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Grey's Anatomy Fans Are Sticking Up For Owen (Despite His Character Flaws)

It's hard enough being a character in a Shonda Rhimes show, what with the writers constantly trying to hit you with a boat or give you kidney failure on your wedding night or blow you up with a bazooka. Sometimes your friends catch fire. Sometimes your enemies catch fire. Either way, your clothes are going to smell terrible for a while.

Then along comes the real world, and your problems only multiply. It's not enough, apparently, that half of your coworkers died in a tragic plane crash and now there's a lion loose in Seattle and a bike just crashed into your wedding. You also have to listen to unimpressed viewers implying that you're some kind of a jerk, and just because ... what? You get angry and shout at pregnant ladies sometimes? You strangle people in your sleep? Grow up.

That's the unenviable position in which Doctor Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) of "Grey's Anatomy" finds himself on a near-daily basis. He doesn't let it get him down. He soldiers on. He bravely persists. This, to paraphrase Owen singing "How We Operate," is how he operates.

And now, thanks to one vocal group of devotees over on Reddit, he no longer has to operate alone.

Fans' love for Owen Hunt is as serious as a guy with a stethoscope in his ears

Our story begins with "Grey's Anatomy" fan u/GroundFuzzy606 and a post to r/greysanatomy in which they share "some possibly 'unpopular' opinions." Chief among these is that they "don't think [Owen] is a terrible person at all" and that "he lets his anger get the best of him at moments, but we have all seen that he is a very caring and sincere person outside of his messy relationships."

As with the Saint Crispin's Day speech in "Henry V," the egg salad sandwich monologue in "Mystery Men," or any number of other great calls to arms, this assertion inspired others to speak up for what they believe in. "This is so refreshing to read and I agree with it all 100%," u/RavenclawMuggleBorn chimed in. 

"Agree on all of this. Will pin this and give you an award once I have one," u/deelightful03 asserted. A healthy portion of users added some variation on the words "Sure, what he did following the termination of that pregnancy was unconscionable, but" before explaining why it was actually conscionable.

Maybe, in the end, Doctor Owen Hunt is not a good man or a bad man. Like all of us, perhaps he is merely a human being that likes to stab pigs sometimes.