What is it with Grey’s Anatomy and homosexual-related scandals?! Apparently, Brooke Smith’s character Erica Hahn has been written off the show. If you’ve been keeping up with Grey’s these days, then you know Dr. Erica Hahn and Callie have recently started dating and exploring the whole same-sex relationship lifestyle. Word is, ABC got cold feet on the story arc and not only want it to end, but also want Hahn gone.
EW’s Ausiello reported this tonight: “According to one Grey's source, the suits ‘had issues’ with both the explicit direction Callica was taking (think: undiscovered country, south of the border, etc.) and, more importantly, with the Hahn character in general. Basically, they didn't like her and wanted her gone ASAP.” And it appears they really meant the “ASAP” part. Smith’s last episode is this Thursday. Ausiello spoke with Smith about her departure and she said, “ I'm not written out. My final scene is just me heading to my car. I honestly don't know what happens in the next episode. I heard not much.”
I’m not sure what to make of this. Sure, there’s been some explicit dialogue between Callie and Erica, oftentimes using mildly-disguised analogies when discussing the sex-aspect of their budding romance but I wouldn’t say that it’s all that more explicit than seeing Derek slide Meredith’s undies off in an exam room during the Seattle Grace prom (while Derek’s wife and Meredith’s boyfriend were waiting for them at the big dance) a few seasons back. If anything, I found Callie’s insistence on using fellow doctor Mark Sloan as a guinea pig in an effort to lesbianify herself to be more icky (to use Smith’s word) than anything else that’s been shown with this story arc.
Even putting aside ABC having reservations about such an openly sexual gay relationship on one of their series, what issues do they have with “the Hahn character” (if what Ausiello says is true)? The Hahn side of the story, which portrays a woman discovering something about herself that she never realized existed is probably the best aspect of the arc. It’s a shame they weren’t able to at least give it some proper closure. From the sounds of it, after this Thursday, she’s just gone. Perhaps they’ll go the Burke-route and reference her a few times in future episodes but even though Hahn hasn’t been around as long, much like with Burke’s absence the sudden Hahn-disappearance is going to leave a bit of a hole in the season, at least until the writers can find something else to do with Callie.
