Grey’s Anatomy’s run of over 15 seasons has brought on so many characters that to keep track of them would be a job in itself. The core storyline has revolved around Meredith Grey, but it would be a downright lie if someone claimed she was the only character the show had been about. Over the course of the years, Grey’s Anatomy has been on-air, a number of couples have shown up for the fans to “ship” on. The main couple remained Meredith and Derek for all of 11 seasons before McDreamy passed away, but there were a lot of other characters that people came to adore.
Mark and Lexie were a couple that just made sense. You didn’t need much of an explanation or justification when it came to these two. In fact, when they were first paired together in Season 5, they worked so well that you’d wonder why Seasons 3 and 4 had been devoid of this pairing. Alas, like all of Grey’s Anatomy couples, these two got together and broke up more times than you could count. It pretty much became a running tradition for Mark and Lexie to be an item at one point in a season, only to break up and run into the arms of another person in the interim.
The reasons why they flip-flopped so much were shown on the show. But you will want to take a peek at this list to remind yourself why they were such a popular couple during the time they were on the show.
Here are 20 Revelations About Lexie And Mark’s Relationship.
The big age difference
The actors playing Mark and Lexie have only a nine-year age difference between them; however, the characters have a very marginal sixteen-year age gap. Mark Sloan was born in 1968 while Lexie Grey arrived in the world in 1984.
The difference in ages between the two came up quite a lot on the show, which was one of the reasons why Mark didn’t consider Lexie to be one of notice earlier on. But it wouldn’t be long before Mark did turn his attention toward Little Grey and we all know how the journey went.
How it started
These two went all of Season 3 and Season 4 without coming across each other. Before Season 5, Lexie and Mark only interacted in passing and you would never stop to consider the two could become a couple. The odd thing is that it was George O’ Malley who was responsible for getting them together.
Mark was being a terrible bully to George earlier in the season and around this time Lexie was knee deep in feelings for him. Witnessing Mark bully the person she had loving feelings for was something she couldn’t stand idly by and she called Mark out for it. So, we have George to thank for this pairing.
His daughter ended their relationship
The entire Grey’s Anatomy fanbase can agree when we say that no one liked Sloan Riley. Just her name is ridiculous enough (having her father’s last name as her first), but her unlikable, full-of-herself attitude was too much for viewers to stomach.
In-universe, Lexie couldn’t keep up with Mark putting up with his daughter’s demands and misbehaving self; this led to Lexie leaving Mark because she could see he would always choose his daughter over her, despite the daughter being completely obnoxious.
Their pure love
It’s a cliché to have two people admit their undying love for one another when one of them is on their deathbed; unfortunately for Mark and Lexie, neither of them came out alive from the plane crash.
Lexie passed away few minutes after the plane went down – and crushed her underneath – while Mark passed away weeks later in a hospital. This was something by design, engineered by showrunner Shonda Rhimes. According to Rhimes, both of them passing away meant they were together in the afterlife. Because they passed together, “their love remains true”.
Mark ignored Derek's request
Mark has done Derek wrong a lot of times, but on this occasion, Derek specifically asked Mark to lay off Little Grey because of how Meredith felt about Lexie fraternizing around the hospital. While Mark complied with this initially, there was nothing he could do when Lexie offered herself up to him and he ended up breaking his promise to Derek.
This didn’t sit well with McDreamy and he and McSteamy had a falling out over it. But like the number of times Derek ended up forgiving Mark, he did so once again.
Mark's Family Pursuit
Just to remind you how many times Mark betrayed Derek’s trust, the guy was not only involved with Lexie (Derek’s sister-in-law), but almost all of the women in Derek’s life. We all know of Mark’s relationship with Derek’s wife Addison, yet Mark Sloan went further and was with two of Derek’s sisters too!
This guy has no bounds; Derek’s sister Nancy told her brother that “(being with) Mark was like a rite of passage". In Season 7, Mark was involved with Amelia too, even though he reminded himself he saw her as Derek’s twelve-year-old sister first (yikes). Derek is a big man to forgive Mark for being with Addison, Lexie, Nancy, and Amelia.
The Crossover Impact
When Addison returned to Grey’s Anatomy in Season 4, we all thought she had outgrown Mark when she turned down his advances. However, she gave in once again when Mark showed up on Private Practice. Generally, it’s believed crossovers don’t impact main storylines, but Mark’s relationship with Addison had a big impact on his relationship with Lexie.
When he confessed to her of the thing with Addison, Lexie had to deal with the events of another show’s impact on Grey’s Anatomy – It didn’t go so well. But that was just one of the many times these two would have other people involved in their relationship.
Simultaneous Unfaithfulness
Part of the reason why Lexie wasn’t all that beside herself due to Mark’s involvement with Addison on Private Practice was because her own record wasn’t so squeaky clean. She and Mark were on the rocks when he went to visit Addison – caused by the arrival of Sloan Riley – and Lexie found some solace with Alex Karev.
They had earlier had a thing in Season 4, only for it to go ignored in Season 5. In Season 6, they had another involvement, which didn’t go ignored by Mark this time around and contributed to the end of their relationship. Neither party was the good guy here.
The Spy Backfiring
As much as you think Mark is a hound when it comes to women, Lexie doesn’t go long without jumping onto a guy herself. Of the main cast, Lexie was involved with three men: Mark, Alex, and Jackson. The latter man came into the picture inadvertently when Mark sent him to spy on Lexie.
Jackson, being an emotional young man at the time, found himself attracted to her and didn’t inform Mark of the burgeoning relationship he was in the midst of having with Lexie. Mark realized all too late that Jackson and Lexie were now an item; his spying plan having backfired.
Callie Got in the way
We’ve established by this point that Lexie doesn’t do so well with other people’s children; more specifically, Mark Sloan’s children with other women. The guy was such a hound there was bound to be someone out there who would have his child, and he ended up with two such children.
The second time he had a child, it was with Callie while she was separated from Arizona. Lexie, who had decided to take another step to make amends with Mark, discovered the existence of Mark’s upcoming child and decided it was too much for her to put up with, what with Sloan already ruining things beforehand.
He helped save Alex for Love
With so many characters on the show, it isn't possible to have all of them be best chums with one another. Lexie's association with Alex meant that Mark had an interconnection with him in the storyline.
This came at the worst time when Alex was shot in the Season 6 finale. Mark and Lexie worked together to save Alex's life. While it's the responsibility of any human to save another, Mark's sole reasoning was due to Lexie's state at the time. So, Alex should be forever thankful to Lexie for playing a part in saving his life as Mark would never have been that invested had it not been for her.
Amelia got in the way
The stars never seemed to be in place for these two as another person came in between them being together. This time, it was the aforementioned thing with Amelia that came into play.
When Lexie found out that Mark had feelings for her, she took the first step and went to his apartment to talk it out and perhaps re-initiate their relationship. All would've ended well had Mark not again been involved with Amelia at the wrong time. Witnessing Amelia and Mark in the middle of things prompted Lexie's departure and stalled them getting back together for the time being.
She was the one who approached him
No matter how badly Mark may have hurt Lexie, the fact remains she was the one who started things between them. Although they first noticed each other because of Mark's previous bullying of George, he refrained from pursuing her because of Derek's promise.
However, by this point, Lexie had grown enamored by Mark and went to his place with the sole intention of starting things. Her move was to ask Mark to “Teach (her)” while making it very clear she was offering herself up. So, in a way, Lexie is responsible for everything that happened between the two; both good or bad.
He matured and gave his blessing
Maturity is a trait you wouldn't associate with Mark Sloan. He was thoroughly immature in that he never gave peoples' feelings any consideration and preferred to think from a different part of the body rather than his mind.
In the case of Lexie and Jackson, though, Mark finally relented and gave them his blessing. A whole lot of immature antics had preceded this change in character for him, but Mark finally got to the point where he could let go of his feelings and think of Lexie's happiness over his own. It didn't last long; her feelings for him were far too strong to control.
They realized they were meant for each other at the end
Mark and Lexie came to the conclusion that they were meant for each other while Lexie lay crushed (both in spirit and in body) by the plane crash, Mark assured her of his feelings for her. She had made up her mind that she was in love with him, but the event brought to his mind that they had wasted all this time staying away when they should've been together.
It took an awful calamity to come to this point, but they did at least part with love. It may have been the one genuine declaration on Mark's part in his life.
His Advice
It's weird that Mark was Jackson's mentor yet they both were involved with Lexie. In Mark's case, Lexie remained in his mind till the end. Meanwhile, Jackson was in love with April by then. Lexie's passing brought the clarity to Mark that he had been passing over love his entire life and he imparted some sage advice toward Jackson.
Mark told Jackson to always tell the person they love how they feel before it's too late. Jackson would later use this advice by stopping April's wedding and eloping with her. Had Lexie not passed away, the marriage between Jackson and April would never have happened.
She Became Infatuated With Him
Although Jackson may have won Lexie right under Mark's nose, he never truly had her. The two had several heated moments - and the show didn't shy from showing us those - but Lexie was always into what Mark was doing to justify her relationship with Jackson. Jackson consistently felt like the runner-up in the time they were together and this infatuation Lexie had with Mark ultimately resulted in Jackson dumping Lexie.
Before Jackson made the breakup official, he asked her if she had any reason to deny her obsession with Mark; her silence was enough to tell him he was right.
Breaking Up For Someone Gone
During the surge of his healthier was in prior to his demise, Mark looked to make amends and impart final wisdom to those around him. He also sought closure in the things that he felt were left hanging.
Chief among these final boxes to check was breaking up with Julia. Mark felt that with his admission to Lexie in her final moments about wanting to be with her always he was doing injustice to Julia by passing away before coming clean. He could've passed away with her thinking he loved her, but Mark did what he felt right and had a proper breakup with Julia before passing away.
He was a hypocrite
It makes no sense at all why Mark was so infuriated with Lexie for having the thing with Alex when he himself wasn't innocent in this equation. We've already covered the part where Mark and Addison had their relatonship on Private Practice, and this revelation was relayed to Lexie on Grey's Anatomy, with Mark wanting a clean slate.
It appeared it would only be clean from his end as when Lexie admitted being with Alex, he just couldn't accept it. This makes Mark a pretty big hypocrite as his anger really isn't justified by any means at all.
They reshaped Seattle Grace
Grey's Anatomy had an awful habit of throwing in a bunch of tragedies toward the main characters almost every season finale. They had had a bus crash, a shooter and then a plane crash where Mark and Lexie passed away. However, this storyline had big consequences in Season 9, making the crash a justified angle.
Not only did the hospital get majority reshaped, but the place was also renamed in memory of Mark and Lexie. Grey Sloan Memorial, as the hospital was now known as, would never have come about had Mark and Lexie not lost their lives. The main characters having possession of shares in the hospital only happened because of this tragedy.
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What do you think about these revelations about Mark and Lexie from Grey's Anatomy? Let us know in the comments!