The Big Picture

• Grey's Anatomy's plane crash episode in Season 8 marked a historic moment for the show, stripping back mass casualties for a personal focus.
• The aftermath of the crash in Season 9 explores trauma responses and long-term impacts on the main cast, affecting the show's direction.
• The decision to rename the hospital Grey-Sloan Memorial in Season 9 honors the characters lost in the crash, showcasing lasting effects.

Grey's Anatomy is known for its unpredictability, often in the form of large disasters that normally come at every season's climax. Season 3 had a ferry crash, Season 6 saw a shooter in the hospital and Season 10 featured a mall explosion. However, it is the plane crash at the end of Season 8 that cemented Grey's Anatomy's place in television history and is one of the reasons Season 8 is regarded as one of the show's best. The crash highlighted every aspect that separates Grey's Anatomy from other first responder shows, focusing on the personal relationships of the doctors involved and removing any external casualties. So, since the event centered on the small group of doctors on the plane, it strips back the mass casualties that normally define TV disasters. The consequences of the plane crash were devastating, with both immediate impact and long-term effects that are still evident as the show enters its 20th season.

'Grey’s Anatomy’s Plane Crash Affected The Show's Main Cast

The end of Grey's Anatomy Season 8 saw a group of doctors from Seattle Grace Hospital board a plane to Boise Memorial Hospital to perform surgery on conjoined twins. The doctors on board were Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw), Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Christina Yang (Sandra Oh), Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) and Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh). Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) was supposed to be on the plane but was replaced by Robbins at the last minute. The penultimate episode of the season, "Migration," sees the plane suffer a mechanical failure and ends with scattered shots of the plane in pieces. However, it is the season's finale, "Flight," that is the most powerful 43 minutes in the show's history.

The excluded nature of the situation forces the doctors involved to use their medical practice in an extreme situation, removed from their usual technology. It heightens the stakes of the disaster as all the regular solutions are gone, making the finale relentless and unforgiving. Lexie's early death is tragic, and the emotional weight of watching the cast say goodbye is gut-wrenching. Particularly, watching Mark tell Lexie that he always loved her and knowing they will never be together is devastating. Their on/off relationship felt like it would reach a satisfying conclusion when the pair realized they were meant to be, especially as they always gravitated towards each other. So, to end it in such a stark way makes the plane crash disaster shattering. However, it isn't just Mark who suffers as a result of Lexie's death; Ellen Pompeo gives one of her best performances of the show, mourning the death of her sister and crying out for her husband.

The Aftermath of the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Plane Crash Was Just As Influential to the Show

The aftermath of the plane crash is what places it in the history books of television. In the Season 9 opener "Going, Going, Gone," Mark succumbs to his injuries and his life support is turned off. Every other survivor deals with the consequences differently, and it allowed Grey's to explore the responses to trauma in the most personal way it ever has. Incidents in first responder shows can sometimes feel like a conveyor belt, one in and one out. It often means the long-term impacts are overlooked, but the threads of the plane crash remain throughout Season 9 and beyond. Arizona grapples with losing her leg, Derek worries his smashed hand means he will operate again, and the whole hospital mourns the loss of Mark Sloan.

However, it is Christina's monologue in "Remember the Time" that is the most memorable moment in the aftermath of the plane crash. Christina suffered from reactive psychosis following the crash, refusing to speak and often getting violent. Eventually, in the bathtub at Owen's house, she breaks down and finally starts talking. She recalls the plane crash for the first time. Her description unveils the true horror of the crash and fills in the gaps of what was previously left to the imagination. She explains that she didn't sleep over the 4 days through fear someone would die, spending the time clearing bugs off Arizona's leg and keeping Mark alive. Yet, it is her description of hearing wild animals fighting over Lexie's body that highlights that what the audience saw on screen might have been graphic and brutal, but what wasn't shown was even more extreme.

The Effects of the Plane Crash Are Still Felt in 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 20

The exploration of the survivors is only one aspect of the plane crash's impact. The other major aftermath is seen in the main plot of Season 9 and focuses on the lawsuit, leading to the survivors buying the hospital with the money they won through the crash. The doctors become the new board of directors, and it allows the show to take a new focus on the maintenance of the hospital. This reflects the trajectory of the original cast, as they are no longer the interns we met in the first season, they have a much higher level of responsibility. It also prevented the show from becoming repetitive, especially considering Season 9 was the first time since Season 1 that the show saw a new set of interns become a major part of the narrative. As Grey's Anatomy enters its 20th season, Jackson (Jesse Williams), Meredith, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Webber (James Pickens Jr.) are all still board members, showing the impact of the plane crash is still present in the show now.

It is the first major decision the board makes that is the most influential. Jackson proposes the hospital change its name from Seattle Grace to the Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital. It represents the importance of the crash in Grey's Anatomy's history, and honors the two major characters lost. No other disaster on Grey's Anatomy had the long-term effects that the plane crash had. It affected the doctors personally in a bigger way than any disaster that came before, and any disaster that would follow it. For a show that has become known for killing off major characters, the plane crash showed Grey's Anatomy can show other facets of trauma. Over 10 years later, it is still one of the most memorable TV moments of all time.

Grey's Anatomy is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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