Grey’s Anatomy: 5 Times Richard Webber Was An Overrated Character (& 5 He Was Underrated)

Richard Webber is an iconic character on Grey’s Anatomy but iconic doesn’t always mean best or that the character is flawless. While Dr. Webber is a staple on the show and has been for its sixteen seasons thus far, there have been many times when he missed the mark on an endeavor or reacted in a way that just made things worse.

Dr. Webber taught the original group of interns and every group after that, even when he stopped being Chief of Surgery. He was the first chief viewers saw on the show and many characters and fans still call him Chief today. He has been through deaths of loved ones, making new friends and losing old, and seeing his family torn apart in many ways. Here are five ways Richard Webber was an overrated character and five ways he was underrated.

10 Overrated: His Role As A Father

In the beginning of the series, Dr. Webber doesn’t have any children. Later, his niece is shown as like his and his wife’s daughter. He wasn’t around much for her. His niece died of cancer and Richard often showed affection for Meredith since he had an affair with her mother many years earlier when Meredith was a child. She pushes him away constantly and expresses that his brand of parenting is not for her. In Season 13, Maggie Pierce is introduced and Richard finds out she is his daughter. His relationship with her is underwhelming and since she was adopted as a baby, he never knew she existed until she was an adult.

9 Underrated: The First And Forever Chief

The role of Chief of Surgery is one that Dr. Webber has to work hard to hold onto as the series progresses. He is portrayed as aging and eventually, his alcoholism is revealed and is made to be a crushing weakness, one that Derek Shepherd uses to get Dr. Webber ousted as chief. He takes over, then later Owen Hunt is the chief, then eventually Dr. Bailey. For a time, Dr. Webber comes back as chief to serve between appointments and Alex Karen is Chief when Dr. Bailey takes leave after her heart attack. All the time, the doctors around him as well as the fans consider Dr. Webber the Chief. He quietly guides whoever is appointed without keeping the title and he does it well.

8 Overrated: Being A Great Romantic Partner

Dr. Webber is married to Adele Webber during the series but flashbacks and other events show that he had an affair with Meredith Grey’s mother Ellis when Meredith was a child. It hurt his relationship with Adele and resonated throughout their marriage, especially when Dr. Webber discovers that Ellis has Alzheimer’s disease. Eventually, both Ellis and Adele die, and Dr. Webber moves on with Catherine Avery/Fox. She is the one who makes the first big moves and after they’re married they both make many mistakes, especially taking each others’ actions way too seriously and dealing with power struggles. His one big gesture was the way he proposed to Catherine. Everything else is overrated.

7 Underrated: Residency Director

Whether he’s the Chief of Surgery or not, Dr. Webber is a teacher first and foremost. He’s even a teacher to other people that take on the same role he fought so hard to keep. As Residency Director, he is responsible for the residents that come to Grey Sloan Memorial and their education. He is responsible for their development as doctors.

Dr. Webber is hard on his charges sometimes but he never stops teaching. When they break his heart or do reckless things, he puts his anger down and makes sure the lesson is learned.

6 Overrated: Merger Between Seattle Grace And Mercy West

This action in Season 6 happened when Richard was in the midst of struggling to keep his position as Chief. He didn’t want to lose power and this calculated move came when he found out by chance that Mercy West was having budget cut problems. He was also struggling with his addiction and he knew that a big gesture would be another distraction that showed the hospital board he was innovative and still able to lead. It was a hollow gesture, completely overrated, and many other characters (and fans) hated him for making it happen.

5 Underrated: The Patient In Recovery

It is said often in real life and in this show that doctors make the worst patients. This is very true when Dr. Webber is electrocuted at the end of Season 9. He spends a long time in the hospital in recovery and is a terror to all the residents and interns taking care of him, as well as to Meredith. He expressed to her that he wanted to die. He rallied, though, and recovered with flying colors. After all of that, Dr. Webber still went back to work doing surgeries and teaching like nothing had happened.

4 Overrated: His Diabetes Clinical Trial

Using information he found in Meredith’s mother’s old journals, Dr. Webber created a clinical trial that attempted to use eyelet cell transplants to cure diabetes. The research appeared very promising and moved into human trials. One of those human trials was Teddy’s husband Henry Burton, who died after complications from a previous condition. At this point, Dr. Webber was trying to hand off his clinical trial to Dr. Bailey so that he could stay home with his wife who had advanced Alzheimer’s disease. However, his wife’s condition advanced further, he didn’t leave the hospital, but his clinical trial just stopped being mentioned.

3 Underrated: Dealing With His Alcoholism

This is a story arc that involves Richard leaving medicine to go to rehab and losing his position as Chief of Surgery. After he comes back, the subject of his alcoholism mostly comes up in discussions of the past, aside from a few discussions about going to 12 step meetings.

He has a high-stress job, tragically loses many people he loves, and is injured in a near-death experience. All of these are triggers for relapse but he stays the course. He has to battle his alcoholism every day while staying on point as a teacher and a surgeon. That resolve is incredibly underrated.

2 Overrated: Rivalry With Thatcher Grey

When Meredith was around five years old, she and her mother moved from Washington state to Boston and her father had left them. She discovered that the reason for this was her mother’s affair with Dr. Webber. As the series progresses, Thatcher Grey, Meredith’s father, comes back into the picture and there is notable tension between him and Dr. Webber. There is a very over-inflated issue between Meredith’s relationship with her father and her relationship with Dr. Webber. Some fans saw it as big drama but most saw it as very overrated.

1 Underrated: Works Until He Drops, Literally

Richard is not a young man. He works long hours and it has been implied that he should have retired more than once. On his 65th birthday in Season 10, Owen has something for Richard from the hospital that turns out to be a brochure about retirement. As of Season 16, he’s still working hard and shows no signs of wavering until he has trouble remembering his loved ones and his health rapidly deteriorates. When he is on the brink of death, a wild diagnosis by Dr. DeLuca of cobalt poisoning from an old hip replacement saves him. Through every season, he works hard and doesn’t waver. He doesn’t want to retire and his dedication is entirely underrated.

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