When you watch a TV show as disaster-prone as Grey’s Anatomy is, and when you follow a protagonist as trauma-ridden as Meredith Grey is, you’d better keep the tissues close at hand.
Shonda Rhimes and the ABC hospital drama’s other writers have been pulling at our heartstrings for two decades now, but sometimes, they yank those strings hard enough to rip our hearts into shreds instead. Here are our selections for the saddest moments from the show’s run so far.
13. Bailey tells a desperate father he has to stop.
In Season 5’s “Sweet Surrender,” a dad (Elden Henson) is ready to travel to Mexico to find a cure for his daughter’s case of Tay-Sachs. But Bailey (Chandra Wilson) convinces him to stay with his daughter during her final moments, and he offers his daughter a white lie before she dies.
12. Ellis belittles Meredith.
Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), the mother of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) who has Alzheimer’s, becomes lucid in Season 3’s “Wishin’ and Hopin’” and immediately derides her daughter’s happiness. “Imagine my disappointment when I wake up after five years and discover that you’re no more than ordinary,” she seethes.
11. Cristina realizes Burke is gone.
In the Season 3 finale, Cristina (Sandra Oh) isn’t ready to marry Burke (Isaiah Washington), but she’s also not ready for him to flee Seattle, so she shows up. However, after he calls it off, and she comes home to find his place empty, she realizes she’s free… and starts sobbing and hyperventilating in Meredith’s arms.
10. Meredith tries to sacrifice herself.
Three season finales later, Meredith tries to save Derek by confronting the hospital shooter (Michael O’Neill) seeking revenge on the doctors he blames for his wife’s death. She tells him killing her would hurt all three of those docs. And to Cristina, she says, “Tell Derek that I love him and that I’m sorry.”
9. Bailey’s mother dies from COVID-19.
In Season 17’s “Fight the Power,” Elena (Bianca Taylor) dies from COVID-19 as daughter Bailey sits by her bedside and sings to her. Even more heartbreakingly, the episode ends with an onscreen list of hundreds of real-life COVID-19 casualties.
8. Adele realizes she has Alzheimer’s.
Passing a trial test isn’t the success that Adele (Loretta Devine) thinks it is in Season 7’s “This Is How We Do It.” She learns that she has Alzheimer’s but isn’t eligible for the trial. “It’s not fair. We’re finally happy, you and me … and now?” she tells Richard (James Pickens Jr.) between sobs.
7. Cristina can’t save Teddy’s husband.
Henry (Scott Foley), the first husband of Teddy (Kim Raver), doesn’t survive his lung surgery, and Cristina is kept in the dark about her patient’s identity until the end of the operation. Then, in Season 8’s “Suddenly,” she has to break the news to Teddy.
6. The injured John Doe reveals he’s George.
The horrifically injured man who jumped in front of a bus to save another pedestrian traces the numbers “0-0-7” on Meredith’s palm in the Season 5 finale. She knows the significance — “007” is the unflattering “license to kill” nickname George (T.R. Knight) earned as an intern — but the docs can’t save their colleague.
5. April finds out about her unborn son’s condition.
In Season 11’s “All I Could Do Was Cry,” April (Sarah Drew) is devastated to learn her unborn son, Samuel, has type II osteogenesis imperfecta. “My baby’s bones are breaking inside of my belly?” she says, astounded. “The place he’s supposed to be safest, but his bones are breaking.”
4. Meredith says goodbye to Derek.
When Derek (Patrick Dempsey) is critically injured in a car accident in Season 11’s “How to Save a Life,” Mer gets to the hospital, says her goodbyes, and lets the nurse disconnect the respirator, keeping her hand on his chest as he takes his last breath in one of the series’ most shocking deaths.
3. Denny dies before the hospital prom.
The original gang of interns goes to extraordinary measures to save Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), even cutting his LVAD wire to boost his transplant chances. But he dies anyway in the Season 2 finale, just moments before Izzie (Katherine Heigl) arrives to pick him up for the hospital prom.
2. Lexie dies of plane-crash injuries.
Season 8 ends with a plane crash in the wilderness, putting many of the docs in peril. Lexie (Chyler Leigh), pinned by wreckage, dies with Mark (Eric Dane) by her side — but not before he tells her they’re “meant to be.” (Even more tragically, Mark also dies after the docs are rescued.)
1. Cristina leaves Meredith.
Of all the heartbreaks of Grey’s Anatomy, the saddest, in our books, is Cristina’s exit. Sandra Oh’s character is the best of the series, and that loss still smarts, but at least Cristina didn’t leave Grey Sloan before giving twisted sister Meredith one more pep talk and one more dance-it-out session.
