On Monday, the hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy turned 12 years old. To celebrate that milestone, let’s look back on a moment from each season that made you cry and throw a box of tissues at your television set.
Season 1: When Derek’s wife shows up at the hospital — For all of nine episodes of season 1, every Grey’s fan was hoping MerDer would be the “it” couple of the hospital. Right when things were looking up for them Derek’s wife, Addison Shepard, shows up and seemingly ruins what looks like a great relationship. Luckily, it all worked out in the end — well, sort of, but we’ll get to that later.
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Season 2: When Denny Duquette died — Despite unconventional attempts to keep the love of her life alive, Izzie is unable to save her beloved fiance. The relationship was weird in the beginning, but the couple’s love for one another dominated every episode. Watching Denny die was one of the hardest scenes to watch in Grey’s history.
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Season 3: When Cristina was left at the altar and had a breakdown — Cristina Yang had her fair share of relationships while on Grey’s, and she almost married attending Preston Burke in season three. Yang was painted as one of the least emotional characters on the show, but when it came to being left at the altar, she broke down in her best friend Meredith’s arms. More than one box of tissues were needed for that emotional moment.
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Season 4: When a boy encased in cement had to face his “friends” — When a boy comes into the hospital as a big ball of cement, the doctors have to work quickly to save him. The worst part about the situation was the boy did it to make some friends like him and get a girl to like him. The things kids do to be liked is sad.
Season 5: George’s death — This death is debatably the saddest of the Grey’s deaths. George O’Malley was the most likeable character of the first five seasons, and when he died, a part of us died with him. The worst part was the fact we didn’t know it was him for most of the episode.
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Season 6: The hospital shooting — The two episodes that covered the shooting at the hospital sent viewers on an emotional rollercoaster. Many people died and many people were shot, including McDreamy himself.
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Season 7: Callie and Arizona get in a car crash — To get away from the hustle and bustle of the hospital, Arizona and Callie head out on a weekend away and end up in a car crash. Though the crash went on to produce the worst musical episode in television history, watching a pregnant Callie in a hospital bed fighting for her life was heartbreaking.
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Season 8: Lexie dies in the plane crash — The plane crash in general was super emotional, but Lexie dying takes the cake. Everyone sobbed as people said their goodbyes while she was crushed by part of a plane. Lexie was such a great character and we are still not over her death.
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Season 9: Mark also dies as a result of the plane crash — Lexie’s love, Mark Sloane, also died following the plane crash. A whole episode was dedicated to watching him die, which is very cruel. The death of McSteamy, his Grey’s nickname, caused a lot of emotional turmoil for fans.
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Season 10: Cristina leaves the show for good — Cristina was Meredith’s person, and she moved to Zurich. How could she do that? One-half of the dynamic duo is not enough. Cristina is arguably a better character than Meredith and we are still not over her exit from the show.
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Season 11: Derek dies, but he really didn’t have to — Not only did we lose McDreamy, but we also lost one half of the Grey’s power couple MerDer. The worst part about it was Derek could have been saved at the hospital but no one there was capable of helping him. This led to Meredith pulling the plug on Derek and running away from the hospital.
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Season 12: Meredith gets attacked — Coming back after her husband’s death, Meredith faced some major problems. She was attacked by a patient and no one was there to help her. She ended up in the hospital for a long time and could not talk. Meredith is a strong person, but her real emotions came out during that time. Those episodes were some of the hardest to watch.
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