‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Hahn’s gone

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After a flurry of headlines, Brooke Smith departed “Grey’s Anatomy” last night in a twist that -- no kind of about it -- was not worthy of her formidable talents or the unapologetically steely character she played.

To recap, the Dr. Erica Hahn exit went down like this: After learning that her patient was the man who should have gotten the heart Izzie stole for true love Denny eons ago, Erica lost it -- first with the Chief, who had failed to report or fire the little organ thief, then with girlfriend Callie, who sided, inexplicably, with Izzie. The same woman who, not so long ago, carried on an affair with hubby George, an indiscretion that ultimately led to the painful demise of her marriage. But hey, bygones, right? After all, there’s a character to abruptly shove out the door.

Before Erica cruised out of the Seattle Grace parking lot one final time, though, she delivered a parting shot, telling Callie that she couldn’t “kind of” be a lesbian. Callie’s response? “Yes, I can.” How the issue of Callie’s sexuality will be dealt with now that the only known gay character on “Grey’s” is gone remains to be seen.

From perusing your comments, I know not everyone was a Callica fan. But I thought the two women, who seemed to have it together professionally but were still trying to figure it out romantically, had a zingy chemistry that was worth developing. At least when Callie wasn’t freaking out to the point of hitting up Mark Sloan for sexual pointers. (Ick factor: 10.) But it seemed like the writing was on the wall last week for “Grey’s” first significant same-sex couple. There was Callie, still sleeping with Mark. And there was Erica -- who just a few weeks before had been upset to find out that Callie had been filling Mark in on the intimate details of their relationship -- having practically nothing to say when she learned that her girl was actually having sex with him. If, as has been reported, the decision to fire Brooke Smith was, in fact, ABC’s and not executive producer Shonda Rhimes’, I’d like to think the writers were directing some of Erica’s final lines at the suits: “There’s right and there’s wrong. And this was wrong.”

Tension ran thick throughout the rest of the episode as well. Izzie got ghostly -– again -- with Denny. (I’ve said my bit about wishing the guy, dimple-cute though he may be, could RIP already. But now I’m wondering if perhaps his enduring presence is leading to something more significant like, say, an Izzie descent into madness and/or a possible Katherine Heigl departure?) Lexie showed off a previously unseen rebellious side, joining a secret society of interns who -- shades of “Flatliners” -- use each other as guinea pigs. Derek, frustrated with Cristina’s constant presence in his relationship with Meredith, guilted Mark into trying to distract her (“You slept with my wife”). But Cristina had no interest in hooking up with “Grey’s” resident stud and instead, took a step closer to new doc Hunt (Kevin McKidd). Gotta say, he’s looking more and more like a single malt Scotch himself.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of Erica’s exit? What’s going on with Izzie and “it ain’t over till it’s over” Denny? And which resident should get to perform the Chief’s solo surgery?

--Shawna Malcom