‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Relive Owen Hunt’s Worst-Ever Moments

Dan Clarendon
3 Comments
Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt in 'Grey's Anatomy'

For dealing with medical trauma, there’s hardly a TV character more effective than Dr. Owen Hunt. For dealing out emotional trauma, there’s hardly a TV character more effective than Dr. Owen Hunt.

Perhaps that’s why Owen ranked dead last out of nearly 30 options in a survey of the best Grey’s Anatomy characters and got a whopping 1 percent of the vote in a poll to find fan favorites.

None of this should reflect poorly on Kevin McKidd, who has done his best to portray Owen all of the character’s messy humanity for over 380 episodes, ranking McKidd as the fourth longest-serving actor on the ABC medical drama. (He’s also the show’s most prolific director, having helmed 49 episodes so far.)

But we can’t imagine any Grey’s fan is shedding tears over Owen’s upcoming exit from the storyline now that McKidd and Kim Raver (Dr. Teddy Altman, Owen’s on-again, off-again love interest) are leaving Grey’s at the end of Season 22. Here’s a chronology of Owen’s worst moments thus far — otherwise known as times we, too, would have thrown a bowlful of cereal in his face.

Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt in 'Grey's Anatomy'
Eric McCandless/ABC/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Stabbing pigs for a skills lab

Owen’s idea of leading a skills lab in Season 5’s “Life During Wartime” is to stab four anesthetized pigs and then order his mentees to save their lives, only to command Cristina (Sandra Oh) to euthanize the poor creatures of the day. Apparently, in his mind, “do no harm” doesn’t apply to porcine patients.

Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt in 'Grey's Anatomy'
ABC

Breaking up with his fiancée with a two-line email

We don’t know much about Beth Whitman (Laura Allen), Owen’s former fiancée. But when her father becomes a begrudging patient of his in Season 5’s “Before and After,” we learn Owen broke up with her in a two-line email. Even Alex (Justin Chambers) had the decency to make his dear-john letter to Jo (Camilla Luddington) pages long.

Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang in 'Grey's Anatomy'
ABC

Strangling Cristina

We can’t fault Owen the post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Iraq, the same PTSD that made him nearly choke Cristina out in Season 5’s “Elevator Love Letter” after he mistook a ceiling fan blades for helicopter rotors. But it was still a painful moment in Crowen history, especially since Owen initially refused to seek help.

Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt in 'Grey's Anatomy'
ABC

Lying to Cristina and Teddy about Henry

In Season 8’s “Dark Was the Night,” Owen doesn’t let on that Cristina’s heart surgery patient is Henry (Scott Foley) until after Henry dies on the table. (The false pretense, for the record, was Teddy’s idea.) But then, in “Suddenly,” he doesn’t tell Teddy about Henry’s death because she’s in the middle of her own operation. And worse, he has Cristina scrub in with the new widow.

Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt in 'Grey's Anatomy'
ABC

Saying Cristina killed their baby

When Cristina decided to get an abortion during her relationship with Owen, he objected but made an attempt to support her. In Season 8’s “Hope for the Hopeless,” however, his resentment boils over at a child’s birthday party, where he yells at Cristina, shouting, “You killed our baby!”

Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt in 'Grey's Anatomy'
ABC

Cheating on Cristina

In Season 8’s “One Step Too Far,” Cristina is convinced Owen cheated on her with a nurse named Emily (Summer Glau). Owen finally says he didn’t cheat on her with Emily but did cheat on her. (Dishonorable mention: Two seasons later, Owen sleeps with Cristina during his relationship with Dr. Emma Marling, played by Marguerite Moreau.)

Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt in 'Grey's Anatomy'
ABC

Requisitioning the doomed flight

At the end of Season 8 — truly a rough season for him — Owen puts six of his colleagues on a plane to Boise. What he either doesn’t know or overlooks at that juncture is that the plane has a history of mechanical problems. And the resulting crash kills Lexie (Chyler Leigh) and Mark (Eric Dane) and leads to marital issues between Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw).

Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman in 'Grey's Anatomy'
ABC

Waffling between Teddy and Amelia

Seasons 14 and 15 were also nadirs for Owen, since he managed to sabotage both his relationship with Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Teddy. As Amelia undergoes a personality shift — the result of a brain tumor, it turns out — she impulsively tells Owen to go reconnect with Teddy. And he does so, much to Teddy’s delight… until Teddy realizes that he’s only with her because Amelia rejected him. Then, in Season 15, Owen goes back to Amelia… who then dumps him for being hung up on Teddy!

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  1. R

    RAT

    Owen is truly the worst.

  2. 2

    24

    And for your information a lot of people will cry for Owen and Teddy leaving…

  3. 2

    24

    Yeah sure!!! Step more on the character for views …. This show is meant to show flawed human portrayals …. Villainizing the characters isn’t the point… This article is now that the actor is leaving the show “cowardly” writing….