Grey’s Anatomy is one of the longest-running medical shows on television right now. Clocking in at 21 Seasons with another green-lit and in the works, Grey’s Anatomy has explored over 20 years of character arcs and plotlines. Surgeons at Grey-Sloan have fallen in love with each other, won awards, died, left for other positions and the stories of those working at the hospital continue.
With a massive cast list, and countless narrative threads, it’s not surprising that some plot-points fall through the cracks. Even though the writers’ room on Grey’s Anatomy is normally stellar in its continuity with the surgeons at Grey-Sloan, there are several details throughout Grey’s Anatomy’s run that simply don’t make any sense.
10. Tucker Left Grey’s Anatomy As Fast As He Appeared
When viewers first meet Tucker Jones in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 2, Episode 5, “Bring the Pain”, Tucker’s marriage to Miranda Bailey has problems similar to those of other couples on Grey’s Anatomy. For Tucker, it’s that Bailey is consistently favoring her career over time with him, even letting her career take precedence over their tenth anniversary dinner. Even after Bailey gave birth to their son, Tucker Jr., in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 2, Episode 17, “As We Know It”, Tucker was still frustrated that Bailey wasn’t spending enough time with either him or their child. Bailey eventually divorced Tucker in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 5, Episode 24, “Now or Never,” because Tucker gave her an ultimatum: Bailey’s job or their marriage.
In the end, Bailey chose her job, and by Grey’s Anatomy, Season 6, Episode 10, “Holidaze”, Bailey and Tucker had divorced. What doesn’t make sense about Tucker’s departure, though, isn’t that it was because of the ultimatum he gave Bailey, it’s that he disappeared so quickly after Bailey divorced him. There were plenty of other issues that needed to be resolved with Bailey and Tucker’s marriage. Even though Bailey chose to raise Tucker Jr. as a single mother, viewers had no details about Tucker’s legal or financial responsibility as Tucker Jr.’s father, or if Bailey had worked out a custody agreement with him. Given that Tucker was attached to family life and his son, it’s strange that he would disappear so quickly after it dissolved.
9. Grey Sloan Has Unbelievable Surgical Star Power
Over the seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, many surgeons have come and gone. Characters like Derek Shepherd, Arizona Robbins, Maggie Pierce, Ellis Grey, Addison Montgomery, and Owen Hunt are beloved by the fandom. They were each established as well-respected surgeons in their fields before they arrived at Grey-Sloan, and many of them worked at Grey-Sloan in tandem, which made Grey-Sloan one of the most well-staffed hospitals in the nation.
Statistically, it doesn’t make sense for a hospital to be as well-staffed with so many world-famous surgeons. No hospital would ever have the leading surgical expert in their field in every department. Not only that, but Grey-Sloan repeatedly produced surgeons that became world-famous. Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang are both products of Grey-Sloan. Such surgical expertise would normally be spread out among several hospitals, not all centered on one.
8. The Interns at Grey Sloan Keep Disappearing
Some Intern Classes Were Developed, Others Completely Lost
The original intern class of Grey’s Anatomy included Meredith, Alex, Cristina, George, and Izzie. Throughout Grey’s Anatomy, no other intern class is thoroughly covered until Season 19. Many other intern classes are introduced in the interim, yet only one or a few of them become main focuses throughout their journeys at Grey-Sloan. Lexie Grey is the focus of her intern class, and Jo Wilson’s class gets a fair amount of focus before she becomes the only member of her class to remain.
Core characters like Levi Schmitt, Taryn Helm, and Andrew DeLuca are all part of different intern classes, with classmates that quickly melt into the background. Though some of this can be excused with Richard Webber’s iconic speech in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 1, Episode 1, “A Hard Day’s Night”, citing that multiple interns will wash out of the program for various reasons, it still makes no sense that the show wouldn’t bother to reference characters’ classmates, given that they are supposed to be closely bonded together while also competing.
7. Callie’s One-Woman Department at Grey-Sloan
Even as a Resident, She Operated Like an Attending
Dr. Callie Torres and Dr. Addison Montgomery’s talking during lunch outside the hospital on Grey’s Anatomy
When Callie Torres first appeared in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 2, Episode 19, “What Have I Done To Deserve This?”, she was introduced as “The Ortho Goddess”. Throughout her tenure on the show, Callie went on to perform countless ground-breaking surgeries, including rebuilding a man’s leg out of titanium rods in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 5, Episode 8, “These Ties That Bind”, reconstructing a veteran’s anatomy so that he was ambulating on one leg in Season 12, Episode 13, “All Eyez on Me”, and being the one to reconstruct Derek’s hand when no other orthopedic surgeon dared to in Season 9, Episode 2, “Remember the Time”.
While Callie’s accomplishments in orthopedics should be celebrated, what makes them strange is that some occurred while Callie was still in residency. Between Seasons 5 and 6 of Grey’s Anatomy, Callie transitions from being a surgical resident to an attending, long after some of her accomplishments were achieved. Residents are normally watched much more closely than Callie was in her field, as shown by how the attendings watched Meredith’s class when they were residents. Callie was also seemingly the only attending in orthopedics at Grey-Sloan, and ran a one-woman team while every other department had supporting residents, even interns.
6. Richard Webber’s Sudden Hip Replacement
In Grey’s Anatomy, Season 16, Episode 21, “Put On A Happy Face”, Webber’s debilitating symptoms from episodes prior came to a head when it was decided that Bailey would perform exploratory surgery to determine what was causing Webber’s symptoms. It was only just before Bailey cut Webber open that DeLuca stormed the operating room, declaring that Webber’s symptoms were from a case of cobalt poisoning because of a hip replacement Webber had received in Boston three years prior.
Given that Webber is such an integral part of the Grey’s Anatomy cast, it doesn’t make any sense that not a single character on Grey’s Anatomy would’ve been aware that Webber had had a hip replacement. Even if Webber had made the choice not to be operated on in Seattle, anyone getting surgery would have been required to have a post-operation support system, meaning someone at Grey-Sloan would have been required to know. This could have been Catherine, Maggie, Meredith, or even Bailey, yet none of them knew of Webber’s procedure.
5. Owen Keeps Repeating the Same Dating Mistake
He Never Learns About the Women He Wants
Throughout the seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Owen has been in relationships with key female characters: he was married to Cristina for three years, married to Amelia for two years, and is now married for a third time to Teddy. Owen’s marriage to Cristina ended because Cristina did not want to have kids, a concept that Owen couldn’t understand. His marriage to Amelia ended because of her brain tumor. Following the events of Grey’s Anatomy, Season 21, Episode 14, “Love In the Ice Age”, after failing to remediate their marriage, Owen’s marriage to Teddy may also be ending.
Grey’s Anatomy, regardless of the season, has a cast that’s full of characters who are all flawed. What’s strange is, despite his ex-wives, Owen never seems to learn from his previous marriages. In each of his relationships, when Owen feels insecure, he becomes petty, stubborn, and temperamental, instead of communicating with his partner about his issues. Owen has his issues, but that flaw leading to the dissolution of two marriages and possibly a third is strange.
4. Derek’s Inability To Hear a Truck Coming
One of the most impactful episodes in the entirety of the hit medical drama series is Grey’s Anatomy, Season 11, Episode 21, “How To Save A Life”, when Derek gets hit by a truck after stopping to help victims of a two-car accident. Derek being hit by a truck leads to a misdiagnosis in the ER, killing him. Derek’s death deeply affects all the surgeons, but none more so than Meredith.
While Derek’s death was tragic, the incident that led to his death was entirely avoidable. When the truck crashed into Derek’s car, Derek was answering a phone call. Even though he was distracted, Derek was in an isolated area, so he should have been able to hear any oncoming traffic, especially that of the semi-truck that collided with his vehicle. Derek should not have been able to answer the call initially, given that he mentioned he wouldn’t have access to cellular service while driving.
3. Meredith Winning the Harper Avery Award
Meredith’s Win Makes Policy Set in Place Meaningless
Meredith wins the Harper Avery Award in Greys Anamtomy Season 14, Episode 7, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your StoryImage via CBR
When the Harper Avery award was first introduced to the surgeons of Grey’s Anatomy, one of its glaring stipulations was that a surgeon working at a hospital owned by the Harper Avery Foundation could not win the award. For the surgeons at Grey-Sloan Memorial, this meant that despite their ground-breaking work, they would not be eligible to win a Harper Avery so long as they were a part of Grey-Sloan. This frustrated many surgeons, including Burke, Cristina, and Meredith.
In Grey’s Anatomy, Season 14, Episode 7, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”, however, Meredith ultimately wins the Harper Avery Award for that year. The win does occur before the Harper Avery becomes the Catherine Fox Award, but even then, there is no mention of the rules surrounding winning the award being changed. This meant that, technically, no surgeon affiliated with a Harper Avery/Catherine Fox hospital would have been able to win the award. Given the lack of rule changes, Meredith’s win is strange, as is Bailey’s win in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 19, Episode 20, “Happily Ever After?”.
2. Grey’s Dismissal of the Plane Crash’s Aftermath
Survivors Got Two Episodes Before Business as Usual
In Grey’s Anatomy, Season 8, Episode 24, “Flight”, many of the surgeons are traumatized after their plane crashes in the middle of the woods. This includes Lexie’s death, Mark being severely injured, Arizona suffering a horrific leg injury, Derek losing function of his hand, and Meredith and Cristina being jointly emotionally scarred. The trauma continues with Mark’s death in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 9, Episode 1, “Going, Going, Gone”, and all the surgeons’ at Grey-Sloan are affected by the tragedy.
Only two episodes later, however, aside from interpersonal struggles between the characters, Mark and Lexie’s deaths seem to have no effect on the hospital. Lexie did not hold a high position of authority as she was only a resident, but given that Mark was a plastic surgery attending, his death would have at the very least caused administrative problems. Grey-Sloan would have needed to find a plastic surgeon of Mark’s calibre at short notice, transfer Mark’s current patients to other doctors, and find another mentor for Jackson.
1. Alex’s Departure From Grey-Sloan Still Makes Zero Sense
Many surgeons have departed Grey’s Anatomy, all for different reasons and all differently. Some die, such as Derek and George. Others choose to leave, such as Cristina, April, Jackson and Stephanie. Alex was one of such surgeons to leave Grey-Sloan, choosing to leave in Grey’s Anatomy, Season 16, Episode 16, “Leave A Light On”. In his departure, he left letters for each of the characters significant to him, apologizing for his departure and explaining why he left without saying goodbye.
Alex’s reason for leaving is entirely too strange. In his letters, he explained that Izzie had birthed two of his children and he needed to co-parent with her across the country. This completely disregarded the fact that he was married to Jo and any growth Alex had had over sixteen seasons on Grey’s Anatomy. Over the years, Alex matured as a character, learning to trust other people and communicate when he needed help. His decision to leave without saying goodbye also negates sixteen seasons’ worth of character development, and in all makes for one of the strangest departures on Grey’s Anatomy.
