The Best "Grey's Anatomy" Episodes Ever

    It's a beautiful day to save lives and watch Grey's Anatomy.

    Rachel Dube
    by Rachel Dube

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Grey's Anatomy has been my favorite TV show since it first started airing. Honestly, I've watched the whole series more than 4 times and it's still my absolute favorite. Here are 30 of the best Grey's Anatomy Episodes ever.

    30. "A Hard Day's Night"

    Izzie, Meredith, Cristina, and George looking at Dr. Bailey
    ABC

    The first-ever episode of Grey's Anatomy starts with Meredith engaged in a one-night-stand with a very hot guy. She then arrives at her first day as a surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital, only to find out that this 'random guy' is none other than Dr. Derek Shepherd, chief of neurosurgery. This first episode lays the foundation for everything, so it's a must watch.

    29. "I Was Made For Lovin' You"

    Derek holding up a "world's best big sister" t-shirt
    ABC

    Full of lots of surprises, this episode begins with Arizona starting her first day of Grey Sloan after the accident, Callie brainstorming a plan to fully fix Derek's hand, and April finding out she might be pregnant with Jackson's baby. Meanwhile, although her doctor told her that her uterus was "hostile", Meredith finds herself pregnant. To reveal it to Derek, she buys an adorable "World's Best Big Sister" shirt for Zola and asks Derek to look at it.

    28. "White Wedding"

    Derek holding Zola (as a baby) and smiling.
    ABC

    In true Grey's Anatomy fashion, this episode is full of tons of surprises. Aside from Callie and Arizona getting married, Meredith and Derek make the decision to adopt Zola.

    27. "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response"

    Cristina comforting Burke while he is in the E.R.
    Scott Garfield / Getty Images for ABC

    After cutting his LVAD wire, Izzie and George fight to keep Denny alive while Alex secures his heart. However, when Burke is supposed to be collecting his heart, he gets shot and ends up in the ER.

    26. "Get Up, Stand Up"

    Matthew and April both looking at Jackson speaking during the wedding.
    ABC

    Things go haywire at April and Matthew's wedding when Jackson interrupts to confess his love for her. Meanwhile, Cristina and Meredith fight about their careers, Derek receives a life-changing phone call, and Shane puts himself in a dangerous situation.

    25. "All I Could Do Was Cry"

    Jackson and April saying goodbye to their first child.
    ABC

    In this heartbreaking episode, April and Jackson must decide on the faith of their unborn child. What follows is a true tearjerker so grab those tissues.

    24. "My Shot"

    Dr. Bailey and all of Dr. Grey's patients standing up for her during the medical trial.
    Kelsey McNeal / Getty Images for ABC

    The long-awaited trial is ~finally~ here. In this episode, a decision is made on whether or not Meredith is able to keep her medical license since she committed insurance fraud. While sitting through the hearings, Meredith remembers that one of the doctors is one who killed Derek by not doing a proper CT scan. After the doctor asks her about Zola, she asks him how dare he speak about her daughter when he was the one who killed her father. What follows is a seizure, a potential postponed hearing, and all of Meredith's patients showing up to stand up for her.

    23. "The Center Won't Hold"

    Derek on a beach saying hello to Meredith after she collapses.
    ABC

    When Coronavirus hits the hospital, the doctors must grapple with the new changes to their careers, patients, and lives. In a terrifying plot twist, Meredith collapses in the parking lot and is reunited with Derek. The end of the episode left us all with SO many questions.

    22. "There's No 'I' In Team"

    All of the interns looking at Dr. Bailey while she tells them about the domino surgery.
    Eric McCandless / Getty Images for ABC

    The doctors, led by Bailey, aim to achieve an ~almost~ impossible domino surgery.

    21. "Leave A Light On"

    Dr. Bailey reading the goodbye letter from Alex.
    Gilles Mingasson / Getty Images

    In a shocking plot twist, the doctors receive letters from Alex explaining why he won't be returning to the hospital. In his letters, he explains that he reunited with Izzie and is staying with her and his children. He concludes his letter by telling Meredith that when Cristina left he was her person but, now, it's time for her to "be her own damn person."

    20. "Dream A Little Dream Of Me: Part 1"

    Owen and Cristina talking to each-other in the hospital.
    Scott Garfield/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

    Derek moves in with Meredith and things aren't as easy as they thought. Meanwhile, the infamous couple that is Cristina and Owen emerge when a freakish ice-storm hits the hospital.

    19. "Unaccompanied Minor"

    Meredith bringing Zola home for the first time alone.
    ABC

    After months of trying, Meredith and Derek finally receive custody of Zola. The happy news is ruined when Alex tells Derek that he caught Meredith messing with the Alzheimers trial. Meanwhile, Mark tells Lexie they shouldn't be together and Cristina discovers she is pregnant with Owen's baby.

    18. "Begin The Begin"

    ABC

    Izzie and Denny meet and begin developing feelings for each-other. During this, Addison and Derek try to work things out and George helps Bex, an intersex patient, grapple with her new reality.

    17. "Didn't We Almost Have It All?"

    Cristina and Meredith discussing whether or not she wants to walk down the aisle.
    ABC

    Cristina and Burke's wedding day is finally here. What follows is Cristina getting left at the altar and a lot of drama. At the same time, the interns get the results of their exams, Derek is announced as the new chief, and Callie and George decide to have a baby.

    16. "The Sound of Silence"

    Meredith getting medically cared for by the doctors after she was attacked.
    ABC

    After Meredith is attacked by a patient, Penny finds her and the doctors race to save her life. What follows is a brutal recovery with everyone remaining by her side as she slowy recovers.

    15. "Fear Of The Unknown"

    Cristina giving her famous, "He's not the sun, you are" speech to Meredith before she leaves for Switzerland.
    ABC

    Before her departure for Switzerland, Cristina says her goodbyes during her last hurrah at Grey Sloan. Before she leaves, she makes sure to have one final dance party with Meredith where she gives her a much-needed talk about Derek, uttering the famous line of, "He is not the sun. You are."

    14. "Silent All These Years"

    Female medical staff line the halls as Abby is wheeled into the OR by Jo and Teddy.
    Mitch Haaseth / Getty Images for ABC

    What starts out out as a backstory of Jo finding her birth mother (and a product of rape), ends up being one of the most powerful stories of sexual assault shown on Grey's. Abby, a rape victim, comes to the hospital for treatment and, after telling Jo her story, receives a rape kit. This is then portrayed in a near-silent scene that shows what the kit fully entails — lots of swabs, blood tests, and tears. When it is later revealed that she needs a life-saving surgery, Abby is wheeled down the hospital hallways surrounded by a wall of women, who join together to create a safe pathway so she won't have to see a man on her way to surgery.

    13. "As We Know It"

    Meredith with her hand on the bomb with Cristina giving her a lecture as to why she did it.
    ABC

    The second part of a two-part episode, Meredith steps in and puts her hand inside of a patient's chest cavity that has a bomb inside of it after, Hannah, the paramedic let go. While this is happening, Bailey is giving birth and her husband is inside of open on the table in Derek's OR.

    12. "Drowning On Dry Land"

    Derek pulling Meredith out of the water after she drowned.
    ABC

    After Meredith trips and falls into the water, Derek finds her drowning and pulls her out of the water. What follows is the doctors working tirelessly to save her life even though it seems hopeless. During this time, Izzie makes burr holes into a patient's head with no equipment on site and Alex tries to find the Jane Doe's family.

    11. "Death and All His Friends"

    The shooter pointing the gun at Cristina and Jackson in the OR with Derek open on the table.
    Danny Feld / Getty Images / ABC

    An active shooter situation hits the hospital, and many get shot, including Derek. While attempting to save his life, and stop the shooter from hurting others, Jackson Avery makes it seem like Derek is dead on the OR table. It fools the shooter, and misleads Meredith into thinking that Derek is dead. Since she's pregnant, the stress of seeing Derek dead causes her to have a miscarriage. Although it's super sad, thankfully, Derek ends up making it out alive.

    10. "Sanctuary"

    The shooter pointing the gun at Derek.
    Danny Feld / Getty Images / ABC

    The first of a two-part episode starts out as an ordinary day but quickly takes a turn when a shooter, Gary Clark, enters the hospital to seek revenge for the death of his wife. Although his original plan was to just kill Derek, many more casualties occur and the hospital is in disarray.

    9. "How To Save A Life"

    Meredith saying goodbye to Derek before she has them unplug him.
    ABC

    Get ready to cry your eyes out because this one is a tear-jerker! After one of his fellows in Washington D.C kisses him, Derek takes a plane back to Seattle to tell Meredith how much he misses and loves her. On his way to back to D.C., for one last trip, Derek witnesses a car accident and stops to rescue the victims. Unfortunately, shortly after he saves everyone, he himself is involved in a car accident. The paramedics who find him take him to a poorly equipped hospital, and by the time they figure out that he needs a CT scan, he is brain dead. Meredith is called and makes the decision to take him off of life-support thus ending their love story.

    8. "Freedom: Part 2"

    Meredith standing inside the house of candles that she built while speaking to Derek.
    ABC

    Worth watching based solely on the incredible romantic gesture Meredith makes for Derek. In order to show him that she trusts him, Meredith lays the shape of their future house down in candles.

    7. "Raindrops Falling On My Head"

    Cristina and Meredith talking in a bar.
    ABC

    This episode begins with Meredith finding out Cristina is pregnant with Burke's baby. At the end of the episode, Cristina reveals she wants an abortion and that she put Meredith down as her emergency contact. "You're my person," Cristina tells Meredith for the first time, officially cementing the single most iconic friendship on TV.

    6. "Who's Zooming Who"

    Derek and Meredith are confronted by Addison for the first time.
    ABC

    Things are finally starting to feel almost ~normal~ for Meredith and Derek when, out of the blue, Addison, Derek's wife and renowned neonatologist, appears and everything changes. Talk about drama waiting to happen!

    5. "Losing My Religion"

    ABC

    Beginning with Denny proposing to Izzie, and her accepting, only for him to have a stroke shortly after and die, this episode is one full of many twists and turns. Following his death, Izzie blows up her medical career by quitting and admitting she's the one who unplugged Denny’s LVAD. All the while, Meredith hooks up with Derek at the prom and is then faced with a deciding between Derek or, her veterinarian boyfriend, Finn.

    4. "Flight"

    Mark saying goodbye to Lexie before she dies.
    ABC

    Admit it, we all cried during this episode where Meredith, Derek, Cristina, Arizona, Lexie, and Mark all got into a plane crash. While everyone is struggling with injuries and finding a way home, Lexie tragically dies while Mark confesses his love to her.

    3. "Elevator Love Letter"

    ABC

    Beginning with Owen choking Cristina due to his PTSD, this episode is an eventful one. What follows is George being upset at Izzie for not telling him she has cancer and Derek preparing to operate for the first time, since his injury on Izzie nonetheless. After all goes well, Derek proposes to Meredith in an elevator plastered with MRI scans of all the successful surgeries they did together.

    2. "Bring The Pain"

    Meredith giving Derek the "pick me. choose me. love me" speech.
    ABC

    The episode where Meredith delivers the "Pick me. Choose me. Love me." speech to Derek so that he signs the divorce papers to Addison and stays with her. Notably, the speech is one of the most iconic on Grey's Anatomy. Aside from that, this episode also entails George saving a patient's life in an elevator.

    1. "Now Or Never"

    Meredith and Derek writing their vows on a post-it note.
    ABC

    Toeing the line between romantic and tragic, this episode begins with Izzie slowly losing her memory after her cancer surgery and everyone realizing that the terribly injured patient, 007, is George. However, things make a turn for the best when Meredith and Derek get married on a post-it note.

    What are some of your favorite Grey's Anatomy episodes? Tell us in the comments below.