Grey's Anatomy's Sara Ramirez is carrying the weight of the LGBT community on her shoulders as lesbians across the country eagerly await the fate of one of TV's most beloved same-sex couples.
During the ninth season finale of the ABC medical drama, Callie (Ramirez) discovered that her wife Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) cheated on her with Lauren (Hilarie Burton). It marks the second time that a spouse has betrayed her and came after Arizona reveals she had yet to forgive her wife for giving the OK to amputate her leg.
"Initially, we see Callie in a very reactive state and she's very open about what she's feeling," Ramirez tells The Hollywood Reporter of the season 10 premiere, which picks up immediately where the finale left off. "She's not taking it well; she's enraged, she's broken-hearted, she's devastated."
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For Callie, Ramirez notes, the heartbreaking truth comes after she spent months tending to Arizona and just as all signs pointed to the couple getting their romantic groove back.
"All signs were pointing to everything getting better; Arizona was starting to initiate physical intimacy so I think Callie was under the impression things were getting better and very quickly Arizona made a decision for her own reasons that has broken the trust between them," Ramirez explains, questioning whether there may be something that came up before the plane crash that was unresolved between the pair. "Callie and Arizona have a lot of work to do but they have to get past the first initial reactive acting out-type stuff that people typically go through."
Stuck in the middle is Callie and Arizona's daughter, Sofia, which Ramirez says will further complicate the couple's season 10 journey. "It all gets messy and complicated," she notes.
Arizona, meanwhile, will do her best to try and engage Callie in any way, shape or form in the two-hour season premiere that finds the docs of Grey Sloan Memorial dealing with the outpouring of patients from the super storm.
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"I think everybody wants to be hopeful," Ramirez says of Callie and Arizona's future as a couple. "Everybody is invested and engaged and curious to see what happens."
While it's too soon to know what trajectory Callie and Arizona will follow this season, there is one thing that Ramirez hopes to see on Grey's at some point.
"Shonda's passionate about reflecting back to the audience about the world that we live in," Ramirez says of whether there could be another wedding now that the Supreme Court has paved the way for same-sex unions. "Whether she's going to do that with Callie and Arizona I don't know, or through other characters maybe. But I've heard her talk about how great it would be to seize marriage equality and a real marriage occur. That would be amazing. So much is changing and so quickly. We're living in a really great time."
Grey's Anatomy returns Sept. 26 at 9 p.m. Hit the comments below with what you're looking forward to seeing.
E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
