As anticipated, the season eight finale of Grey's Anatomy was full of drama. Many of the show's fans say it was also disappointing and confusing, and continuing the show without the two major characters will be tricky to say the least.
Early Thursday, Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes issued the following alert to fans via Twitter. "Do not expect to be comforted or happy at the end of the GA finale. I wrote it and I even I ound the ending to be very unsettling."
Fans are buzzing of disappointment (and disapproval) that the writers decided to kill Lexie Grey, Meredith's younger sister. In the upcoming seasons, we won't also see Teddy Altman (Kim Raver).
Little Grey, played for five seasons by Chyler Leigh, died quite early on in the episode. Trapped beneath the wreckeed fuselage, she was barely able to say a final goodbye to Mark, who quite possibly was the love of her life. The death triggered a meltdown in sister Meredith, while Mark completely shut down. It was later revealed that McSteamy (Eric Dane) was battling more than just a broken heart - he suffered a "cardiac tamponade," as Cristina quickly diagnosed. She and Meredith performed an emergency surgery and saved his life.
Meanwhile, back at Seattle Grace, Teddy turned down a job offer and decided to remain at the hospital because she wanted to stay close to her dead husband's ghost. Owen, as a response then fired her as a way to force her to take the the job. Goodbye, Teddy! Her exit would seem to pave the way for Cristina to become Seattle Grace's new Cardio God.
How It Happened
Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) wakes up in the forest to find Cristina (Sandra Oh) yelling at her to get up. Cristina has lost her shoe and dislocated her shoulder, though she's more concerned about what is going on around her. Meredith has a head laceration and a piece of shrapnel in her leg, the latter of which she pulls out. Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) is nearby screaming and Cristina yells for her to shut up as she, Meredith and seemingly fine Mark (Eric Dane) go searching for Derek - who was sucked out of the airplane - and Lezie - who was in the sheared off tail section. Meanwhile, Arizona while talking to the pilot realises her legs are paralyzed.
Meredith, Cristina and Mark find Lexie pinned under the tail of the plane, conscious and responsive. Meredith goes to look for Derek as Cristina and Mark pop her arm back in. Meredith's shouting awakened Derek, who broke his hand with a rock to free it from debris.
Back in the hospital, Owen (Kevin McKidd) has all of his calls sent to voicemail because of an incoming mass truama. Richard (James Pickens Jr) is taking the graduating resident out for a celebratory dinner and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Ben discuss their possibly commuter marriage.
Lexie starts to analyze her condition only to realise her legs and pelvis are crushed, she doesn't feel one of her arms and her chest feels like it's about to explode from a massive hemothorax. Cristina rushes back to the fuselage to get water for Lezie and to help Arizona and Jerry (the pilot). Jerry is in denial about his paralysis, so Cristina impales him with a pen.
Meanwhile, Lexie asks Mark to hold her hand and give her best to Meredith. Mark refuses to do both at first, claiming she won't die. Mark eventually holds Lexie's hand and tell her that he's in love with her - always has been and always will be and they are going to have a future together.
Meredith and Cristina arrive just moments too late and after Meredith grieves for her, they go to find Derek. Meredith has a nervous breakdown while thinking that both her sister and husband are dead. Luckily, they find Derek and take him back to the fuselage and treat his wound.
When Cristina sees that Mark is just sitting in the corner doing nothing, she berates him. Moments later, Mark collapses with a cardiac tamponade. They drain his chest using toiletries, and thankfully he gets better. However, he almost dies later on and even accepts death, but Arizona tells him to hang on for the sake of her, Callie and daughter Sofia.
Night falls and everyone at the crash shite is dealing with their injuries. At one point, they hear a helicopter, but the flare gun doesn't work, so the chopper missed them. Doctors then lighted fire, which kept oing out and they eventually ran out of matches. So, our beloved characters were stranded in the darkness of the wilderness, injured, waiting to be rescued, trying to stay warm and awake.
Meanwhile back at the hospital - after firing Teddy, she runs back to Owen realising what he has done to her and they share an emotional moment.
Bailey told ben that he never gets to make a decision without her and then proposes to him. It was definitely one of the highlights of the season!
April (Sarah Drew) told Jackson (Jesse Williams) that she loved the night they shared together, but that she's not happy about its implications and every other aspect of her life. April failed her board exam which is holding her back from becoming an attending surgeon.
Alex (Justin Chambers) leaves voicemails for Arizona telling her that he never would have got a job offer from John Hopkins without her help, and he thanks her in his own very Alex-like way.
Callie (Sara Ramirez) tells Alex, Jackson and April to go to Richard's dinner since they have to cherish each good moment of their life. Owen finally catches up on his messages and hears multiple worried voicemails coming from the doctors' destination. He then finally realises that something has gone wrong.
... And that's pretty much how the season finale looked like. The episode was so incomplete that the fans must wait until September to find out what's going to happen.
As a Grey's fan, what did you think of the episode? How do you see it continuing? Post comments below.
Grey's Anatomy will return with Season 9 this September on ABC and Sky TV in the UK.