Richard Webber is the Chief of Surgery. He knows what goes on in his hospital (most of the time). Chief previously had an affair with Meredith Grey's mother which tore Meredith's parents apart and for which Richard's wife, Adele, has never forgiven him. Richard tries to watch over Meredith when he can, but she doesn't let him father her much. He is not her father and she reminds him of that if he ever tries to be. Richard has always been "married" to his work and when his wife left him, he decided to retire to try to win her back. All the attending surgeons fought over the position, but ultimately none of them could fit in his shoes with all their drama and his wife wouldn't take him back anyways. Adele ended up in the hospital last season as she was pregnant and got in a car accident. It ended up being Chief's baby, but she lost it. (They had never taken the time to have a family before). In all his attempts to get Adele back, she just won't have him. So now Chief is left to embrace his bachelor status. Now Adele came back as a working woman to reprimand Dr. Mark Sloan and all his promiscuity with the nursing staff. She finds a new Richard who is delegating responsibilities (to a new "Chief Intern," George O'Malley) and goes home with him.  Now chief is on a mission to get home to his wife.  He goes to her, tells her he's a "good man" even if not always to her, he's a "good man" and he is her husband and he wants to be with his wife.  She tells him, "It's about time," and lets him in.

Season 5 starts with bad news for the Chief.  Evidently Seattle Grace is now dropped to the #12 spot when it comes to teaching hospitals.  This means that their competition gets all the "good" patients and Grace gets the left-overs.  Chief is really upset and decides he's gone too soft with Meredith in the hospital.  He gives the entire staff a warning that they can all consider themselves on probation from here on out.  He needs someone to blame for this mess. 

Chief is trying to prove that Seattle Grace is the great hospital that it should be and soon things begin to fall in place for him again.   Dr. Shepard is recognized for his new successful methods with brain tumors and Miranda Bailey makes history doing 12 "domino" kidney surgeries in one day.  They even take an impossible case of a 10-year-old girl with no hope of survival and win.  Things are looking up and it appears he may be molding a new chief out of Miranda Bailey, but the more things he finds going right, he is forced to see that there are still a lot of problems.  He's got good surgeons quitting, interns operating on each other, and is being turned down when he tries to bring good doctors over to his staff.  Something's got to give.      

Related Articles:

Season 5:

Intern's Surgery (episode 9)

Anatomy Jane (episode 6)

Seattle Grace "Back on the Map" (episode 5)

Hospital Ratings (episode 1)

Season 4:

The Bigger Picture (episode 16)

Meredith Grey Getting Whole and Healed (episode 16)

George O'Malley Running the Halls (episode 15) 

The "Sex Survey" (episode 14)

Telling off Chief Webber (episode 14)

The Contest (episode 12)

Halloween at Seattle Grace (episode 5)

Richard Webber Confronts Adele (episode 4)

George O'Malley Admits Adultery (episode 3)