Didn't We Almost Have It All?

Ever since she held in her hand the heart of her dying father, Christina Yang aspired to be a surgeon. Not just any surgeon, mind you, but a cardio-thoracic surgeon with extraordinary skill. Yang's aspirations were fulfilled in the 226 episodes on which the character was prominently featured. When she was to marry, she did so dragging her feet to show up to perform the many pre-wedding tasks

The Eyebrowless Dr. Yang

insisted upon by her groom-to-be and his mother (Diahann Carroll), including the grooming of her eyebrows -- which somehow disappeared hours before the scheduled nuptials. When her appearance down the aisle was delayed near the end of the season 3 finale, Burke let Christina off the hook for the marriage, left her at the church and vanished from the scene, from the hospital and from the show.

The 'Oops' Which Changed the Series

Dr. Preston Burke

In real life, Isaiah Washington put his foot in his mouth by inappropriately "outing" costar T.R. Knight (Dr. George O'Malley) at public events attended by Grey's Anatomy cast members. The outrage that ensued following Washington's comments seemed to put Executive Producer Shonda Rhimes in the uncomfortable position of having to discharge Washington, thereby depriving audiences of one of the show's most promising characters and story lines. Knight hung around for two more seasons until leaving the series after George was killed by a bus in Now or Never, the season 5 finale.

Dr. George O'Malley

We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together

Dr. Preston Burke's return on episode 22 of the venerable series' 10th season is the cherry on top of Yang's sweet, rich ride as one of television's best characters EVER! Whether or not the couple reunites to satisfy the most romantically-inclined of Grey's legion of loving fans is secondary to the fact that the core group of characters who have kept the series popular and relevant for 225 episodes will no longer be graced by the oh-so-expressive Sandra Oh, whose beautifully-expressive face speaks volumes without her ever having to open her mouth. Hopefully, the cherry represented by Burke's return will allow for Christina the happy ending she so richly deserves, particularly since she was gypped out of the prestigious Harper Avery award that should have been hers.

A Guest Shot Perhaps?

As the series continues at least for a few more seasons, the chance to get a glimpse of Christina again does not seem far-fetched. While we do not begrudge Oh the opportunity for other acting gigs, we will surely miss Yang's surgical expertise, the support she provides to her colleagues (even the ones she despises), her on call room antics with ex-husband Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and her friendship to Meredith, Alex and Callie (Ellen Pompeo, Justin Chambers and Sara Ramirez). If we're lucky, Yang will be called to perform heart surgery on one of Grey's major characters and we'll see her again at Grey Sloan Memorial. We can hope so anyway because like Dr. Yang, we deserve a happy ending too!

Grey's Anatomy Bids Adieu to Sandra Oh

The Doctors of Seattle Grace 

There was the chief of surgery, the head of cardio-thoracics and the neuro god, top-notch medical professionals whose concern for their patients was on par with the focus directed upon the interns who they would teach. From the larger group, there were five, managed by Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), the diminutive but mighty third-year resident surgeon also known as "The Nazi," whose intensity and insistence on professional excellence and hard work struck fear in her subordinates as well as in many of her superiors. Her charges, five young interns, were all bonded by the desire to learn, to heal, to cut, and the challenge to make it through the rigorous five year surgery program at Seattle Grace Hospital despite the dire prediction made by Chief of Surgery Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) that many from the larger group of neophyte surgeons in which they were included would ultimately fail.  

The Inevitability of Change

Much has changed in the seasons since Dr. Webber’s welcome speech in the pilot episode of Grey's Anatomy, ABC's resident medical drama, starring Ellen Pompeo as the titular character Dr. Meredith Grey. The five (including Dr. Grey) at the show’s original center of focus are now three -- one having had his life cut short, the other having begun hers anew someplace else after nearly losing a battle with a type of cancer that kills 95 percent of those who contract it. The three who remain are now former interns who have become bona fide well-trained surgeons with different surgical specialties. Two are post-doctoral fellows. Two are part owners of the hospital, members of its governing board and survivors of a horrific plane crash which claimed the lives of two fellow surgeons and permanently maimed another. One is an attending physician who has followed in the famous footsteps of her mother. All are complex, compassionate, credible individuals, television characters who because of the brilliance of the series’ creator Shonda Rhimes, have carved for themselves an indelible impression upon the hearts of viewing audiences.

The Unflappable Dr. Yang

Sandra Oh has for 10 seasons portrayed Dr. Christina Yang, the hard core cardio-thoracic surgeon and one of the original five whose trajectory into her chosen profession was launched from personal tragedy and loss.  As a character, Christina is about as multidimensional as they come – hard and unflinching, brutally honest and straightforward without the least measure of hesitation or remorse in her delivery of unpleasant news. She can also be compassionate, empathetic and hurt to the point that her face literally melts into sadness, her tears forging a reluctant path downward. Although she will be sorely missed, it is understandable that the Dr. Christina Yang, Ph.D. who is beloved by series devotees has worlds to conquer outside of and well away from the confines of Seattle Grace/Seattle Grace Mercy West/Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.  And perhaps Sandra Oh, the real person behind the character, wants to do something else too. 

An Unbreakable Bond

Perhaps too will Yang be missed by her colleagues, primarily Meredith Grey who for 10 years has been her person, the ‘twisted sister’ on whom she has come to rely. Their bond was forged in the elevators, patient rooms, nurses stations, on-call rooms and OR’s which exploded, flooded, became toxic and were besieged by a gunman with nothing left to live for will never break, even as their paths take very different directions. Farewell Dr. Yang. Good luck, and Godspeed.