Grey’s Anatomy: Mark’s 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Traits

Mark Sloan’s roguish charms won over the viewers of Grey’s Anatomy the moment he arrived. What were his best and worst personality traits?

The handsome Mark Sloan was not the most reliable person in the hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, but he was crucial to the storyline in his own way. It was Mark’s transgressions with his best friend Derek’s wife that led to McDreamy showing up in Seattle at all and meeting young Meredith Grey in the bar.

Mark was a veritable admixture of good and bad traits. Arrogant but exceptionally charming, immature and callous, but a great dad to his little daughter, there were a lot of contradictions that seemed to exist within Mark Sloan. What were his best personality traits, and what were his worst?

Worst: Disloyal

One of Mark’s worst traits was his lack of loyalty to those closest to him. Derek was not only his best friend, but more like his brother, as the two had practically grown up together.

Yet, Mark betrayed his trust when he slept with Addison Montgomery Shepherd. Although he was a worthy friend to Callie Torres and did his best to stick around and fix his friendship with Derek, he had, unfortunately, already proven himself to be disloyal.

Best: A Good Mentor

Mark was a good mentor and teacher to Jackson Avery. It was Mark who took the young man under his wing and made sure he passed on all his expertise so that Jackson could be as competent in plastic surgery as he himself was.

Jackson did become an excellent plastic surgeon and ENT, thanks to Mark, who realized that he could be a good teacher after all, even though he had never considered teaching worth his while.

Worst: Arrogant & Condescending

Mark was not always a good teacher, or even a teacher at all. He was in fact condescending and arrogant towards the interns, so much so that he would send them off to get his coffee or run errands for him.

Mark was no doubt a great surgeon, but his arrogance was one of the reasons he wasn’t particularly well-regarded by the interns at first. Gradually though, his character went through some evolution and became less insolent to those lesser than him position-wise.

Best: Charismatic

Mark oozed charisma and even earned the nickname ‘McSteamy’ for his exceptional looks and sex appeal, a nickname given to him by none other than Meredith Grey.

Mark could charm any woman off her feet if he so wanted, and while most of the time he used his charm to be a playboy, one could hardly deny this as a rather desirable trait in the gorgeous Mark Sloan.

Worst: Not The Most Respectful

Mark was not just arrogant as a surgeon, but didn’t necessarily treat people with a lot of respect either, especially women.

He moved from one woman to the next with incredible speed, a habit that didn’t leave the women too happy. The nurse’ union even went on a strike against Mark Sloan, whose behavior was considered sexual harassment. It was after Mark gained notoriety amongst the female staff in the hospital that he started thinking of changing his ways a tad bit.

Best: A Great Dad

Mark made a great dad to little Sofia and some of his most adorable moments in the series are with his daughter. In fact, Mark was always in favor of having a family, whether that was after he met his pregnant daughter, Sloan Riley, or when Callie got pregnant with his child.

Mark would have loved to see his daughter grow up, and no doubt he would have been deeply troubled at the rift between Callie and Arizona, two of his best friends, and mothers to Sofia.

Worst: Immature

Mark was always a bit immature. He went through life not being able to truly appreciate his own worth, and in turn making some very poor and immature choices.

After he fell hard for Lexie, he took on Jackson as a student having realized that the latter had feelings for her as well. However, despite these flashes of maturity, he made decisions such as dating the opthalmologist Julia instead of reuniting with Lexie.

Best: Potential For Good Leadership

Mark was never shown as a man in charge, except very briefly when he stepped in as interim Chief of Seattle Grace in the episode, “Support System”.

He took his role seriously, although not everyone was on board with him taking over, even if just for a day or so. He coined the term “Beef with the Chief” so that the staff and doctors could speak to him about whatever small matter concerned them and get it off their chests so that they didn’t escalate. He also acted his part, trying to inspire his doctors, especially Derek, and making sure that the scheduled surgeries took place smoothly. He did show potential for leadership that day and it would have been fun to watch him in that role for a bit more time.

Worst: Callous

The reason why no one really thought of passing the mantle of Chief on to Sloan was that he came across as callous most of the time. As in relationships and in life, he seemed unable to take things seriously.

He had always shirked responsibilities, not wanting to teach the interns even when he was asked to. He had a tendency to show off, which made people think that he was more about appearances than anything else. His friendship with Derek, Callie, and Arizona, and his relationship with Lexie were the only things that he took seriously, although few people were actually aware of that.

Best: Deeply Loving

In spite of being callous and the quintessential Casanova, Mark was capable of falling deeply in love. He was shown caring deeply not only for young Lexie but also for Addison, with whom he was ready to start a family.

Of course, it is his tragic love story with Lexie Grey that fans would remember fondly. Neither of them realized that they wouldn’t have enough time in hand, so they never quite managed to get together in life. But if the latest episode of Grey’s was any indication, then in death, Mark and Lexie were together.