25 ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Episodes to Scrub into Again and Again
Settle in for a house call from your favorite Seattle surgeons.
Nearly 20 years have passed since Grey’s Anatomy first opened the doors of Seattle Grace Hospital. It all started with the aftermath of a one-night stand: A guy picks up a girl at a bar, the evening before her first day of work. And then the guy turns out to be her boss. That initial spark grew into an unforgettable TV romance. But what makes Grey’s Anatomy so special isn’t just that love story. The series was a fresh look at the medical drama, mixing personal complications with high stakes medical procedures.
Nineteen seasons later, cast members have come and gone and the series has reinvented itself time and time again. Shonda Rhimes’ first big television outing has a trove of memorable hours to revisit. Whether it’s your third rewatch or your 13th, every fan has favorite episodes that serve as a reminder of how captivating Grey’s can be. So find your person, sign a Post-it note and settle in for 25 of the long-running show’s most essential episodes. Don’t be surprised if you need to dance it out after watching.
Season 1, Episode 1
“A Hard Day’s Night”
What happens when you sleep with a guy, then show up to work and find out he’s your boss? That kicks off the entire series and a love story for the pop culture ages — and Grey’s Anatomy’s initial outing is a near perfect example of how to start a show. The first hour gave us inaugural patient Katie Bryce, Rilo Kiley music, the burgeoning friendship of surgical interns Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and the first glimpse of the tumultuous romance between Meredith and Derek, aka McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey).
Season 1, Episode 9
“Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”
With a shortened opening season, writers needed to drop a bomb that would ensure viewers would return when the show did. Enter: the fabulous Addison Forbes Montgomery Shepherd (Kate Walsh), whose “you must be the woman who’s been screwing with my husband” changed Grey’s Anatomy’s whole story around. Addison was an immediate fan favorite, with her vibrant red hair and killer black, fur-lined jacket. You wanted to root for her, even while she was derailing the romance we’d been gunning for all season.
Season 2, Episode 6
“Into You Like a Train”
While some might choose Episode 5, “Bring the Pain,” as a standout, the action-packed episode that follows Meredith’s “pick me, choose me, love me” declaration is Grey’s Anatomy at its finest. “Into You Like a Train” follows Meredith in the (somewhat drunken) hours after she was stood up by the love of her life at Joe’s Bar. This hour shows the character in her sweet spot: practicing medicine while shades of her personal life blur her medical judgment. And the mere mention of the episode immediately brings back the bittersweet line from Bonnie, one of the two patients impaled by the same pole during a train crash: “Do you believe in heaven?”
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Season 2, Episodes 16 and 17
“It’s the End of the World”/“As We Know It”
If viewers hadn’t heard about Grey’s before this shocking post-Super Bowl episode, they knew of it after. The whole shebang opens after a paramedic (played by Christina Ricci) arrives with her hand inside a patient with a bomb lodged in his chest… and her hand is what’s keeping the live ammunition from exploding. Yikes. Kyle Chandler also guest-stars as the bomb squad leader tasked with removing the device. That episode concludes with the panicked paramedic pulling her hand out. Screams erupt, doctors dive and when the terror settles and the surgeons look up, it’s Meredith who has slid her hand inside — leaving viewers on edge until the following week. (Thankfully, you can now watch both episodes back-to-back.) The high drama paired with the cast chemistry creates a two-parter as engrossing as any feature-length film you’d pick for movie night.
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Season 2, Episodes 26 and 27
“Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response”/“Losing My Religion”
The heartbreaking conclusion of the romantic saga between Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is perhaps the defining episode of the series. After Izzie cuts Denny’s LVAD wire with the hope of worsening his condition and moving him up the transplant list, all five interns cover up the deed in pursuit of protecting her. While Dr. Preston Burke’s (Isaiah Washington) career hangs in the balance thanks to a rogue gunman, the hospital works to save both him and Denny. In the process the episode features the dress, the song and the romantic ultimatum to tie up the show’s stellar sophomore season. If you’re still not over the untimely death of Denny, you’re not alone.
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Season 3, Episode 17
“Some Kind of Miracle”
Viewers had to wait two full episodes to find out whether Meredith would survive being accidentally pushed off a pier into the water by a flailing patient, but it was worth it. It’s the episode where Cristina became Meredith’s person. It wraps up the storyline with Meredith’s mother, the uncompromising yet trailblazing Dr. Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), but most importantly, it sets up the endgame for Meredith and Derek. The episode also gave us the return of Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyle Chandler, who help Meredith say a final farewell to her mother. It’s an especially important episode for the younger Dr. Grey, who emerges from almost drowning to experiencing a revelation as a doctor, a daughter and a woman.
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Season 3, Episode 25
“Didn’t We Almost Have It All?”
After three seasons of tenuous romance, Cristina and Burke walk down the aisle. Well, Burke walks down the aisle. Then he walks back. And from there, the image of Oh, crying alone in a wedding dress, becomes one of the most recognizable from the series. Mind you, this isn’t the only trauma she faced this episode… Mama took her eyebrows! (Watch the episode: you’ll get it.) It’s a hallmark episode for Cristina and a shocking twist for viewers who’d become invested in her and Burke as a couple.
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Season 5, Episode 22
“What a Difference a Day Makes”
As Izzie battles her cancer, Meredith and Derek are finally set to be married. But in a last minute twist, Meredith gifts her wedding to Izzie and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), opting instead for the “Post-it wedding” that dreams are made of. The episode features Grey’s staples like music from Ingrid Michaelson and a big fancy church wedding. George O’Malley (T. R. Knight) walks Izzie down the aisle and for a moment, all is right in the world. Grey’s Anatomy loves a tragedy, but it’s all the sweeter when it offers up a happy moment for the doctors of Seattle.
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Season 6, Episode 6
“I Saw What I Saw”
Sometimes, Grey’s just has a really good standalone episode. This one follows the death of a patient that no one wants to claim. In the ongoing merger between Mercy West and Seattle Grace, the hospital’s residents go head-to-head with one another until it’s finally revealed who was responsible and ultimately, fired. It’s an integral episode for fans of the show because it properly introduced the world to Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and April Kepner (Sarah Drew) — not just as ornamental new residents, but fully formed people.
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Season 6, Episodes 23 and 24
“Sanctuary”/“Death and All His Friends”
While the hospital shooting is an intense watch, this two-parter is undeniably among the series’ most visceral and heartfelt episodes. Diving into the otherwise forgettable character of Gary Clark, doctors soon learn that the complexity of his wife’s fatal case leads to greater consequences than anyone could imagine. Multiple cast members’ lives hang in the balance, but amid that terror comes inspiring moments where these colleagues realize how much of a family they’ve all become. Shoutout to series stalwart Chandra Wilson (as Miranda Bailey) and guest star Mandy Moore, whose scene outside the elevators is one of Grey’s most moving.
Season 7, Episode 10
“Adrift and at Peace”
Grey’s Anatomy is never afraid to shake up the relationship dynamics between its core characters. Following the tragic mass shooting last season, Grey’s offers a slow-burn exploration of Cristina’s battle with PTSD. When her best friend Meredith and husband Owen (Kevin McKidd) can’t crack the code on what Cristina needs, it’s Derek who takes her fishing (of all things!) and helps her overcome her fear of returning to the hospital.
Season 8, Episode 24
“Flight”
Call a cardiologist, because this one broke a lot of Grey’s viewers’ hearts. On the precipice of sending the residents off to their fellowship assignments, the show decided to load up a crew of favorites onto a plane headed for Idaho… and then crash it. The massive season finale results in the death of two cast favorites and the loss of a leg for Jessica Capshaw’s Arizona Robbins (who wasn’t even supposed to be on the plane in the first place). It’s a brutal watch, but it also marked a refresh for the series, setting up plot points that would unravel for seasons to come.
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Season 9, Episode 2
“Remember the Time”
Wrapping up the storyline from the Season 8 finale, this episode of Grey’s is a goodbye to Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), as well as the introduction of a whole new intern class. As Mark’s colleagues make peace with saying goodbye to McSteamy, the episode offers a retrospective of one of the nicest bad boys in Seattle. Is it heartbreaking? Sure. But in its stead, we get a good dose of Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington), Stephanie Edwards (Jerrika Hinton) and Shane Ross (Gaius Charles), whose intern class is arguably the best since the show started.
Season 10, Episode 12
“Get Up, Stand Up”
After a few seasons of will they, won’t they storylines, April leaves her EMT boyfriend at the altar and runs off with Jackson. It also functions as the episode that finally clears the air between the twisted sisters, Cristina and Meredith. Every Grey’s wedding is a big deal, but this one feels particularly poignant, setting up multiple characters with storylines that changed how viewers saw them. This season is a standout for a lot of reasons, but the soundtrack, which features indie-inspired ’80s covers, is one of the show’s best.
Season 10, Episode 24
“Fear (of the Unknown)”
This episode punctuates a whole season dedicated to Cristina and features her heartfelt goodbyes to the series’ long-running cast. It also teases viewers by suggesting that Cristina’s fate might be as bleak as some of the other doctors who departed before her, but here’s the thing: you can’t just kill off Dr. Cristina Yang. She leaves the hospital (and Seattle) for Switzerland, but not before imparting some of the most important advice Meredith receives throughout the entire series: “He is not the sun. You are.”
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Season 11, Episode 5
“Bend and Break”
None of us wanted to see it happen: Arizona and Callie (Sara Ramirez) meeting the same fate many Grey’s couples do. But the show dedicated a tender hour to the couple’s undoing, concluding with the long-dreaded divorce of one of primetime’s favorite LGBTQ couples. The couple also known as “Calzona” embarked on 30 days of separation after seasons and seasons of hardship, but where the duo landed was all too relatable. Sometimes, a relationship is unable to be salvaged.
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Season 11, Episode 13
“Staring at the End”
Grey’s has had a long list of great guest stars. Toward the top of that list is Geena Davis, who played Nicole Herman, a fetal surgeon with an ominous secret brain tumor. Starting out as Arizona’s mentor, she eventually becomes a patient whose inoperable tumor meets its match in neurosurgeon (and Derek’s sister) Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone). This episode brings Dr. Herman’s arc to its conclusion, putting Herman under the knife and Arizona in charge of the work she’s dedicated her life to.
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Season 11, Episode 21
“How to Save a Life”
It’s the shocking episode, named after The Fray song that’s become synonymous with the series. Sometimes, Grey’s Anatomy deploys a major catastrophe to kill a character off. And then sometimes, right in the middle of a season, a freak car accident takes a beloved character out after 11 years. After helping a family in a car accident, it’s Derek Shepherd who ends up at the wrong end of a T-bone crash. Too far from Grey Sloan Memorial, Derek is taken to a nearby hospital, but the trauma unit isn’t equipped to handle his injuries… including a brain injury.
Season 12, Episode 5
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”
In a near-bottle episode, Meredith walks on eggshells as she attempts to hide the fact that Callie’s new girlfriend was the resident who worked on Derek as he died. What erupts is an uncomfortable dinner party that puts all its main players around one table as they individually deal with their grief. Meredith loses it. Miranda cries. Amelia practically tears the house down. It’s the rare opportunity to see everyone in the same place, all housed under the roof that raised so many of Grey Sloan Memorial’s best surgeons.
Season 13, Episode 24
“Ring of Fire”
Grey’s Anatomy has produced many explosive episodes over the years, but this one was really explosive. In a heroic moment during her final episode, Stephanie effectively blows up a floor of the hospital to stop a rapist from escaping. She survives the ordeal and, in her last on-screen moments, we get a full portrait of the woman she’s become: a kick-ass surgeon who finally got the opportunity to step away from medicine and explore who she is outside the hospital walls.
Season 14, Episode 24
“All of Me”
With all happiness comes a bit of sadness. In a major shake-up, the Season 14 finale says goodbye to longtime favorites April and Arizona, and the episode also serves as the long overdue wedding of Alex and Jo. There’s no major trauma here: just a sweet goodbye to two of the series’ best characters, as well as Meredith conducting a wedding ceremony on a ferry. We love ferries!
Season 15, Episode 19
“Silent All These Years”
“Silent All These Years” is a tour de force display of how to discuss rape, both on-screen and beyond. The episode follows a patient who comes to the hospital after being raped. Recognizing the situation, the staff tap into their training to create as safe a space as possible for her — the scene of women lining the hallway as she’s wheeled into surgery remains one of the series’ most moving. At the same time, flashbacks reveal that Jo is facing her own impossible realization after learning she was put up for adoption following her birth mother’s rape. Unflinching in its honesty about rape kits and the invasive procedures survivors face, the episode stands as one of Grey’s Anatomy’smost important and impactful hours.
Season 16, Episode 8
“My Shot”
“My Shot” marks the last appearance of Alex, whose story would officially wrap up a few episodes later. More importantly, it’s also a love letter to Grey’s Anatomy fans. After Meredith’s career is put on the line following insurance fraud (to protect one of her patients), she faces a medical board that seems intent on teaching a lesson. Even worse, it’s being led by the same neurosurgeon whose ignorance led to Derek’s death. The turning point of the episode is when scores of patients from Meredith’s past show up to attest to how great a doctor she is.
Season 17, Episode 2
“The Center Won’t Hold”
The COVID season can be bleak, sure. Celebrated by many, it was a bold move by the show’s writers, who followed a comatose Meredith as she battled COVID-19. The only live scenes we get with the character are on a dreamlike beach, where she reunites with friends and loved ones who’ve passed away. Episode 2 is the best encapsulation, as she reunites with her long lost love, Derek.
Season 18, Episode 3
“Hotter Than Hell”
In many ways, Season 18 is another reset for the long-running series. A key moment arrives in Episode 3: the long-awaited return of Addison. At one point an adversary of Meredith’s (you know, the whole “intern screwing her husband” thing), Addison finds that her big return to Seattle is filled with nothing but good vibes. The episode features a series of callbacks to early seasons, but the real one-two gut punch is delivered when Addison breaks down in the elevator years after her ex-husband’s death, only to be eclipsed by Meredith inviting Addison to her home to meet her and Derek’s children. Cue the inconsolable crying.