Richard Webber has painted himself into a damn scary corner. What purpose does he serve? What role can he play? A teacher, maybe.… An administrator, certainly. But he’s a doctor no more. I mean, I know I don’t want someone who was once a great surgeon — and now nicks bile ducts without even noticing — walking into an O.R. where I’m on a table. The bigger question, however, is where does this story go?
By no means am I saying that the Chief can’t overcome his alcoholism again. Independent of this illness, the man has always seemed to have the kind of strength of character that is critical to that type of recovery. There’s a pretty big distinction, though, between a personal comeback and a professional one. From my perspective, there’s no way he can continue in his job for much longer.
The Chief is not the only person who can’t keep going the way they’re going. It’s pretty much a theme in every one of the story arcs this week (except for the awesomeness that is Arizona and Callie). Mark and Lexi? Done. Alex and Izzie? Well, that separation just got a lot closer to final. Bailey is back in early-series form. Teddy looks like she’s on her way out (all real-world evidence to the contrary). Worse of all (or best of all, depending on your point of view) is Derek and Meredith having a real, grown up marital problem. The kind of problem that isn’t the end of the world, but the type that they will be able to work together to fix and become stronger because of it.
They’ve all got problems. Izzie will be back, Teddy will stay in Seattle, and Mark isn’t welcome in LA. But nobody’s got problems like the Chief does. He’s got a big mountain to climb, and will never get the support he truly needs without opening up to his friends. Once he does that, however, I think you’ll be able to measure the length of his career with an egg timer.
Other observations:
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Jan 15, 2010 @ 00:28 EST5EDT
