Grey’s Anatomy
Being a character in a Shonda Rhimes show is a elusive lance . In reasonably much all of her “ ShondaLand ” shows , the odds of falling on hard times — being maimed , cheated on , diagnosed with some sort of terminal illness , run screwball , have a crappy relationship with a parent , etc . — are astronomical . And if you are a ShondaLand character reading this article holler “ holy mackerel , how do I get out of here ? ” we have awful news for you : nine times out of ten , the only escape hatch is a cosmically tragical last .
Nowhere is this truth more observable than in Rhimes ’s first and theme song show , Grey ’s Anatomy , which over the course of 12 seasons and 264 episodes has taught us that being a aesculapian professional at Seattle Grace Hospital / Grey - Sloan Memorial Hospital / Whatever They ’re call It This Season is pretty much the most dangerous business on Earth . It ’s not just life and limb they ’re risking , either . The character onGrey’sare always overcharge up , split up up and re - pluck up , get married and getting disjoint , having pa / mommy issue and foster pa / mommy outlet , and dole out with the fallout of find out they have a sib they never knew about ( this has occur to one charactertwo clear-cut time ) .
observe all of the drama ofGrey ’s Anatomyunfold over the last 12 long time has given its viewers something akin to a 1000 - yard stare , because you never know when Rhimes is about to take something that you screw away from you . Let ’s seem at12 TimesGrey ’s AnatomyHas Ruined Your Life .
12. Denny’s Death
We promise this wo n’t just be an clause about dear characters dying , but we ca n’t get too deep into the list without spill the beans about the original tear - yanker / life - ruiner ofGrey ’s Anatomy , the death of rooter - favorite dainty guy Denny Duquette ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) .
Denny ’s death was the torment culmination of a multi - episode story arc throughout time of year 2 which ultimately saw him welcome a long - awaited , living - pull through centre transplant thanks to the improbably unethical intervention of his fiancée , Izzie Stevens ( Katherine Heigl ) . He gets his centre and everything seems to be on the up - and - up until he randomly , tragically experiences a coagulum that kills him .
At the time , fans of the show probably did n’t think things could get much worse . Boy , were they in for a surprise when in just the next season …
11. Burke Took Off
Burke ’s relationship with Cristina ( Sandra Oh ) was n’t without its challenge , but for the most part , they provided a stable alternative to the lay of Meredith ( Ellen Pompeo ) and Derek ( Patrick Dempsey ) . You could rely on those two . They were n’t go anywhere .
Until Burke at random decidedto leave Cristina at the communion table , and the show tout ensemble , that is .
Though rumor has it that off - screen latent hostility ( and a dash of homophobia ) led to Isaiah Washington ’s abrupt issue from the series , Rhimes probably could n’t help milking the moment for all it was deserving , delivering a one - two bowel punch to Yang , and fans , that ached well into time of year 4 .
10. Everything In Izzie’s Last Episodes
The death of Denny was n’t the only disaster faced by Izzie throughout her almost six - year run on the show . In fact , seasons 5 & 6 were especially cruel to the graphic symbol , and devotee of the character .
She is diagnosed with brain genus Cancer , loses her little - full term memory , gets divorced from Karev ( despite her attempts to submit ) , and even though she miraculously kept her caper after the Denny incident , gets canned for making a error thatreallydoesn’t seem as regretful as intentionally hack an LVAD wire , but what do we know .
Though she ultimately survived Seattle Grace , she , and her fans , were put through quite the wringer on her way out .
9. Derek’s Death
Let ’s go back to major character deaths for a moment , shall we ? The Derek and Meredith soap opera came to an unceremonious close in Season 11 when , in the thick of an existential marital crisis , he sustain into an stroke and is delivered to a local infirmary , practically comatose .
We say “ practically , ” because he is actually aware of what ’s going on and just sort of observes unable to help as professional incompetence and fell , random chance result in him being declare brainiac dead and taken off living bread and butter by Meredith ( who , to add a pinch more tragedy , is pregnant with the couple ’s third child ) .
Rumors suggest that Patrick Dempsey , who play Derek , had wanted out of the show for a while , and Rhimes afterwards said that the only way to write him out while preserving his family relationship with Meredith was to kill him . While that explains the principle , it does n’t quite amend the consummate trauma felt by buff when the unthinkable play out over a long and tortured 42 instant .
8. George’s Death
Though he was always a devotee - favorite , Rhimes had been running out of things to do with George ’s character for a few time of year before his untimely andtragic death . Just as George ( T.R. Knight ) was about to parachute the shark and fall in the Army , a heavily disfigured John Doe was bring in to Seattle Grace and ultimately bring out to be … George .
The moment he scrawls “ 007 ” on Meredith ’s hand and she actualise it ’s George is the definition of “ unexpected , ” and knocked the wind out of many aGrey ’s Anatomyfan .
7. Ava Loses Her Marbles
In one of the more disturbing emotional tarradiddle arcs ofGrey ’s Anatomy , Karev ( Justin Chambers ) falls in love with a disfigured affected role he names “ Ava . ” Though Ava gravel a new aspect and discovers that she ’s actually a married woman discover “ Rebecca , ” she leaves her husband to pursue a relationship with Karev . All seems well at first , but remember that this isGrey ’s Anatomy .
Ava easy descends into saturated , television insanity . Residual trauma from the fortuity causes her to demand to be called “ Ava , ” hallucinate a pregnancy , and set about self-destruction . All the while , Karev insist everything is just peachy , and it ’s not until his friends step in that he makes the painful decision to intrust a sob Rebecca to a psychiatric adeptness .
6. The Plane Crash
Again , we prognosticate not to milk character death in this article , so let ’s get a cluster out of the way at once , shall we ? time of year 8 ’s close “ Flight ” resulted in the abrupt death of Lexie Grey , the eventual demise of Mark Sloan , the passing of Arizona Robbins ’ branch , and a general monitor toGrey ’s Anatomyfans that Shonda Rhimes does n’t need us to have nice things .
“ Flight ” not only at once smash the life ofGrey’sfans everywhere , it continued to murder them in the feels as time of year 9 begin and more consequences of the crash ( Mark ’s death , Robbins ’ leg ) were revealed .
5. The Mass Shooting
A multi - episode arc at the end of Season 6 saw the married man of a deceased former patient restoration with a heavy weapon and a real mad - on for Derek , Dr. Webber and Lexie . Though it ’s debatable whether the losses of Dr. Reed Adamson and Dr. Charles Percy effected fans long - full term , Derek ’s phony - out death was enough to cause Meredith to go wrong their shaver , and all of us wrapped these episodes feeling pretty crappy about the whole thing .
Mass shootings , fake out death , and miscarriages are n’t precisely a recipe for heartwarming idiot box , after all .
4. The Musical Episode
“ Song Beneath the Song ” was the eighteenth sequence of time of year 7 , and by all accounts , the first major confirmation that the show was run out of idea . Though not exactly in the same league as other entries in this list , Grey’smuch - maligned “ melodic instalment ” was a sad and tragical liaison of a different variety , so cockeyed in its execution that many fans were left to enquire why the heck they were still doing tune in every week .
A poorly executed , desperate attempt at a military rating grab , this particular misfire hadmany calling for the show ’s head .
3. Samuel’s Death
reckon on who you inquire , April Kepner ( Sarah Drew ) is either the show ’s stalwart sweetie or a complete and consummate vexation ( if you ’re ask us , it ’s the latter ) . Regardless , the tragic dying of her son , Samuel , was a close arcsecond to Derek ’s death in time of year 11 ’s life - ruining moment .
We bed it was issue forth , what with Samuel ’s diagnosing with a fatal giving birth shortcoming , but his first and last act in life , squeezing his female parent ’s finger , gives us the weepies just thinking about it .
