Dr. Erica Hahn

Watch this clip from 4:39 to 4:53; it's from Grey's Anatomy's "Crash Into Me Part 2."

Hahn: His hack of a surgeon didn’t check the grafts. (shakes head, obviously upset) I should have caught it, I should have checked. I missed it, dammit; how did I miss it? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Sloan: That’s fascinating, Dr. Hahn.

Hahn: (angry) What?

Sloan: You’re as unkind to yourself as you are to everyone else.

That's by far the best moment all season. Dr. Hahn is hardcore. She's intense, she doesn't seem to have any feelings; nothing ever bothers her. She fights with the best of them and is a very strong personality on the show. Moments of weakness or vulnerability in strong people are rare and therefore fascinating; they are a small glimpse into the person's inner soul, his core. It's exactly this moment that makes Dr. Hahn human and therefore relatable. The fact that she is angry with herself, upset with herself; she's beating herself up about something she missed, something she ought to have seen...it's that which makes your heart go out to her and long to tell her it's okay and she doesn't need to be so hard on herself. Because this is something you do yourself, something you do all the time, and you know how she's feeling and really you just want her to be okay.

Those rare moments of pain or suffering where the mask slips and you suddenly see a strong person hurting completely redefine them for you. You're never able to look at them in the same way. It's no longer Dr. Erica Hahn, hardcore surgeon who does cardio and will lacerate you with her tongue, strong and untouchable. It's Dr. Erica Hahn, human being, someone who feels pain just like you do, someone whom you want to comfort because you know that she'll always be hard on herself and expect more from herself than anyone else reasonably would. Mainly it's that you see yourself in her and it's easy to love her then, because she's hurting just as you would be hurting and you want to take her pain away.