By Lisa DiCarlucci
Regular watchers of "Grey's Anatomy" may not have realized that when Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) walked to her car at the end of last week's episode, it would be the last time they would see her. According to Entertainment Weekly and several other news sources, the decision to write Dr. Hahn off the show was made mid-September and is now put into place.
It has been rumored that the decision to get rid of Smith's character did not come from writer Shonda Rhimes, but from the ABC network higher-ups. Executives were allegedly uncomfortable with the direction that the relationship between Erica Hahn and Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) was being handled. Rhimes released a statement saying that "[Smith] was obviously not fired for playing a lesbian." There may have been controversy, however, over the explicitness of the fictional relationship, with the writers scripting lines like "going south of the border."
The overall sentiment from ABC in regards to Smith's dismissal was that the plotlines were bound to fizzle out fast, and that they did not see her staying power. Dr. Hahn was not typically a crowd favorite, and her relationship with Callie, though noble in its merits to portray a lesbian relationship on network television, provided more awkwardness to the show than anything else. Neither character ever seemed comfortable with the script.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Smith explained that her firing was very sudden. "I was really, really shocked." She described, "I was floored when they told me [I was being let go]. It was the last thing I expected. In fact, when they told me I asked, "When is this happening?" And they said, "The [next episode] is your last."
Dr. Hahn does not actually make a clear exit from the show. Last week's episode ends with her and Callie having an argument and her walking to her car. While the episode did hint at Hahn having moral issues with the policies of Seattle Grace Hospital, her permanent departure is never indicated. How this is explained in the next episode should be interesting.
A new doctor will be joining Grey's Anatomy in the next episode, Dr. Virginia Dixon played by Mary McDonnell. She plays a top cardiac surgeon and therefore may be the replacement for Brooke Smith. McDonnell, at the moment, is only signed on for three episodes, but in this business, those things are never set in stone. Dr. Dixon will add a new element to the show as she suffers from Asperger's Syndrome.