When Grey’s Anatomy first began, we were introduced to M.A.G.I.C, the OG interns consisting of Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). They’re the first characters we meet, and they’re the ones who made the show what it is today. And even though almost all have left the show, or met some tragic fate, we still have a soft spot for them – and some more than others. Cristina Yang is without a doubt one of Grey’s Anatomy’s best characters, which made her departure in Season 10 all the more devastating. She may not have met a tragic end like so many other characters, but we still had to say goodbye to her nonetheless. Even though Cristina is a fan-favorite character, there were still moments when fans sort of lost touch with her – though one of those times wasn’t entirely her fault, it was thanks to one of her significant others. If you’re a Grey’s Anatomy fan, it likely comes as no surprise that the significant other in question is none other than Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd). He’s perhaps one of the most divisive characters on the show (though most are in agreement that he kinda sucks), and his relationship with Cristina didn’t serve either of them well. In fact, watching it back you can just tell that their relationship was pretty much doomed from the start. If only the show itself had realized it sooner.
How Did Owen and Cristina Meet?
Cristina, since day one, has always been in a league of her own in comparison to her fellow interns. Where the others are empathetic and warm, Cristina is cold and forward. She rarely hides her feelings and often speaks her mind, even if the truth hurts. As the show went on, and she grew as a character, she did begin to soften, but she still remained the Cristina Yang we know and love at heart. She’s Meredith’s person, a kick-ass cardiothoracic surgeon, and a woman who knows what she wants and refuses to sacrifice it. That is, until she meets Owen Hunt.
Owen makes his appearance in the Season 5 opener “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and though he doesn’t exactly make best friends with the doctors, he makes quite an impression on Cristina, who finds him attractive from the get-go. Her attraction is made all the more strong when Owen saves her after she slips on the ice and is impaled in the stomach with an icicle. She’s not in any immediate danger, thankfully, but Owen still swoops in like a hero and carries her inside to safety and treatment. After much deliberation and traffic in and out of the trauma room, Owen decides to just yank the thing out, and stitch her up quick and easy. It’s during this moment that she finds out from Meredith her patient has died, and so, as Owen patches up her wound, they talk about how she couldn’t save her patient because of one little stitch, and Owen tells her all about being a trauma surgeon and how he himself has made countless mistakes, and that those mistakes are how you learn. It doesn’t make her feel much better about losing her patient, but his wisdom does seem to settle her a little bit, and before he leaves he surprises her with a passionate kiss. He eventually takes the job of Head of Trauma Surgery, which leads to him and Cristina starting a relationship, and it’s here that everything starts to go downhill.
Owen and Cristina Were a Match Made in Hell
OK, perhaps it’s a little dramatic to say they were doomed, but they certainly weren’t destined to be together either. Love is a tricky little thing and often defies all reason, but Cristina and Owen were so different from one another, that it just didn’t make sense why the show was pushing their relationship so hard. When Owen first showed up he was admittedly suave, and charming, and it’s understandable why Cristina was so intrigued by him. But by the time he returns and takes the job as Head of Trauma Surgery, he’s pompous, obnoxious, and incredibly set in his ways. That’s not to say Cristina didn’t act similarly at times, but at least she was likable, Owen just isn’t. Not by the characters and not by fans either. He constantly acts hot and cold with Cristina. One moment he’s flirting and the next he’s sending her mixed signals. It’s eventually revealed that he has PTSD from his time in the army, which is part of the reasoning for his actions, and it leads to some extremely tough moments between them. But that’s not why they didn’t work together. That can be worked through. They didn’t work because Owen constantly wanted to change Cristina, and couldn’t really accept her for her.
There is no doubt that Owen loved Cristina, but he was also in love with the Cristina he had made up in his head and was constantly trying to change her to fit that mold – which was never going to work. They had very different stances on children; Owen wanted them, and Cristina was adamant that she did not. Such a thing was only made more complicated when she became pregnant and told him she wanted to have an abortion. Owen was very much against her decision, and even kicked her out of their home for not letting him have a say in the matter. He eventually agreed, but only after Meredith spoke to him and told him how miserable both Cristina and the child would be if she went through with the pregnancy – but he still wasn’t thrilled with the decision. Their relationship only goes downhill from there, as Owen can’t seem to forgive her, going so far as accusing her of killing their baby. But the whole baby situation wasn’t the first red flag, as Owen proposed to Cristina and married her while she was experiencing PTSD after the hospital shooting. Given that he himself knew firsthand what it was like to have PTSD, you would think he would have been a bit more empathetic and understand that that wasn’t the best time to take a big step in their relationship. But they did anyway, and it contributed to their downfall.
Cristina and Owen’s Relationship Overstayed Its Welcome
Even though they decide to split eventually, it doesn’t change the fact that the show kept them together for far too long. No matter how clearly bad they were for one another, they kept coming back to each other like a magnet. Granted, Grey’s kind of has a habit of doing that with its couples, but rarely are they as mismatched as Owen and Cristina are. They gave things a fair shot, and they were great as friends, but as a couple they were too different and wanted such very different things. Owen wanted a housewife, someone who would have his babies, raise them, and have dinner on the table for him every night. And that was the complete opposite of Cristina, something she was never shy about. It’s part of why her and Burke (Isaiah Washington) split. Though he knew her boundaries and respected them, when they decided to get married he did try and change things about her, and because she loved him so much she went along with it. But after that whole nightmare of a wedding (remember when Meredith announced the wedding was off by saying to the crowd “It’s over. It’s so over.”?) Cristina was a bit more apprehensive in relationships going forward. Owen did the same thing Burke did to her, but on a much larger scale, despite her constantly being vocal about what she wanted.
And the biggest problem of all? Owen’s character started to overshadow her own, and changed her in ways that are disappointing to look back on. She was still the same badass character we know and love deep down, but her relationship woes with Owen started to become her only plot point at some point. She never truly sacrificed who she was at her core, but she did change herself in little ways to better adapt to Owen’s wishes, and it only served to damage her character. It was so great to see Cristina fall in love, and to be genuinely happy with someone (at least, in the beginning), but she wasn’t the same Cristina that fans had once known. The change didn’t entirely discourage fans against her, but it definitely hurt. And though she eventually found herself again, and became a much more evolved and developed version of herself, it is hard to watch the Owen and Cristina seasons back without cringing. We still love her, but the show majorly did her dirty.
