Grey’s Anatomy, over the years, has developed into something like a medical drama meets soap opera. Sure, there are doctors doing their jobs and helping patients, but they work in some of the most outlandish circumstances out there. While it makes good television, some decisions from the writing staff have left fans scratching their heads.
Even with the enormous popularity, talented writing of creator Shonda Rhimes, and outstanding acting, the show has had its fair share of head-scratching and occasionally strange plotlines. From seeing ghosts to breaking the law, Grey’s Anatomy is nothing short of creative, yet confusing narratives.
Derek’s Magical Phone
On his way to resign from the brain mapping project in Washington in season 11’s “How To Save A Life”, Derek witnesses a car accident and goes to aid several seriously injured civilians, managing to help everyone involved. As he continues driving he decides to pull over to answer a phone call. The confusing aspect is not his death or why he pulled over, but more in how he was even able to receive a call.
Earlier in the episode he mentions that he has no service and that his phone doesn’t work. However, he can still take calls. In addition, Derek elects to pull over with the car stretched horizontally over two lanes. It’s a bit puzzling that Derek, a very popular Grey’s Anatomy character, gets magical reception, answers a call with a car in a weird and illegal position, and dies.
Ava/Rebecca Pope
In season 3’s “Walk On Water”, the interns help aid multiple victims involved in a ferryboat accident. Alex Karev meets and helps save a young, pregnant woman suffering from several facial injuries and amnesia.
She wakes up after multiple surgeries to see Karev who she believes is her husband, which is not, and leads him to nickname her Ava. Later in the series, Ava and Karev begin a romantic relationship, but it ends due to Karev’s inability to help her borderline personality disorder and her admission into a psychiatric hospital in the season 4 finale, “Freedom, Part 2”. Ethics of dating a patient aside, the entire plot just ends up looking silly in hindsight and too over-the-top, even for the show.
George’s Departure And Death
George O’Malley’s death is the saddest and most heartbreaking moment in all of Grey’s Anatomy. His death in season 5 entitled “Now Or Never” was the most frustrating plotline of the show. Over the episodes leading to the season finale, George begins to fall in love with Lexie whom he distances himself from, finds a sudden interest in trauma surgery, and joins the U.S. Army.
On the day of his deployment to Iraq, George puts himself in front of a moving bus to save a woman. His co-workers later learn that the unrecognizable John Doe is George before he dies. The real headscratcher, however, terms from the suddenness of his abrupt departure, especially as he was a pretty popular character on the series. In addition, there were a lot of coincidences that led to the reveal that the unrecognizable John Doe was George.
The Musical Episode
Everyone loves a good song and dance, but this was unnecessary for the show. In “Song Beneath The Song”, the entire dispatch of doctors tries to save the life of Callie after she and Arizona were involved in a head-on car crash.
The episode contains multiple songs that connect to the episode like How To Save A Life by The Fray and Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, but they are awkwardly implemented, acted, and sung. The first song is sung by an unscathed Callie that is looking onto her own body as doctors try to stop her from bleeding out. The musical adds nothing to the story, makes little sense, and disrupts the overarching plotlines of the season.
Izzie With Denny’s Ghost
Despite performing an unlicensed and highly illegal method in an attempt to save Denny, Izzie still managed to continue practicing as a doctor. Unfortunately, just as Izzie is coming to terms with his passing, she begins experiencing dizziness and hallucinations in season 5’s “What A Difference”.
Izzie has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma. Over the next two episodes to round out the season, Izzie starts seeing Denny as a ghost, living among everyone alive. She even has dreams of him with her on a beach. Simultaneously, she and Karev get engaged and married. It teeters on the border of being both sad and strange, which takes away from Izzie’s development after Denny’s death and her relationship with Karev.
Lexie And Sloan’s Deaths
In the final episode of season 8, “Flight”, Derek, Meredith, Lexie, Mark, Cristina, and Arizona are all involved in a deadly plane crash in the woods on their way to Idaho to assist with surgery. The plane crashed and Meredith’s half-sister, Lexie dies shortly after the crash from a large piece of debris crushing her. Following Lexie’s death, Mark goes into a coma due to major chest wounds.
In the premiere of season 9, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”, viewers see Mark taken off the ventilator and pronounced dead. What makes it confusing is that both Lexie and Mark die without finally being together. They are the only ones to die even with four other doctors with them.
Meredith And All Her Sisters
Throughout Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith Grey has found out, met, reconnected, and grown to have many sisters. The first sisters she learns of are Lexie and Molly in season 2. They are both half-sisters from her father’s side. To add to the confusion, Meredith learns she has another half-sister, Maggie Pierce, from her mother’s side.
The fact that Meredith has sisters is not the problem as people learn about surprise siblings. The problem comes in learning about all these relations without any overlap, which makes it seem like a cheap source of drama instead of a plot.
The Unexploded Bomb
One of the craziest and wildest episodes of Grey’s Anatomy is season 2’s “As We Know It”. The hospital is put on full emergency lockdown due to a bomb, which is in the chest of a man. Meredith is holding onto the bomb inside the man’s chest in Preston Burke’s operating room. To add to the absurd bomb inside the chest, it happens to be from a self-inflicted bazooka shot.
To cap it off, the bomb was safely removed, only to blow up in the hallway as it was being carried out by the bomb squad. While there are a lot of weird incidents happening during the show’s long history. This one stands out for happening early on and just being flat-out weird.
Izzie’s Criminal Behavior And Denny’s Death
Izzie and Denny’s relationship was alone confusing but was made even more confusing in the season 2 episode, “Deterioration Of The Fight Or Flight Response”. In season 2, Izzie takes extreme measures to try and get her fiancé a possible life-saving heart transplant. To get him further up the donor list Izzie cuts his LVAD wire and his heart begins to stop pumping blood.
Several interns including Meredith, George, and Cristina. Not only should they have all been fired, but Izzie should have never been allowed to practice ever again, especially after Denny dies hours later from a stroke. The fact that they all kept their jobs, especially Izzie, is absolutely ludicrous and would only happen on TV.
Cristina Is Stabbed By An Icicle
This incident is a prime example of going too far over the top. At the end of the first episode of season 5, “Dream A Little Dream Of Me: Part 1: Ep. 1”, Cristina slips on the pavement just outside the ER entrance. As Meredith is laughing at her innocent little tumble, Cristina is impaled by a sizable icicle falling from the ER overhang.
It is one of the most bizarre injuries suffered by a doctor in the series, and a viewer would think it would be important given how bizarre it is. While it adds suspense, it ended up being a minor injury and nothing of importance to the overall season of Grey’s Anatomy.
