When Kevin McKidd revealed to E! Online recently that his character, army surgeon Owen Hunt, will soon hook up with Cristina (Sandra Oh) on Grey's Anatomy, I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy and upset.  Sure, now that Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) is sort of happy with Derek (Patrick Dempsey), especially since the little dorky Derek dance he did on the last episode, Izzie (Katherine Heigl) looks like she's finally moving on to people who aren't dead, and George (T.R. Knight), well, George will probably have something soon.

As for Cristina, I think it is time for her to move on after Burke (Isaiah Washington) and begin seeing other people again.  Somehow, however, I don't feel like rejoicing for my favorite Grey's character.  I admit, I am a big fan of gloom.  I like gloomy characters because, most of the time, they evoke depth and substance, and Cristina has shown that she can be gloomy and miserable in the most unusual (and lovable) of ways.

(Who can forget the scene where she was harvesting hearts, slicing chests open, while she sang Madonna's "Like a Virgin."  Or her speech to the panel about “it” being “unbearable.”)

On the other hand, during the height of her depression, I can remember a lot of fans who grew tired and dissatisfied with the moping Cristina and admonished her to just wake up and get her old groove back.  I was torn back then.  According to Cristina herself, she's not the type to lie on the floor with her dress on after a heartache (that is, if you can call the love of your life dying after you risked your career and cut a certain wire a mere heartache).  Eventually, she moved on and now it looks like she's on the brink of yet another complicated relationship.

Then there's Hunt.  I am not particularly enamored with Hunt for Cristina perhaps because he is so unlike Burke, and I liked Burke with Cristina (that is, before he ran off and won the Harper Avery award without mentioning Cristina.) Sure, the two look cute together, there appears to be some sexual tension between them, but I don't think they connect in the same way she and Burke connected, i.e., intellectually.  I am not being elitist, but I like to see Cristina with someone who is as intellectually engaged as she is. Then again, Burke had done Cristina unimaginable pain, so going the opposite route might be a better course for Yang.

Then there's Meredith. Sure, they are now fighting, but one of the best things I love about Cristina is her relationship with Meredith. Always, the two admit that they're not “shiny people” and that they don't belong to the “magical place,” otherwise known as the dermatology department. Now that Meredith is happy, and she looks like she will be for a long time, I am counting on Cristina to keep Meredith grounded, like she did on one of the first episodes of this season (before she got impaled by an icicle).

I see Cristina as being to Meredith what Miranda was to Carrie on Sex and the City.  The roles have reversed at some point, such as when Meredith needed to push Cristina to take that plunge and marry Burke so she can get her “happy ending.”

I don't want to deny Cristina a happy love life.  Maybe at the back of my mind, I was just hoping for a Burke clone to make her happy again, with the same profound, cerebral way Burke did.  I just hope she's happy, without losing her edge and being all lovey-dovey. That's just not her; being gloomy is part of her charm.


-Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image Courtesy of ABC)