[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the upcoming season of Grey's Anatomy.]
With less than a month until the Season 7 premiere of Grey's Anatomy, we can finally reveal that Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) are the two docs getting married in the season premiere.
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How will this change the dynamic of their relationship? Where will they live? Can this rushed marriage survive? And what about Teddy (Kim Raver)? Kevin McKidd, one half of the married-couple-to-be, gives TVGuide.com all the dish and more:
TVGuide.com: Let's start with the big question: How does Owen propose to Cristina?
McKidd: It's quite a shocker. It's definitely an unexpected proposal. There is definitely one knee involved, but there's more to it than that. It's a funny scene because we see it as a flashback. The proposal comes out of something that we didn't expect. The proposal is not over some candlelight dinner.
TVGuide.com: When did you find out that Owen and Cristina were getting married, and how did you feel about it?
McKidd: I had been on a movie during hiatus, so I came back the day of the table read and a props master came up and said, "I have to measure your ring finger," before we did the read. I said, "Why?" and she said, "Because you're getting married in the first episode!" So she kind of let the cat out of the bag. Everyone else was pretty surprised, but I already knew. It's kind of a shocker. I think people are going to be taken aback by it.
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TVGuide.com: Is this a rushed wedding because of what happened in the finale?
McKidd: People who have been through cataclysmic events, it does change people and make them realize what matters in life. It crystallizes relationships and can be the catalyst for people to take a big step in their relationship. It will be interesting to find out whether that was the right or the wrong step and what that means for Cristina and Owen going forward. Did they rush into it? Did they do it for the wrong reasons? I think they didn't do it for the wrong reasons, but all those questions will be asked.
TVGuide.com: How does Cristina change because of the finale and the subsequent engagement?
McKidd: She's displacing all of her anxiety and focusing it into that one thing that she can plan for and control: the wedding. This horrible event happened to Cristina in an O.R., which is the place that she loves above all else. One of the things that can trigger PTSD is being back in the same place that the event happened. So this causes a big problem for her. She definitely does try to fixate on the wedding. Very quickly after they get married, Owen starts to realize that there's a lot more to this. The wedding and being married isn't going to fix her, so he starts to step up in different ways and try to help her back to the whole person she used to be.
TVGuide.com: How does everyone in the hospital react to them getting married so quickly?
McKidd: They've been together for two seasons, so maybe it isn't rushed, but Owen and Cristina are still struggling through a lot of things together and are very committed to each other. Even though they know people around them in the hospital are thinking, "Wow, these guys are really doing this quickly," they are still the soul mates that we've known them to be. I think it does deepen their relationship.
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TVGuide.com: So they will still keep that passion even as a married couple?
McKidd: Oh yeah. I think what's interesting is that they got married very quickly because of something big that happened in their lives, and now they have to look at the consequences. The audience will see Owen and Cristina constantly question whether they made the right decision. Not about being with each other, but getting married so quickly. Nobody is thinking straight after a huge event like that. If that hadn't happened, would they have done it? That will be the question. So it does keep that spark and that will-they-won't-they thing alive in their relationship. They're constantly pulling and pushing with each other.
TVGuide.com: Cristina and Owen's storyline has been a little dark over the last two seasons, with his dealing with PTSD. Might we eventually see some lighter, more comedic moments with them?
McKidd: I hope so. It does seem to be that Cristina and Owen get the intense, messed up relationship storylines quite a bit. I would like to explore the lighter moments. We're going to see them build a home together. Now that their married, they can't be kind of house sitting. They need to find a place they're both happy with. We're going to see them have fun, because they're both very strong-minded people, who have very definite opinions and tastes. They're not necessarily the same, especially when they chose a place to live and how to decorate it. I think it'll be more domestic fun for them.
TVGuide.com: So they won't be living with Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) anymore?
McKidd: I think they suddenly get the feeling that being a married couple in that situation is not making everybody feel comfortable, and they want to have their own space as well. They kind of need to spread their wings.
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TVGuide.com: With Owen finally choosing Cristina over Teddy in the finale, can you confirm that love triangle will stay dead and buried now?
McKidd: That's what I've been told. [The writers] seem to want to build storylines for Teddy in a different way now. It almost feels like last season should've been the season that Owen and Cristina should've broken up, but however it happened, they didn't. On paper, they should've been broken up years ago, but they're still going strong. I like that. I think in the writers' minds, they want to not be so actively going down the path of how to break these people up, but now it's how they can keep them together. The triangle isn't there anymore. It's more how Cristina and Owen will fight for their relationship and their marriage. He's going to be a rock for her for a lot of this season. He took a lot from Cristina in the first season and, in a way, it's kind of payback time, and he does that willingly and gladly because he loves her.
TVGuide.com: There's always a lot of baby talk on Grey's. Do you think that could be in the cards for Cristina and Owen?
McKidd: I think that would be interesting. I know there was originally a storyline that ended up being changed in Season 1, where Cristina got pregnant and they were going to have a baby, but they decided to save that for later. I wouldn't say that isn't going to happen, because we almost started that storyline a few seasons ago, but decided it was too much too soon. A lot of comedy would come out of that seeing the two of them face that together, because they're kind of an odd couple, especially as parents.
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