This is my first attempt at this. It's just a little warm up exercise thing that I did trying to get into the heads of the characters. Please be nice!
When Meredith Grey began her residency, she thought that she would be saving lives. Doctors are heroes, after all. They pull people from the clutches of death all the time. They're Gods. But no one ever talks about the DNR patients she has no choice but to watch slip away. The way a tiny mistake you don't even realise you're making can have such disastrous effects. The patients who despite everyone's best work and effort were just meant to die. Certainly, nobody ever told her about pink mist. Meredith looks down at her wrist as the pained squeal of the heart rate monitor rings in her ears. Time of death – 12:38. She never even used to wear a watch. Meredith thought that she would be saving lives. Who was she kidding? She can't even save herself.
To Izzie Stevens, surgery is a lot like her other area of expertise; baking. Everyone has the same recipe to fellow; cut here, cauterise here, suture here. Some people though, will just never get it right. There's a knack. Izzie knows that she has the knack. Izzie knows that she's a damn good surgeon. Izzie also knows that other people don't see that. That they look at her and only see blonde hair, big boobs and over-attachment to patients. She'll keep working. She'll hold on to that fierce determination that got her from the trailer park to one of the best hospitals in country. She'll keep working. Eventually, she'll make them see.
Alex Karev is an ass. Its common knowledge and he isn't ashamed of it. He went to med school thinking only of the wealth and status that would come along with it. Surgery was the obvious choice. Surgeons spend less time with patients. They have the least involvement with the unpleasant emotional side of things. As Alex goes to tell the family the terrible new, he is shocked to find himself struggling to choke back tears. He tells himself that they are tears of resentment; frustration that the bleeding could not be controlled. Alex is an ass. He chose to be a surgeon because he's an ass. He wasn't prepared for it making him a better person.
Control has always been a big problem in George O'Malley's life. He finds it difficult to control his words; stuttering, verbal diarrhoea, revealing secrets and constantly putting his foot in his mouth. He sometimes finds it difficult to control his own limbs and finds himself falling down the stairs whilst trying to make a dramatic exit. His love life is way out of control – he is well aware of his affection's flitting capriciously from Olivia, to Meredith, to Callie and now, unsettlingly, to Izzie. George has to be in control in the O.R. In control of somebody's life. The single most important thing in the world, in George's often shaky, unstable hands. That should scare him. It empowers him.
Cristina Yang thrives in the O.R. Dexterity, accuracy, caution, speed, precision, she has all the qualities of a great surgeon. She doesn't consider bedside manner. When it comes down to it, when its you on the table, you're going to want the cold and offhand surgeon who'll save your life rather than the sweet, caring fool who couldn't carve a turkey. In the O.R, insides are on full display for Cristina to see. Muscles, organs, blood vessels, all functioning together, clear and obvious in front of her. In the O.R, Cristina can finally understand how other people work.