ABCEver since Eliza Minnick showed up at Grey-Sloan Memorial, a civil war has been brewing on Grey's Anatomy.
The residents and attendings may not see eye to eye on the brash doctor who Bailey (Chandra Wilson) has brought in to overhaul the hospital's teaching program from the ground up, resulting in their beloved Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.) being dethroned, but the fans have been pretty uniform in their reaction to the usurper. They don't like the woman. And according to the actress playing her, she's just fine with it.
"I'm happy for the big kind of reaction because who wants to go on a show and be quiet and just part of the scenery? It's nice to go and get your hands dirty and do stuff," Marika Dominczyk told E! News. "I am totally in awe of the fan base and how strong the fan base is. This show has been on for 13 years. People crazy love it...It just has a huge, loyal, awesome fan base which I'm so thankful to be a part of the show even thought people think I'm annoying!"
Dominczyk completely understands your frustration with the character, who has demonstrated over the last few weeks that nuance isn't really her thing, though. "When I first read the first script, where Minnick comes in and changes pretty much everything, it was a little daunting. I was like, 'Oh my god, I'm walking in here blazing.' She has no subtlety at all. She's just going for it," she said. "And I have to say it's been so much fun."
That said, she's not entirely comfortable with one particular word that some have used to describe Eliza. "I don't particularly think that she's a villain," Dominczyk said. "She is just super confident in her job and her ability and doesn't really open up so much to everybody, outside of work stuff, you know? It does take a little bit of a toll on her. But I guess it's not easy going in to anywhere and trying to change stuff because people—like she said in the last episode, people don't like change. But she has to keep plowing through, so it's a lot of confidence and resolve and not taking it personally."
From the sound of things, it's that very confidence that just might be her undoing in this week's episode. "Minnick kind of goes full throttle in this episode, and you kind of have to watch and see what the outcome of that is. She's uber-confident," Dominczyk teased. "This is the week where she's like, 'We're doing it my way, we're going 100 percent and we're not looking back, and this is what's best.' And you'll have to watch the episode to see if it all turns out."
Whatever may come, Dominczyk, the wife of fellow Shondaland citizen Scott Foley, is reveling her time on the set of the long-running ABC soap. "Everyone has been so fun to work with that I kind of feel like it's the best guest star role," she gushed. Usually, when you guest star on a show, you have one storyline, and here I have a bunch and I get to work with everybody across the board. It's really been kind of amazing."
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.