Fun Facts About Popular Episodes of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Season 6, Episode 1: “Good Mourning”

During this sad hour, viewers learned that Izzie was alive but George had died. The doctors mourned even as Derek and Meredith celebrated their new marriage.

Fact No. 1: Showrunner and writer Krista Vernoff revealed that Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) was very pregnant during this episode’s filming, so the crew had to come up with “creative staging” to hide her body.

Fact No. 2: This was the first episode of Grey’s where Jessica Capshaw (Arizona Robbins) was a series regular and not just a recurring character.

Season 7, Episode 1: “With You I’m Born Again”

Following a mass shooting, the doctors tried to heal. Cristina and Owen got engaged, Derek went to jail for reckless driving, and Mer pretended she was totally fine.

Fact No. 1: Like his character Derek, actor/professional race-car driver Patrick Dempsey loves driving fast cars — but thankfully, much more safely than his on-screen persona.

Fact No. 2: Beginning with this episode, Sarah Drew (April) and Jesse Williams (Jackson) became series regulars.

Season 8, Episode 10: “Suddenly”

Teddy learned that her husband Henry had died (and that Cristina and Owen hid the news from her), and Meredith and Derek fought for custody of baby Zola.

Fact No. 1: One of the songs in the episode was “Skin” by Zola Jesus, who coincidentally shares the same first name as the baby Mer and Derek were working to adopt.

Fact No. 2: This was the first of several episodes directed by Ron Underwood, who helmed the Hollywood hits Tremors and Mighty Joe Young.

Season 9, Episode 1: “Going, Going, Gone”

In the wake of a plane crash, Mark Sloan died from his injuries, Arizona adjusted to being a new amputee, and Cristina moved to Minnesota.

Fact No. 1: Capshaw told TVLine that to make it look like Arizona was missing a leg, the special-effects team digitally removed her real leg from scenes and replaced it with a fake limb.

Fact No. 2: If the song “Portions for Foxes” during Meredith’s scenes with her new interns sounded familiar, it’s because the Rilo Kiley tune was also played during her very first day in season one.

Season 10, Episode 3: “Everybody’s Crying Mercy”

This episode featured Richard recovering from a wild electrocution accident, April finally passing the board exams, and Cristina and Owen taking steps to end their marriage. 

Fact No. 1: Joey Luthman, the actor who played heart-transplant patient Michael, previously played a patient named Evan on Private Practice.

Season 11, Episode 1: “I Must Have Lost it on the Wind”

After Cristina left for Europe, Maggie stepped in as the new head of cardio. Derek, meanwhile, gave up his White House gig to be with Meredith and their kids.

Fact No. 1: This was the first episode of Grey’s not to star Sandra Oh, but it did bump Kelly McCreary (Maggie) and Caterina Scorsone (Amelia) up to becoming series regulars.

Fact No. 2: This was the eighth episode of Grey’s directed by Kevin McKidd, who’d go on to helm dozens of other hours of Grey’s.