Grey’s Anatomy: 10 Best Episodes Of Season 12, Ranked By IMDb

In the twelfth season of ABC’s hit primetime medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy, audiences have a lot of adjustments to make. This is the first season without Patrick Dempsey playing Dr. Derek Shepherd because Derek died in the eleventh season. April returns early on in season eleven, having spent the last few months in Jordan practicing medicine there.

April is excited to get her relationship with Jackson back on track, but Jackson doesn’t feel the same. Also coming to Seattle from Jordan is April’s colleague, Nathan Riggs, who quickly become the new hot doctor at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

10 All I Want Is You (8.3)

Meredith recounts her past traumas with a therapist in this episode. She acknowledges that she’s been through a lot and has lost a lot of loved ones. Meredith asks her therapist if he’s seen her file because it is pretty full of terrible events. Meanwhile, in the emergency room at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, an ambulance has exploded in the ambulance bay, giving the doctors a lot of incoming traumas and patients in need of saving.

9 My Next Life (8.3)

Meredith gets a blast from the past when her very first patient ever, Katie Bryce, returns to the hospital again with new symptoms. Katie asks for Dr. Shepherd and is confused when Amelia comes to her room.

She tells Meredith and Amelia that she wants Derek, and they have to inform her of Derek’s passing. Amelia takes over Katie’s case and finds a massive aneurism that she needs to operate on. Katie being back at the hospital triggers old memories for Meredith and the audience.

8 Sledgehammer (8.4)

In the first episode of season twelve, April returns to Seattle after being in Jordan for months, leaving Jackson behind. April arrives happy and looking for Jackson, while Jackson doesn’t seem nearly as excited, and is in fact, not happy to see April at all, still bitter that she left him. At the same time, Meredith is adjusting to having new roommates when her sisters, Amelia and Maggie, move into her and Derek’s dream house, now that Derek is gone.

7 Mama Tried (8.5)

Arizona and Callie are engaged in a custody battle over Sofia that seems to be getting more and more tumultuous as it goes on. Arizona is set to lose the most if the battle goes to court and knowing this she tries to reach an agreement with Callie but what Callie offers is unreasonable.

Callie and Arizona go to court to decide on the custody of their daughter and their friends and fellow doctors are called to the stand as witnesses for each party. Eventually, Arizona is the one awarded primary custody.

6 Things We Lost In The Fire (8.6)

The doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital are overwhelmed when a forest fire breaks out and over forty firefighters get trapped in the blaze. Once the firefighters are rescued, they are transported to the hospital where their lives are in Meredith and her colleagues’ hands. Chaos quickly erupts and the emergency room quickly becomes overwhelmed by trauma patients, turning the entire hospital into a burn treatment center.

5 There’s A Fine, Fine Line (8.6)

When a child goes missing in the hospital, Bailey is forced to put the entire building on lockdown, calling a code pink. A code pink shuts down all of the automatic doors in the hospital, making it impossible for anyone to go anywhere. During the lockdown, Ben gets trapped in the hallway with a pregnant patient who has just been in a car accident.

When the child is found and the lockdown is lifted, Ben is found in the hallway covered in his patient’s blood after performing a botched c-section. An investigation into Ben’s actions and how the entire trauma played out begins.

4 Old Time Rock And Roll (8.7)

At the top of the episode, Andrew is sneaking out of Maggie’s room after the two doctors have just spent the night together for the first time. Maggie and her sisters are so engrossed in the events from the night before that they forget they’ve agreed to host a dinner party that evening. The doctors get it together in time to host their guests. A nervous Arizona learns Callie is bringing a date to the festivities and when Meredith answers the door, she sees Callie’s date is Penny, the doctor who operated on Derek, but couldn’t save him.

3 Family Affair (8.7)

It’s the day of Owen and Amelia’s wedding and none of Amelia’s family is coming because they don’t support her marriage considering the relationship has always been a rocky one.

A bad storm hits Seattle causing a lot of destruction. Amelia runs away from her wedding, only to return, and Ben is forced to perform an emergency c-section on April while she lays on a kitchen table (after she goes into labor) but the storm prevents her from getting to the hospital in time.

2 Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (9.0)

This episode picks up right where “Old Time Rock and Roll” left off, with Callie arriving to Meredith’s dinner party with a date, Penny, the doctor who is technically responsible for Derek’s death because, though she tried, she couldn’t save him. Meredith is the only one who recognizes Penny and Penny remembers Meredith, making the interaction even more awkward because no one else at the party knows the history between Meredith and Penny.

1 The Sound Of Silence (9.3)

In the mid-season finale of season twelve, a patient named Lou is admitted into the hospital after being involved in a multi-car pile up. Meredith exams Lou, who seems stable and pleasant, all things considered. Lou has a seizure and shortly after, he attacks Meredith, which can happen. It’s called a temporary fugue state and most likely, Lou won’t remember what happened. Meredith has extensive injuries from the attack and her friends work to stabilize her and tend to those injuries.

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