Grey’s Anatomy remains one of the most popular dramas on TV.  The show took Shonda Rhimes from being a successful but not widely known writer to becoming a household name, and boosted the careers of many of the actors that starred on the show.

It’s been praised by fans and critics alike for how it develops its characters and plots while maintaining a popular and accessible appeal, and won scores of awards. Right now, it’s being renewed for a seventeenth season, and could continue even longer.

But with such a long run, it’s natural that the quality of the show varied over time. Some seasons and arcs are more beloved than others, and fans found some plotlines grating. One particular season caught the ire of a lot of fans, though. What season was it, and why were fans so turned off of a show that they otherwise love?

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and Eliza Minnick

The character of Eliza Minnick was introduced in Season 13. In this season, Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital has hired a consultant to revamp their residency program after deciding it needed some work. Eliza Minnick was the consultant who came in to change the residency program, but residents and doctors bristled at her presence. Soon, her attempts at exercising more control over the hospital and some dubious ethics with patients turned her into an antagonist.

At the same time, she pursued a relationship with a resident that some fans were rooting for: Arizona Robbins. Despite Minnick’s status as a season villain, the show did make efforts to humanize her.

But ultimately, she was fired from the hospital for being a stickler for protocol in an emergency situation, and her actress, Marina Dominczyk, did not stay on the show. The showrunners wrote in an abrupt end to her relationship with Arizona, too.

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ character controversy

Eliza Minnick, being an antagonist, was definitely a character fans were supposed to hate. However, there are ways to write antagonists who are unlikeable as people but fun to watch as characters, and many fans of the show felt that Minnick simply failed as an interesting character, which took down the quality of season 13.

Even the actors on the show had problems with this season.

Fandom response

On the Grey’s Anatomy fan Reddit, many fans talked about how they skipped season 13 — mostly due to Minnick’s storyline. There are many characters on Grey’s Anatomy with significant hatedoms, but fans weren’t shy to describe Minnick as “the WORST character on the show… EVER!!!”

Some fans were a bit more balanced, but still unsatisfied:

“I think Minnick had a point, but the whole thing was badly executed and the actress was not good so it was hard to get into it.”

Some fans liked seeing her character develop with Arizona, but others thought her romance plotline was criticized as seeming phony and inauthentic:

“Ughhh she had ZERO chemistry with Arizona. It was kind of hilarious when they hooked up it was so bad. I can tell they’re both really straight.”

There were other issues in the season that fans had: the “deluca x alex plotline,” and the Jackson and Maggie relationship. Of course, there are a few fans that enjoyed this season, the relationships that developed in it, and even Minnick’s character and storyline. However, it seems like the majority of Grey’s Anatomy fans see this as a part of the series that doesn’t match up to the rest of it.

Luckily, fans see the show as having bounced back in quality — especially starting in season 15. And if the excitement about the new season is anything to go by, it looks like fans are still excited and engaged by this long-running series.

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