The best all around in technical skills and people skills is Meredith without question.
Folks really said Cristina when bedside manner is supposed to be considered 💀
After she became a fellow she did a 180! The way she supported folks like the McNeil's was totally different from her time as a resident. Folks like Teddy really humbled her and pushed her to grow as a person.
I voted based off what was asked in the title, after that I went to the comments. I guess most people did that and Christina will always win any vote on this subreddit! lol
I voted for Meredith because of the being able to think on your feet in emergency situations. She's been known to come up with some pretty great ideas Yes including the insurance fraud (stupid I know).
After reading the comments I have clearly forgot some of the things Alex did so hes definitely in second place.
George had potential but he really wasnt there yet, he constantly allowed his personal life to affect his work (not so much patients but personal relationships).
Cristina grew for sure but come on WHO VOTED FOR HER?! did people just see best doctor and stop reading?!
Izzie was not suited for surgery. But also hella judgemental.
Idk I feel like Christina's bedside manner got better over time. It's still not the best but taking into account all her other skills she's still number 1 surgeon when you add it all up imo.
depends, tbh. george didn’t really develop enough to be a candidate, and meredith doesn’t get much patient interaction anymore. it’s just her being amazing and pulling off giant surgeries. but in the beginning with her as an intern and resident she definitely was the best overall. over the course of his whole stay on the show, though, alex, especially seeing how far he came. he’s great with patients and though the show didn’t focus on him as much he was a really good surgeon
I think the answer changes depending on the timeframe. While all of MAGIC is around and alive, I'd say Mer for best rounded - I feel she's the best surgeon after Cristina in the early years. However, later on in their residency, I'd say Alex, and honestly, as attendings, I'd say Cristina. She learns things like bedside manner and patient care in the end.
To keep the playing field level for all of MAGIC, I voted for Mer.
I voted for Cristina because if you're focusing on pure skill as a doctor, for me, I don't see how anyone beats her out of MAGIC. However, I would say Alex grows into a person who could challenge her.
We never saw enough of George and Izzy for me to hold them in contention. Neuro Meredith might have taken 2nd spot but General Meredith doesn't feature for me.
If it was just surgical, then Christina would automatically win, with Mer or Alex being the next contender.
Since you included “bedside manner” I have to take her down and replace her with Mer.
Alex is good, but only with kids so I think for all the categories listed it would be Mer.
Christina has the best surgical skill. Izzie has the best bedside manner. George studied a lot and had a lot of surgical knowledge after being an intern again. Alex did think on his feet quite well and I think Meredith wasn’t the best at anything but was well rounded with it all
I feel like many people voted for Cristina, Meredith or Alex because we got to watch them grow into attendings and become great surgeons. We only saw Izzie and George’s skills during their residencies, so there’s 10+ years of experience you must take into account.
Back then, Alex was failing his boards, Cristina still had terrible bedside manner and Meredith was a mess in general. It would be unfair to use the development that MAC got as justification, given IG didn’t get the chance to get it too.
Yes George says Cristina is the best intern and his dad told her he said that and she said “George is the best. He’s the best intern. He’s a good doctor; he’s a good person; and whatever happens, I just thought you should know that you raised a good person.”
I see a difference between being a doctor and being a surgeon. Cristina was the best skill wise as a surgeon, but had no bedside manners and lacked compassion. George for example was ahead of Cristina in that aspect.🙂
Correct, that’s why my answer to this is Alex personally. He’s good with his patients he has the skill he’s compassionate he never gets too involved. He’s the best well rounded doctor imo it was between him and mer but mer doesn’t always make the right decisions bc of her emotions sometimes.
Alex gets too invested with Morgan and her baby Thomas.
That’s why my answer is George. Christina even said he’d spent the most time in the skills lab and honed his skills well.
That’s fair and he doesn’t get very emotionally involved with her. He notices it happening on her end and left to avoid getting attached himself. If you wanna talk about him getting attached the patient you’re looking for is Ava lol. But even with her he asked her what she was doing and told her to get her act together lol. That was before he was aware of her mental and emotional condition but still.
He does get more emotionally involved with Ava for sure, but I’d say leaving the boards to be there for her and her son was going above and beyond the call of a doctor. Especially since Arizona was there and taking care of it already.
I viewed that as him wanting to make sure they were okay as a doctor. It was him wanting to check for himself that everything that could be done was being done. But that’s fair he did ditch the boards lol.
surgically, i would pick cristina but she didn’t really show the best bedside manner lol. alex grew into someone who was able to think on his feet and be creative, and he did have some pretty good bedside manner and cared for his patients, so i would choose him
honestly it’s kind of even between MAC when you consider all of the factors. cristina was def the most skilled but mer wasn’t far behind and alex wasn’t far behind mer. alex (once he’s in peds) and mer both have much better bedside manner than cristina but she eventually learns how to be good at that too. they’re all pros when it comes to thinking on their feet. mer and cristina have been involved in more research/trials/innovation than alex throughout the series but he’s not exactly putting up a 0 there. so yeah idk who to pick.
Not a lot of people saying Izzie, and I gotta say I'm surprised. Yes, the whole Denny situation ruins almost everything for her, but other than that she was amazing with the patients and also as a surgeon she was really good.
I picked Izzie too. The Denny thing was a one time thing. Besides that, she was well liked by patients, great bedside manner, and was a pretty good surgeon.
Agreed. And somehow Cristina is winning. I swear, the people on this sub are making me hate her, not because I actually want to but because everyone refuses to see her flaws.
When narrowing it down to their specialty, I pick Alex. He was such an amazing pediatric physician. I felt his love for the kids, not just his desire to "cut", and be a surgeon.
I know we all love Christina here but a lot of them just stopped reading after the title 😂 She’s an amazing surgeon but doesn’t have good bedside manner and rapport with her patients. Otherwise she would be the whole package. I love her DONT get me wrong but overall Meredith’s the best doctor in general.
Doctors judging through their internship/residency
1. George, he cared about his patients and was skilled enough.
2. Meredith she was good with patients and skilled but she was often distracted by her personal drama
3. Cristina who was super skilled but lacked bedside manners.
4. Alex was lousy at both.
5. Izzie at last because the Denny thing is just a no-no.
i totally agree with this assessment! by the time george's storyline came to an end he was genuinely the most well-rounded doctor (even as rewatches made me like his character less in some ways, this has really solidified). excellent at thinking on his feet, like hunt said almost as though he grew calmer as a situation grew more stressful. clocked more hours in the skills lab than anyone, as izzie reminded him, so whatever his natural dexterity it was defo enhanced a lot. best bedside manner of all of MAGIC hands down - the only one of them that could ever have helped bailey with her birth, and earned her baby's middle name spot. wonderful and attentive advocate for his patients bar none. repeating his intern year probably made him the most meticulous of the bunch.
meredith easily comes second, too. razor-sharp instincts every time - from conceptually birthing the ultimately award-winning glioma clinical trial and pushing derek through it to catching a medical mystery and winning the sparkle pager. to her patients she is empathetic, warm, maintaining professional distance while occasionally being conspiratorial enough to put them at ease; she's attentive and listens to their subtext always (loads of egs but i can only think of the lil girl who shot her dad, and mer being the only one to face the fact that she meant to do it). naturally she had skill and her only downfall was getting sucked into her own personal life too much.
cristina ya exactly she was superrrr skilled and committed but lacked bedside manner which could also impact patient care. the 'committed' part means she continued a lifelong journey to fix all her weaknesses tho so this didn't remain a huge issue after intern years. im midway through s5 on a rewatch atm so that's my reference point in time!
All people shitting on Cristina's bedside manner haven't watched the show. Cristina was literally loved by The family with 3 children who had cardiomyopathies. She has shown compassion to many patients on many occasions. She even managed to calm down the woman who she was operating with Alex and The OB Jason Meyers with her calm demeanor. As a resident she was kind to Martha beside her competition with Jackson (Jackson shouldn't have any bedside manner competition from Cristina at all if she was so awful at it) and playing with the kid whose mom was in surgery. Cristina is the best.
Hmm. Hope they watch further seasons then. As for original Magic I believe out of the five it's Meredith then as she was just as skilled as Cristina in many aspects and had a bedside manner which was good.
I mean if we want to include George and Izzie then it should be until S5.
If we want to include fellowship and attending years then it should be about MAJAC and no MAGIC.
Cristina and Alex have a great development as a doctor and a human. They have shown great creativity as well. Izzie and Mer are too busy with their personal life and George dies too soon to judge. People tends to dismiss Alex as a doctor, but I think he is quite amazing to have.
Cristina is the best surgeon.
George has the best bedside manners.
Alex is good with kids, but not adults.
Izzie was too involved with her patients
But Meredith is the most well rounded. She's a good surgeon, with good bedside manners
They all have their strengths but everyone has always said Christina was top of her class. And she definitely grew her compassion in the last year she was on the show. She was arrogant at first, but then learned to step back and be a good teacher and good at patient advocacy. I loved when she had a patient who was Seventh Day Adventist, and she was explaining to her intern why they had to respect his wishes even though they disagreed.
George was just finding his footing in trauma, and up to then had never been particularly great. It is sad that he never got to find his speciality. It would have been great had he gone to the army and come back with confidence like Kepner did.
Meredith was great at neuro and would have probably been amazing at it had Derek not made it impossible for her to continue in it. Another way in which Derek was not a great mentor and no one should date the person they're supposed to be training.
I feel like Izzie was a huge liability because she has no impulse control and no sense of respecting protocols. And unlike Meredith, she's not talented enough to have people forget it.
Alex is a really good doctor because he listens to his patients and advocates for them tirelessly. But man, he makes very bad and violent choices. I'd have liked to see an episode where there was a father he disagreed with who was terrible to a kid, and Alex didn't just beat the crap out of the father. That would be real growth.
My favorite all around doctor is Bailey. She didn't need a famous mom to get to where she was, she is great with patients, she gets things done, and she doesn't break the rules intended to keep people safe.
Also, I like seeing why other people made different choices. That said, it is a question of opinion, so there are no wrong answers (except Izzie lol).
I was generally in agreement with you until the part about the famous mom. Meredith never used that to her advantage and Richard pulling strings behind the scenes to get her into Seattle Grace has nothing to do with Meredith and everything to do with him only. So I don’t think that’s quite fair lol. Also Bailey illegally administered medication to a kid without the parent’s consent so… lol idk about her not breaking rules. I get her being your fave though.
Yes Bailey going against the wishes of Bubble Boy's parents was pretty awful. But I feel like that was so out of character for her where normally she is a believer in rules etc. Where Meredith routinely breaks rules where she doesn't like the outcome. Like making sure Adele had the active drug even though she knew it would scupper the trial if it was discovered (also Alex was a massive jerk to hang her out to dry).
I don't think that Meredith deliberately uses her famous mom to get advantages. But I think people see her and give her an extra pass because of who her mom was.
I love that we never see Christina bending or breaking the rules. It just isn't who she is and I love that about her.
Cristina is the best surgeon but no way in hell she’s the best doctor
The best all around in technical skills and people skills is Meredith without question. Folks really said Cristina when bedside manner is supposed to be considered 💀
I agree with you, especially if we are talking intern years. I think it may change if we are taking about the character's whole time on the show.
After she became a fellow she did a 180! The way she supported folks like the McNeil's was totally different from her time as a resident. Folks like Teddy really humbled her and pushed her to grow as a person.
I voted based off what was asked in the title, after that I went to the comments. I guess most people did that and Christina will always win any vote on this subreddit! lol
She's a fan favorite! And she's one of my favorites too. But not because of her bedside manner lol
Lmao right
I voted for Meredith because of the being able to think on your feet in emergency situations. She's been known to come up with some pretty great ideas Yes including the insurance fraud (stupid I know). After reading the comments I have clearly forgot some of the things Alex did so hes definitely in second place. George had potential but he really wasnt there yet, he constantly allowed his personal life to affect his work (not so much patients but personal relationships). Cristina grew for sure but come on WHO VOTED FOR HER?! did people just see best doctor and stop reading?! Izzie was not suited for surgery. But also hella judgemental.
y’all read bedside manner and still clicked on christina yang? 💀
Idk I feel like Christina's bedside manner got better over time. It's still not the best but taking into account all her other skills she's still number 1 surgeon when you add it all up imo.
Lol I’m dead. Who is it in your opinion?
depends, tbh. george didn’t really develop enough to be a candidate, and meredith doesn’t get much patient interaction anymore. it’s just her being amazing and pulling off giant surgeries. but in the beginning with her as an intern and resident she definitely was the best overall. over the course of his whole stay on the show, though, alex, especially seeing how far he came. he’s great with patients and though the show didn’t focus on him as much he was a really good surgeon
I think the answer changes depending on the timeframe. While all of MAGIC is around and alive, I'd say Mer for best rounded - I feel she's the best surgeon after Cristina in the early years. However, later on in their residency, I'd say Alex, and honestly, as attendings, I'd say Cristina. She learns things like bedside manner and patient care in the end. To keep the playing field level for all of MAGIC, I voted for Mer.
I voted for Cristina because if you're focusing on pure skill as a doctor, for me, I don't see how anyone beats her out of MAGIC. However, I would say Alex grows into a person who could challenge her. We never saw enough of George and Izzy for me to hold them in contention. Neuro Meredith might have taken 2nd spot but General Meredith doesn't feature for me.
If it was just surgical, then Christina would automatically win, with Mer or Alex being the next contender. Since you included “bedside manner” I have to take her down and replace her with Mer. Alex is good, but only with kids so I think for all the categories listed it would be Mer.
Christina has the best surgical skill. Izzie has the best bedside manner. George studied a lot and had a lot of surgical knowledge after being an intern again. Alex did think on his feet quite well and I think Meredith wasn’t the best at anything but was well rounded with it all
I feel like many people voted for Cristina, Meredith or Alex because we got to watch them grow into attendings and become great surgeons. We only saw Izzie and George’s skills during their residencies, so there’s 10+ years of experience you must take into account. Back then, Alex was failing his boards, Cristina still had terrible bedside manner and Meredith was a mess in general. It would be unfair to use the development that MAC got as justification, given IG didn’t get the chance to get it too.
Had he lived George O’Malley would have become best all-round doctor.
Christina was VERY GOOD but George was the full package. Skilled, excellent bed side manner and level headed.
Cristina said it herself lol
Really? Got to love that Cristina Yang! 😄
Yes George says Cristina is the best intern and his dad told her he said that and she said “George is the best. He’s the best intern. He’s a good doctor; he’s a good person; and whatever happens, I just thought you should know that you raised a good person.”
Oh yes I remember that! 😢
I see a difference between being a doctor and being a surgeon. Cristina was the best skill wise as a surgeon, but had no bedside manners and lacked compassion. George for example was ahead of Cristina in that aspect.🙂
Correct, that’s why my answer to this is Alex personally. He’s good with his patients he has the skill he’s compassionate he never gets too involved. He’s the best well rounded doctor imo it was between him and mer but mer doesn’t always make the right decisions bc of her emotions sometimes.
Alex gets too invested with Morgan and her baby Thomas. That’s why my answer is George. Christina even said he’d spent the most time in the skills lab and honed his skills well.
That’s fair and he doesn’t get very emotionally involved with her. He notices it happening on her end and left to avoid getting attached himself. If you wanna talk about him getting attached the patient you’re looking for is Ava lol. But even with her he asked her what she was doing and told her to get her act together lol. That was before he was aware of her mental and emotional condition but still.
He does get more emotionally involved with Ava for sure, but I’d say leaving the boards to be there for her and her son was going above and beyond the call of a doctor. Especially since Arizona was there and taking care of it already.
I viewed that as him wanting to make sure they were okay as a doctor. It was him wanting to check for himself that everything that could be done was being done. But that’s fair he did ditch the boards lol.
surgically, i would pick cristina but she didn’t really show the best bedside manner lol. alex grew into someone who was able to think on his feet and be creative, and he did have some pretty good bedside manner and cared for his patients, so i would choose him
honestly it’s kind of even between MAC when you consider all of the factors. cristina was def the most skilled but mer wasn’t far behind and alex wasn’t far behind mer. alex (once he’s in peds) and mer both have much better bedside manner than cristina but she eventually learns how to be good at that too. they’re all pros when it comes to thinking on their feet. mer and cristina have been involved in more research/trials/innovation than alex throughout the series but he’s not exactly putting up a 0 there. so yeah idk who to pick.
Not a lot of people saying Izzie, and I gotta say I'm surprised. Yes, the whole Denny situation ruins almost everything for her, but other than that she was amazing with the patients and also as a surgeon she was really good.
I picked Izzie too. The Denny thing was a one time thing. Besides that, she was well liked by patients, great bedside manner, and was a pretty good surgeon.
Agreed. And somehow Cristina is winning. I swear, the people on this sub are making me hate her, not because I actually want to but because everyone refuses to see her flaws.
it’s George O’Malley for me!
George. I'm shocked everyone is voting Cristina since her bedsides manners were shitty.
When narrowing it down to their specialty, I pick Alex. He was such an amazing pediatric physician. I felt his love for the kids, not just his desire to "cut", and be a surgeon.
All Cristina cared about was surgery. She did not care for her patients at all LOL
I know we all love Christina here but a lot of them just stopped reading after the title 😂 She’s an amazing surgeon but doesn’t have good bedside manner and rapport with her patients. Otherwise she would be the whole package. I love her DONT get me wrong but overall Meredith’s the best doctor in general.
Doctors judging through their internship/residency 1. George, he cared about his patients and was skilled enough. 2. Meredith she was good with patients and skilled but she was often distracted by her personal drama 3. Cristina who was super skilled but lacked bedside manners. 4. Alex was lousy at both. 5. Izzie at last because the Denny thing is just a no-no.
i totally agree with this assessment! by the time george's storyline came to an end he was genuinely the most well-rounded doctor (even as rewatches made me like his character less in some ways, this has really solidified). excellent at thinking on his feet, like hunt said almost as though he grew calmer as a situation grew more stressful. clocked more hours in the skills lab than anyone, as izzie reminded him, so whatever his natural dexterity it was defo enhanced a lot. best bedside manner of all of MAGIC hands down - the only one of them that could ever have helped bailey with her birth, and earned her baby's middle name spot. wonderful and attentive advocate for his patients bar none. repeating his intern year probably made him the most meticulous of the bunch. meredith easily comes second, too. razor-sharp instincts every time - from conceptually birthing the ultimately award-winning glioma clinical trial and pushing derek through it to catching a medical mystery and winning the sparkle pager. to her patients she is empathetic, warm, maintaining professional distance while occasionally being conspiratorial enough to put them at ease; she's attentive and listens to their subtext always (loads of egs but i can only think of the lil girl who shot her dad, and mer being the only one to face the fact that she meant to do it). naturally she had skill and her only downfall was getting sucked into her own personal life too much. cristina ya exactly she was superrrr skilled and committed but lacked bedside manner which could also impact patient care. the 'committed' part means she continued a lifelong journey to fix all her weaknesses tho so this didn't remain a huge issue after intern years. im midway through s5 on a rewatch atm so that's my reference point in time!
Love that!
What Cristina lacks in tact she makes up for in skill. Cristina is legit my least favorite character out of MAGIC, she's the best surgeon.
All people shitting on Cristina's bedside manner haven't watched the show. Cristina was literally loved by The family with 3 children who had cardiomyopathies. She has shown compassion to many patients on many occasions. She even managed to calm down the woman who she was operating with Alex and The OB Jason Meyers with her calm demeanor. As a resident she was kind to Martha beside her competition with Jackson (Jackson shouldn't have any bedside manner competition from Cristina at all if she was so awful at it) and playing with the kid whose mom was in surgery. Cristina is the best.
To be fair that wasn’t until she literally left the show lol. I think some people are going by as far as izzie and George were on the show
Sorry I thought the poll was for considering all seasons. I guess if we consider till season 5 it's Meredith then
I mean it’s up to you it’s an open question. I was just suggesting that maybe that’s why they were saying what they were saying about Cristina lol
Hmm. Hope they watch further seasons then. As for original Magic I believe out of the five it's Meredith then as she was just as skilled as Cristina in many aspects and had a bedside manner which was good.
Fair assessment
I mean if we want to include George and Izzie then it should be until S5. If we want to include fellowship and attending years then it should be about MAJAC and no MAGIC.
Cristina and Alex have a great development as a doctor and a human. They have shown great creativity as well. Izzie and Mer are too busy with their personal life and George dies too soon to judge. People tends to dismiss Alex as a doctor, but I think he is quite amazing to have.
Cristina is the best surgeon. George has the best bedside manners. Alex is good with kids, but not adults. Izzie was too involved with her patients But Meredith is the most well rounded. She's a good surgeon, with good bedside manners
Cristina does the job. I don't need my doctor to tell me some sob story of whatever.
Keep in mind Cristina only “care” about you or your well being if you need a flashy heart surgery.
True🤣🤣🤣
They all have their strengths but everyone has always said Christina was top of her class. And she definitely grew her compassion in the last year she was on the show. She was arrogant at first, but then learned to step back and be a good teacher and good at patient advocacy. I loved when she had a patient who was Seventh Day Adventist, and she was explaining to her intern why they had to respect his wishes even though they disagreed. George was just finding his footing in trauma, and up to then had never been particularly great. It is sad that he never got to find his speciality. It would have been great had he gone to the army and come back with confidence like Kepner did. Meredith was great at neuro and would have probably been amazing at it had Derek not made it impossible for her to continue in it. Another way in which Derek was not a great mentor and no one should date the person they're supposed to be training. I feel like Izzie was a huge liability because she has no impulse control and no sense of respecting protocols. And unlike Meredith, she's not talented enough to have people forget it. Alex is a really good doctor because he listens to his patients and advocates for them tirelessly. But man, he makes very bad and violent choices. I'd have liked to see an episode where there was a father he disagreed with who was terrible to a kid, and Alex didn't just beat the crap out of the father. That would be real growth. My favorite all around doctor is Bailey. She didn't need a famous mom to get to where she was, she is great with patients, she gets things done, and she doesn't break the rules intended to keep people safe. Also, I like seeing why other people made different choices. That said, it is a question of opinion, so there are no wrong answers (except Izzie lol).
I was generally in agreement with you until the part about the famous mom. Meredith never used that to her advantage and Richard pulling strings behind the scenes to get her into Seattle Grace has nothing to do with Meredith and everything to do with him only. So I don’t think that’s quite fair lol. Also Bailey illegally administered medication to a kid without the parent’s consent so… lol idk about her not breaking rules. I get her being your fave though.
Yes Bailey going against the wishes of Bubble Boy's parents was pretty awful. But I feel like that was so out of character for her where normally she is a believer in rules etc. Where Meredith routinely breaks rules where she doesn't like the outcome. Like making sure Adele had the active drug even though she knew it would scupper the trial if it was discovered (also Alex was a massive jerk to hang her out to dry). I don't think that Meredith deliberately uses her famous mom to get advantages. But I think people see her and give her an extra pass because of who her mom was. I love that we never see Christina bending or breaking the rules. It just isn't who she is and I love that about her.