Grey’s Anatomy
For much of the 21st century , the long - running ABC aesculapian soap seriesGrey ’s Anatomyhas dominate the television landscape . As of season 14 , the play has aired over 300 episodes , joining an sole nine of hour farsighted dramas that have made it that far .
Within those century of installment , thousand upon thousands of character have been featured , ranging from the central type whose stories viewers have been obsessionally invested in for over a decade , to the guest star love interests and bad guy and patient who total in to shake things up .
give how many character there have been , and how long the series has been on the air travel , it ’s only lifelike that there have been dozens , if not one C , of lovemaking stories along the way .
Some of them have meant more than others , while some have been entirely inconsequential in the retentive run .
However , above all , there have been 20 master dearest stories that have captured viewer ' attention over all these geezerhood .
Whether you loved them or hated them , this radical of couples is truly in a class of their own . But when it comes to writing , behave , and born chemistry , not all couple can be produce equal .
Here isEvery Major Grey ’s Anatomy Couple Ranked .
20. Derek and Addison
From nearly the root of the series , Grey’smade it abundantly clear that it was n’t especially a fan of married couple – or , at least , totally functional and intelligent single .
You ’d have to look no further than the horribly chaotic , dysfunctional union between contribute man Derek Shepherd and his previously traitorous married woman Addison Montgomery to get a glimpse of that .
Much of the series ' first season ’s developments hinge upon the fact that Derek has left Addison behind , due to her unfaithfulness with Derek ’s own best friend . While the couple may have only been split up at that point , it ’s also beyond clear that the show never really regard a reconciliation of this toxic union a substantial possibility .
It ’s for the better of both characters and the series as a whole that their family relationship goes down in fire as spectacularly as it does .
The official dissolution of their marriage permit Derek to move on to be with Meredith , and Addison to move on to bigger and considerably love interests - and a series of her own inPrivate Practice .
However , the lasting damage from their man and wife , and how horrible they were to one another , is a stain on the serial as a whole from the very root .
19. Owen and Amelia
Unfortunately , Derek is n’t the only Shepherd who gets grind to a halt within a toxic marriage that does n’t seem to ever have a future .
For some unthinkable reason , in recent years , Grey’shas decide to pair together two quality who could not have been more incompatible . Both marred by damaged past tense and issues well beyond their own control , Owen Hunt and Amelia Shepherd were seemingly paired together out of the serial publication ' uncontrollable need to find everyone a teammate .
Since the duet has been together , they have taken viewers on a true roll coaster , and not an enjoyable one in the slender .
With dissent views on their future , their inability to agree on anything constructive to creating a hefty relationship , and their misguided man and wife , Owen and Amelia have spent far more time together crying and push and split up up than exist as a functional romantic unit of measurement .
Making matters worse is the unclouded lack of any bod of interpersonal chemistry on sieve between series warhorse Kevin McKidd andPrivate Practicetransplant Caterina Scorsone .
Grey ’s Anatomyhas had its fair share of mistaken quixotic relationships free of any noticeable alchemy , but so far , Owen and Amelia may just be the worst of them all .
18. George and Callie
When it comes to misguided marriage that never should have happened , however , the suddenly - lived marriage ceremony between George O’Malley and Callie Torres credibly takes first swag .
The improbable couplet were genuinely adorable to begin with , having the most meet - cute of origins as Callie tended to an ailing George when he slip his shoulder in time of year 2 . However , by season 3 , thing had dramatically escalated for the only briefly dating couple .
When the newlyweds came back to the reality of Seattle , thing would only go along to get worse for them . Things really attain a head , however , when a drunken George sleep with his then safe supporter , Izzie .
What begin as a drunken misunderstanding , however , soon turned into a full bodge realization of what they then believed to be love . Of course , as before long as Callie take about all that had gone on , it was abundantly clear that there was even less of a hereafter in this kinship than there had been before .
So , thankfully , the couple divorced in season 4 , put an end to one of the worst coupling decisions the series has ever made .
17. George and Izzie
Unfortunately , following the looseness of one dreadful George O’Malley relationship , the serial doubled down on its commitment to raise yet another .
After George and Callie fall apart , he attempted to pursue a romantic human relationship on a grander ordered series with best supporter Izzie Stevens . It truly is a mystery why the couple never work in any way .
For the entire run thus far , they had always worked wondrous off one another in terms of best friend chemical science , originate nearer and closer to one another with no literal display of awkwardness or concerns about intimacy .
However , once romanticist and strong-arm intimacy entered the picture , things took a turn for the worse .
Thankfully , the attempted couple soon catch onto that themselves , as they realized they were much more suited for the close society part of best booster rather than romantic partners .
After multiple awkward attack at cause a go of a amatory relationship , they accepted the fact that the interpersonal chemistry just was n’t right , and die back to being the friend they had always been up until that second .
George would even go on to walk Izzie down the aisle at her hymeneals , proving that there was no lingering unwieldiness or gall there between either parties .
16. Jackson and Maggie
patently , in the world ofGrey ’s Anatomy , nothing says romanticistic like becoming postulate with someone who is now sort of your step - sib as a upshot of your parent ' late wedding .
Jackson Avery and Maggie Pierce , child of the now married Catherine Avery and Richard Webber , have recently found themselves at the center of a heatedly debated plot line in which they ’ve been struggling to navigate their draw to one another , given the fact that , in some way , they are fundamentally family .
Admittedly , it ’s not quite a cut and teetotal scenario : Richard is Maggie ’s biological father , but he had nothing to do with her upbringing .
However , nevertheless , the awkwardness – as well as the considerable ick factor – remain .
It ’s arduous to conceptualize of why the serial publication proceeded with pursuing this family relationship at all – this isGrey ’s Anatomy , notGame of Thrones– but making matters worse is the deficiency of interpersonal chemistry shown between Jesse Williams and Kelly McCreary in each of the scenes intelligibly intend to be construct romantic tension .
Grey’swould be good off by far trying to put this relationship behind them for honest , even as it finds itself struggling to find a central amorous human relationship .
15. Alex and Izzie
Sometimes , it ’s tantalising to pair two characters together when they ’re both new , attractive , and seem to have nothing in vulgar with one another . Opposites can draw and combative personalities can lead to sparks that are deserving pursue .
However , it ’s almost never a good idea to put these two types of personality in a long term relationship – and it ’s an even worse idea to have them get married .
Take , for example , the dreadfully developed human relationship between Izzie Stevens and Alex Karev . From the beginning of the serial publication , he treated her horribly , demeaning her at every bout .
Somehow , eventually , she gave into his badgering , and the two became a casual fling with no real sign of ever progressing to anything more .
Eventually , after losing several loves , they sought badly - time solace in one another . And unfortunately , this badly thought out consequence of public toilet led to their coming together as a the right way committed couple for the first time .
However , rather than taking their meter with things , and recognize that their behaviors and personalities were truly discrepant , they stimulate into getting married , only to divorce a year later as a result of Katherine Heigl ’s unceremonious departure from the serial .
From get-go to finish , their kinship was sloppily written , allow Alex with plenty of emotional baggage to worm with in Izzie ’s eventual absence seizure .
14. Jo and Alex
unluckily for Alex , the next big Latinian language he would retrieve himself with after Izzie would n’t exactly be that much easier on him in terms of its huge emotional luggage .
For the last few years , Alex has been in a relationship , on and off , with Jo Wilson , who is now his fiancée – except their family relationship has never really run anything remotely resembling a quiet class .
Some of the questionable relationship ’s most notable moment have let in flares of green-eyed monster that have ensue in assault and near convictions due to miscommunication , along with lies upon lie that have culminated in the reveal of a forged identity due to being on the run from an abusive spouse .
Jo ’s character could have been manage well , had each and every part of her story not been sensationalized and turn into something worth mark further for the sake of soap opera dramatic play .
However , as a resultant of the poor way in which her history of abuse and harm has been unfolded and gas as shocking , her character feel cheapened , and their relationship all the more hard to digest as a result of it .
In addition , as sympathetic as the on screen duet of Justin Chambers and Camilla Luddington may be to the heart , there has just never really been any form of believable electric discharge between them , even as they find themselves now head toward spousal relationship .
13. Mark and Addison
While some of these antecedently name twosome may have been lack in interpersonal chemistry or spark , that was by all odds never the case for the relationship ( if one could even call it that ) between Mark Sloan and Addison Montgomery .
In fact , an teemingness of chemistry and heat may have , in fact , been this dynamic ’s ruination , as their inability to control themselves around each other on multiple occasions proved detrimental to much of their lifetime in the end .
Their relationship with one another was primarily in the bedroom , and led , in large part , to the end of Addison ’s marriage to none other than Mark ’s best friend , Derek Shepherd .
When they were together , they were all but solely focused on their own interests and their own satisfaction , which made them such a disastrous pairing when they prove to envisage anything more serious bump in the future .
That ’s not to say that there were n’t ever any real emotion between them , however , as there most for certain were . There was even the subject of an unplanned gestation that Addison would at last abort .
However , in the end , no matter how compatible they were with one another in forcible ways , they were forced to realize that that was all it would ever be between them .
They would always have wandering eyes if they were together , and they both deserve better than what Addison herself name to as a loot call .
12. Owen and Cristina
When one of the earliest significant moments in a relationship is one half of a duad excruciation from PTSD and virtually choking the other out as a resolution of a PTSD dream , that ’s plausibly a unspoiled star sign that the relationship is never going to last .
The romantic conjugation of Afghanistan old hand Owen Hunt and surgical genius Cristina Yang was polarizing from the beginning , but the series stay committed to pursue the possibility of developing them into something more all the same .
By time of year 7 , the span was wed , but soon enough after their marriage , it became unmistakable that things were not going to go well for the badly - match couple .
The first literal source of conflict for their marriage would prove to be the great and ultimately insurmountable one for them .
Their hope for their future as a couple were so different , and could be boiled down to one simple , but meaning difference in point of persuasion : Owen wanted child , and Cristina never did .
At one point , Cristina even became pregnant , but choose to abort the pregnancy alternatively . This proved a real source of rancor for Owen , who would finally begin to cheat on Cristina .
As they continued to be ineffective to reconcile their points of vista , the pair would eventually divorce , briefly attempting to rekindle what they once had before realise once and for all that they were serious off apart than they ever were together .
11. Richard and Ellis
It ’s the human relationship that launch an entire series : the affair between Richard Webber and Ellis Grey during their aesculapian residency arguably set the course for the future that allowed Meredith ’s life to blossom the way in which it has .
Despite both being married at the time , to Adele and Thatcher severally , Richard and Ellis found themselves drawn to one another , and even intended to leave their respective spouses and be together for literal .
However , even though Ellis kick the bucket through with leave her husband , Richard chickened out and stayed with his wife , not wanting to be with someone who would outmatch him in his vocation forever .
The fallout of their relationship was devastating all around . Ellis seek to confide suicide as a cry for Richard ’s tending and an attempt to win him back , even doing so in front of a immature Meredith , which mark her for good .
She would then instruct that she was fraught with Richard ’s child , keeping the child lady friend a secret all throughout her gestation and give her up for acceptance .
Later in life , when she developed Alzheimer ’s , Ellis reconnected with Richard through his visit to spend time with her in her nursing home , the two of them reminiscing fondly – albeit wistfully – on their past times and the life they could have had together had things gone as plan .
10. Denny and Izzie
Grey ’s Anatomyhas a problem that is n’t unique to its series by any substance , but it is , however , an all too unwashed problem for it in especial .
Its trend to revisit kinship that were gratifying in part to begin with , only to twist them in some mode that taints all enjoyment of it in any form , is something the series has done quite a few clip .
However , perhaps the most rank example of that comes in the form of Izzie Stevens ' Latinian language with Denny Duquette . Although knotty in its initial form , their storey initially represent a compassionate nurse falling for a peaked patient and vice versa .
When the series decided to revisit their relationship a few season later , though , in the descriptor of Izzie fantasizing of a amatory relationship with Denny ’s ghost , suddenly , any moment that had antecedently been enjoyable go all but out the window .
Katherine Heigl and Jeffrey Dean Morgan did deal to retake their earlier chemistry in these moments , but the overall nature of messy discomfort that came with this twisty , turny supernatural reveal just became too much for many viewer .
What Denny and Izzie once had was heartbreaking in its briefness and the impact it bequeath . However , by returning to their relationship , in so poorly think a kind , the series undid any good that it had once create .
9. Callie and Arizona
When it add up to promoting LGBTQ acceptance and agency , Grey ’s Anatomywas one of the first primetime drama series to feature series even characters who identify as a phallus of the LGBTQ community .
Most notable of all was the decision to include the human relationship between the bisexual orthopedic surgeon Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins , a paediatric operating surgeon who also happened to be a tribade .
Their kinship was a breath of reinvigorated strain for the series when it begin , at last offering the long - suffering Callie a romantic human relationship that was healthy and glad and in full reciprocated .
However , over fourth dimension , their relationship began to sour , growing ugly and uglier as the seasons went on .
When a visiting female doctor shows a romanticistic interest in Arizona , she finds herself falling for her , and engages in a abbreviated whirl since she at last feels wanted again . After Arizona ’s infidelity , the distich take part in therapy and get every wretched opinion out in the open .
However , with everything out there , it bear witness hard for the couple to move beyond it . Soon enough , they divorce and employ in an ugly hands battle , before ultimately deciding to part custody even as Callie moves away to be with her new girl in New York .
8. Jackson and April
Grey ’s Anatomyhas always been concerned in pairing the unlikely characters together in romanticist scenario , no matter the scandalous or uncomfortable upshot that may follow as a answer of it .
Prim and right Christian girl April Kepner began the serial publication as one of the most difficult characters to reckon out . Enter openly spoiled rich kid Jackson Avery , who took it upon himself to break down the closed off April ’s wall and work his way into her nerve and beyond .
Over time , April spread out up more and began to express herself more freely as a result of her relationship with Jackson , no matter how messy it would prove to be .
Over the course of study of their oftentimes on again and off again relationship , April would find herself run out on her own wedding to another humans to be with Jackson , the two would get marital and divorced themselves , they would mislay a child , and welcome another , and feel themselves growing further and further aside as April struggled with a crisis of faith .
As Sarah Drew is schedule to pop off the series with time of year 14 ’s finale , it ’s hard to precisely imagine what the future holds for these two .
However , it seems pretty clear that a felicitous ending is n’t in the batting order for them , no matter what they ’ve been through and how much they have helped each other to spring up .
7. Teddy and Henry
As it turn out , Denny and Izzie have n’t been the series ' only foray into the kinship between a doctor and patient . However , while the relationship between Teddy Altman and Henry Burton for sure had a less than normal beginning , its development and ultimate culmination prove far more successful than whatGrey’stried to do with Denny and Izzie .
When Teddy and Henry met , he was an ailing patient without policy . Teddy , being selfless and a Doctor of the Church , made the bold offer to marry Henry for tender him her life policy .
However , it was made clear that this was purely a business - minded arrangement , and no romantic relationship would be involved , despite their matrimonial status .
However , as always happens in site where citizenry consort that they wo n’t fall in love with one another , the two slowly began to actualize the extent of their mutual feelings for each other , even as Teddy had continued seeing other multitude to convince herself nothing was there with Henry .
alas , by the prison term they had both allowed themselves to be open and honest about their several tactile sensation , Henry had become plagued by another medical condition from which he could n’t be save , no matter the earnest attempt of Cristina and Richard .
As is so often the case onGrey ’s , yet another heartwarming making love story never got the full geographic expedition it merit .
6. Ben and Bailey
Grey’shas shown itself , time and again , to not really be all that much of a fan of marriage in the long trial . Most marriages are either beset by abuse , infidelity , elongated conflicts of impression , and ultimately sulfurous separation and divorce .
However – so far , at least – one superbly married couple stand out among the rest : Miranda Bailey and Ben Warren .
After Miranda ’s own toxic first marriage , Ben was truly the intimation of fresh air that she call for in her life . Optimistic and supportive and always interested in her point of perspective , Ben has always been show as the utter better half to equilibrize Bailey ’s obsessional neuroses and incredibly driven deportment .
In the past , Ben had been a aesculapian house physician in California , which posed a challenge to the duad as he was forced to convert back and forth between California and Seattle .
Nevertheless , they hook up with , and he has been nothing short of a grand Father of the Church to her son , Tuck .
In recent episodes , however , Bailey has been depict to be struggling with Ben ’s decision to become a fireman , as he is now the lead of the spinoff firefighter seriesStation 19 . We can only trust that these two make it through whatever it is Shondaland intends to throw their direction .
5. Burke and Cristina
Sometimes , love stories do n’t get the happy ending they merit , and it ’s whole out of the characters ' control . The relationship between Preston Burke and Cristina Yang was one of the series ' earliest and most passionate .
Despite rules in place about interns and residents becoming romantically involved , the two happen themselves drawn to one another despite themselves and began to engage in a privy fling with one another .
Their brief affaire with one another resulted in Cristina becoming pregnant – but before she even knew what she wanted to do , she found herself passing out , learning that it was an ectopic pregnancy that would have to be aborted .
After the heartbreaking way of life their first attempt at a relationship ended , the two decided to give it a proper endeavor , take in that they care for one another far more deep and moving in together early in season 2 .
When Burke was shot and found himself fight with a tremor in his deal as a result of the damage , Cristina help oneself him during his operations , suffice as his support and guiding him .
They were bright matched , whole compatible , and even intend to be married by the end of season 3 .
However , due to Isaiah Washington ’s departure from the serial publication , Burke was written to go out her at the communion table .
year afterward , though , upon Sandra Oh ’s own departure from the show , the mates had a reunification of form , as Burke invited Cristina to Zurich to dish out as his replacement in the position he was vacate .
4. Richard and Adele
If the social function between Richard Webber and Ellis Grey was the relationship that madeGrey ’s Anatomypossible , then the long - standing marriage between Richard and Adele Webber should receive just as much of the credit .
Credit should especially be given to the almost saintly Adele , who digest by Richard ’s side for much of his life despite being aware of his unfaithfulness .
Even as she knew about her husband ’s unfaithfulness , she choose to stand by him , because she loved him and knew – or , at the very least , could only hope- - that he would opt to brook by her in getting even .
Yet even as she stuck with him through all the excited pain he caused her , she finally left him upon his refusal to pull back when she asked him to .
They ultimately reconciled under the most startling of circumstances : Adele would learn that she was pregnant with Richard ’s child , despite being well into her middle age , but at long last , she would suffer the baby .
aesculapian tragedies would continue to test the yoke ’s committedness to one another , as Adele would before long be diagnose with Alzheimer ’s , even eventually forget Richard tout ensemble . He continued to visit her whenever he could once she had been placed in medical guardianship , but even that would not last long as Adele soon passed away due to a affectionateness attack as a effect of an aneurism .
3. Derek and Meredith
When they met , they were just a male child and a miss in a bar . But from the moment their taradiddle begin , it was always clear that Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd were destined to be something so much more .
It took them a few gripping , tense seasons to get to that stage , give all the saponaceous play that the serial publication threw their elbow room . However , by the time the relationship affectionately known as MerDer come together as a real mates , their place as the true reigning duo in the series had been well solidified .
Over the course of their relationship , they would have the best many obstruction , which earmark them to hit many of the requisite milestones for important television pair .
But every milepost they reach , they handled in their own way . Whether it was their Post It note wedding observance , the conclusion to adopt little Zola and the 2d hurried wedding that came with it , or their attempts to navigate working in different locations and farseeing aloofness trip , they always handled everything as a squad , with unique heart and passion .
In the later years , they faced more difficulties than ever before , realizing that , at time , their dreams position at odds with one another .
However , no matter how difficult that may have been , nothing can compare to how senselessly Derek was killed off in the name of revitalize the show .
It ’s dependable to say , at this point , that without his graphic symbol , and this burden family relationship , around , the show has never felt quite the same .
2. Meredith and Cristina
Sometimes , the hard love stories are n’t romantic . Meredith and Derek ’s relationship may have been the heart of the series for much of its run , but it was the love level between two smart as a whip , brave , beautiful fair sex that fix the show aside from so many other dramas on air travel .
Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang were run to one another from daylight one as aesculapian houseman , and as the years went on , as tenderness were broken and vocation were changed and health scares came and went , they were always there for one another , unflagging in their living and comforter .
They were , as they so often said , each other ’s person . When the worst happened , they were there to build each other up again . When the best bump , they were the first mortal one become to so as to celebrate .
Their life goals were n’t the same , but they never pull one another down because of it . They lifted each other up and encouraged each other to pursue their dream no matter what .
When it come time for Cristina to depart the serial , and Meredith was at a difficult berth in her marriage with Derek , Cristina left her with unattackable words of encouragement that only a true friend could offer:“You are a talented surgeon with an extraordinary mind . Do n’t allow what he wants eclipse what you postulate . He ’s very dreamy , but he is not the sun . You are . ”
It ’s earnest , unflinching silver dollar like this that made their lovemaking for one another so inspiring , so crucial , and so one of a kind .
1. Mark and Lexie
As we ’ve already seen plenty of metre so far , even the strongest of love story in the existence ofGrey ’s Anatomyaren’t vouch their happily ever after . This can be realize most clearly – and most tragically – in the vitrine of the eternally star - crossed relationship between Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan .
On composition , the pair seems like absolutely nothing about them should make sense .
In addition to the considerable age conflict between them , Lexie and Mark could n’t have been more different in terms of personality – with Lexie being portrayed as all affectionateness and reason , and Mark always depict as a human beings of bravado and gratification .
However , somehow , the span represent the perfect manikin of opposition not only attracting , but completing one another .
From the present moment Little Grey asked Mark to learn her , to his promise to her that she was the one who put him back together , it was beyond clear that these two unlikely devotee were intend to be together . Mark and Lexie both even say as much themselves – but unfortunately , it ’s in their final instant together .
press down by regretful timing and the unfitness to accept their feelings until it ’s much too late , Mark and Lexie find themselves with the most tragic of all couples ' close in the series , as Lexie die in the aeroplane clangoring with Mark by her side , and Mark give-up the ghost shortly after back in Seattle .
