22 "Grey's Anatomy" Details That Probably Went Way Over Your Head

    How many did you already spot?

    Jemima Skelley
    by Jemima Skelley

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Warning: Spoilers ahead!

    1. Meredith's phone background in Season 18 is a photo of her kids under the Christmas tree – which looks a lot like the scene from Season 2 of George, Mer, and Izzie lying under the tree.

    A side by side image of a phone with a Christmas tree background, and an image of Izzie, George, and Meredith laying under the same tree
    ABC

    2. The outfit that Izzie wore on her first date with Alex is the same dress she wore when they first met at the intern mixer.

    Izzie, George, and Meredith lie on top of bed together
    ABC

    3. Every single episode is named after a song, except one. The first episode of Season 14 is titled "1-800-799-7233," the phone number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

    A still from Grey's Anatomy showing Dr Jo Wilson talking to a man outside an elevator
    ABC

    The episode was about Jo Wilson's abusive ex.

    4. And the very first song played on Episode 1 of the show, Rilo Kiley's "Portions for Foxes," also played at the end of the 300th episode, when Meredith won her own Harper Avery Award.

    Cristina, George, Meredith, Izzie, and Bailey in the first episode of Grey's Anatomy
    ABC

    5. Back in Season 4, just after Burke won the Harper Avery Award and didn't give her credit, there's a scene where Cristina sings "Like a Virgin" while working in the morgue. The same song plays in the background when Burke offered Cristina a job at his hospital in Switzerland in Season 10.

    Cristina Yang talking to Dr Burke on the steps of a hospital
    ABC

    6. In Season 11, we can see that the model of a spine in Callie's lab is colored in blue, pink, and purple...like the bisexual pride flag.

    Callie and Jackson talk in a hospital lab, there is a pink/purple/blue spine model in the foreground
    ABC

    7. Also in Season 11, Stephanie is swiping through a dating app, and one of the guys she X's is a photo of Denny.

    A hand holding a phone with a photo of a man and a red X through his photo
    ABC

    8. In Season 10, Derek stitches butterfly wings for Zola, which made another appearance six seasons later.

    A side by side of Derek holding butterfly wings, and Zola wearing the same wings
    ABC

    9. And in Season 16, we also see that Zola still has the lion that Derek gave her in Season 6 when she was first adopted.

    A side by side of Derek holding baby Zola and a stuffed lion, and Zola in a hospital bed with Meredith and the same lion
    ABC

    10. In Season 6, Richard stopped in at a place called The Rhimes Cafe, surely named for the show's creator, Shonda Rhimes.

    A woman wearing a pink T-shirt with a logo that reads The Rhimes Cafe
    ABC

    11. Derek once told Meredith his dying wish, but she totally ignored it.

    Meredith Grey looking at Derek in a coma in a hospital bed
    ABC

    In Season 1, when they first started dating in secret, Derek told Meredith that if he was ever on his last legs, he wanted nothing more than for his sisters to be around him as he died. 

    Of course, after the Season 11 car crash when Meredith had to take him off life support, she didn't call any of his family before making the decision.

    12. According to a flier she posted looking for roommates in Season 1, Meredith was anti-Bush.

    A still from Grey's Anatomy, showing a flier on a noticeboard advertising for roommates
    ABC

    "Absolutely no Bush supporters need apply," it read. Also it's kind of a mindfuck that Grey's has been on TV since the Bush era. 

    13. And Amelia is probably anti-Trump, if her answer after brain surgery is anything to go off. When asked if she knows who the current president is, she replied: "I wish I didn't."

    A still from Grey's Anatomy showing Amelia in a hospital bed, Dr Koracick standing behind her with scans of her brain on a computer
    ABC

    This happened in Season 14, which aired in 2017. 

    14. MerDer's wedding Post-it Note actually came from Cristina, who wanted to give Meredith something old, new, borrowed, and blue before the City Hall ceremony.

    A framed blue post-it note with wedding vows and signatures written on it
    ABC

    When Mer told Cristina that they were planning to get hitched at City Hall, she gave Meredith an old shopping list on a new sticky note, and let her borrow her favorite pen (which was blue). That sticky note ended up being where Meredith and Derek wrote their vows.

    15. Izzie's dog poster hung in the hospital for 10 whole seasons.

    A poster for a playful protective puppy who needs a loving home
    ABC

    In Season 2, Izzie tried to get rid of Doc the dog by hanging fliers in the hospital. Even though she left the show in Season 6, the poster could still be seen hanging on the wall in Season 12. 

    16. In Season 3, George pulls out a bottle of whiskey, which is clearly Knob Creek, but the prop department changed the label to read, 'Door River.' Clever!

    George and Izzie laughing and drinking from glasses at night
    ABC

    17. Addison's return to the show in Season 18 sounded a lot like her first introduction way back in Season 1, where she greeted Meredith by saying, "You must be the woman who's been screwing my husband."

    Bailey, Addison, and Richard in a still from Grey's Anatomy
    ABC

    She approaches a group of doctors with the line: "You must be the group that's been screwing up the program."

    18. When Alex sends Meredith his case arraignment number after beating up DeLuca, he adds, "See you in three to five with good behavior," to the end of his email.

    A phone showing an email from Alex to Meredith
    ABC

    19. On Meredith's first day of being a resident in Season 4, she tells her 'rules' to her intern group...which are exactly the same rules that Bailey gave them in the pilot.

    A Grey's Anatomy screen cap showing George and three other interns, he is passing a notebook to someone
    ABC

    When Meredith gets to rule 3, George, who was repeating his intern year, had to fill in and remind her that the rule is "Don’t wake me unless the patient is dying."

    20. The OB-GYN who gives Sloan an ultrasound in Season 6 is the same actor who played a peds intern in Season 1.

    Two stills from Grey's Anatomy showing the same actress, one labeled S1E2 and the other labeled S6E11
    ABC

    21. In Season 3, there's a sticker encouraging people to get tested for syphilis on Alex's locker door — a sneaky throwback to the syphilis outbreak in Season 1.

    Alex standing in front of an open locker, which is decorated with a photo and a sticker saying 'syphilis, get the test'
    ABC

    22. In the Season 18 premiere, Meredith is wearing the exact same shirt she wore in the show's pilot episode.

    A side by side of Meredith in Season 18 and in Season 1; she is wearing the same shirt in both photos
    ABC

    Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith, confirmed it on Jimmy Kimmel. "It was my idea to pay homage to many things and many different seasons and give the audience things to watch out for and to plant Easter eggs," she said.