Season eleven of Grey’s Anatomy is the first season of the series without Dr. Cristina Yang, and Meredith spends a lot of the season dealing with her best friend moving to Zurich to practice medicine. With Cristina’s departure also comes a whole new cast of charters including Maggie Pierce, who, it is revealed later on, is the half-sister of Meredith.
Maggie’s mom was Meredith’s mom, Ellis Grey and her father is Richard Webber. Ellie and Richard had an affair when Meredith was a child and Maggie is the product of that affair.
When I Grow Up (7.8)
Grey Sloane Memorial Hospital is having another busy day, which is made busier by a group of children who are visiting the hospital on a field trip. Webber, Amelia, Derek, and Mark, each meet the group and talk about their specialties and their day-to-day tasks. When the field trip moves to the emergency room, the timing couldn’t be worse as an ambulance pulls up carrying two police officers with gunshot wounds, giving the school children quite the show.
Could We Start Again, Please? (7.9)
Amelia’s addiction comes to light and gets in the way of her work in this episode. A couple are brought into the emergency room by ambulance after falling two stories from a burning building. At first, it seems the wife, Hattie, is dead.
Hattie’s husband, Norris holds onto Hattie and refuses to let her go. Meredith and Amelia convince Norris to let go and when he does, Meredith finds a weak pulse on Hattie. Amelia goes to update Norris and Hattie’s daughter, Sarah, and the two women recognize each other because they’re both recovering addicts.
Don’t Dream It’s Over (7.9)
The doctors face a lot of challenges in this episode when a pregnant wife and her husband are brought to the ER after a car crashes into their home, injuring both of them. The driver of the car, Martin, suffers from Alzheimer’s and his wife accidentally left her car keys out when she went to take a shower, giving Martin an opportunity to steal the car and cause the accident. Maggie voices her opinions about Sally and Martin’s situation in front of Richard, unaware that his wife, Adele died from the disease.
Risk (8.0)
This episode is packed full of drama. Dr. Herman, played by Geena Davis, has been living life to the fullest recently by sleeping with younger men, eating ice cream whenever she wants, and just taking each day as it comes.
Arizona suspects something bigger is going on and Herman tells her she has a tumor. Arizona shows Herman’s scans to Amelia who deems the tumor a “perfect butterfly tumor”. Amelia is amazed at what she sees and eager to help her colleague.
Only Mama Knows (8.1)
At this point in the season, both Meredith and Richard know that Maggie is Meredith’s half-sister and the daughter Webber conceived with Ellis Grey. Meredith struggles with the information and searches for clues in her mother’s journals and old movie clips of Ellis, while at the same time, Maggie sends out an email informing the hospital that she is resigning. The doctors come together to convince Maggie to stay.
Time Stops (8.2)
Meredith and the rest of the doctors at Grey Sloane Memorial Hospital are still recovering from losing one of their own, Dr. Derek Shepherd, Meredith’s husband.
A major trauma comes through the doors of the hospital’s emergency room after a tunnel collapses in rush hour traffic killing at least thirteen people and injuring many, many more. The doctors rush to help the injured patients and Webber jumps to clear Meredith, needing all the help they can get with the incoming traumas.
You’re My Home (8.2)
Picking up where “Time Stops” left off, in the final episode of the season, the doctors are rushing to save the lives of injured patients from the collapsed tunnel. At the same time, Meredith continues talking to Amelia about how she is considering selling her and Derek’s dream house. Amelia is trying to stay strong, but by the end of the episode, she breaks. Owen finds her in Meredith’s bedroom holding an old cellphone with a message from Derek on it. She plays the message as she cries.
All I Could Do Was Cry (8.5)
April and Jackson are dealt a devastating blow when they learn that their unborn child has type 1 osteogenesis and won’t live. On top of that, the baby’s condition worsens the longer he stays in utero and his bones are breaking as he grows, which means the baby is in pain.
April and Jackson decide to induce labor so their baby doesn’t have to suffer, knowing that the baby will die as soon as he is delivered. It’s heartbreaking to watch April and Jackson go through this.
Staring At The End (8.5)
When all of the doctors learn about Dr. Nicole Herman’s case, they are fascinated by it. Amelia is going to operate on Herman’s tumor and she gives a lecture to her colleagues about her plans for the procedure. While Amelia is prepping for the big surgery, Arizona and Dr. Herman are taking on and completing as many surgeries as possible before Herman herself must go under the knife. The two doctors bond over their surgeries, making their relationship even stronger and the risks of Herman’s procedure even more prevalent.
The Distance (8.9)
Dr. Nicole Herman is on the operating table and her life is now in Dr. Amelia Shepherd’s hands. A gallery full of doctors and colleagues watch as Amelia removes the tumor from Nicole’s brain. The surgery is long and stressful, but it is successful. Amelia gets the entire tumor and the doctors wait to see if Nicole wakes up, which she does. She seems to be in almost perfect post-surgery condition. Amelia is relieved. Standing in front of Herman’s before and after x-rays, Amelia feels like a superhero.
