Season 6 of the hit primetime medical drama, Grey's Anatomy, premiered to a large audience after the season 5 finale left viewers wondering if it would be Izzie or George that would die. This season was one of the least well-received by critics, but both the season primmer and the season finale received positive reviews from both audiences and critics alike.
This season also saw the departure of Katherine Heigl's Izzie Stevens. Mid-way through season 6, Izzie decides to leave Seattle. In the real world, Katherine Heigl chose to leave the show, citing a desire to spend more time with her family, but fans of the show had to wonder if that was really the reason, remembering Katherine's outspokenness about her Emmy nomination the previous year.
New History (8.2)
Fans got to meet a lot of new characters during this season. Season 6 introduced Dr. Jackson Avery, played by Jesse Williams, who quickly became the new hot doctor at Seattle Grace, and Cristina seemed to notice.
In this episode, another new doctor is introduced, Teddy Altman, who, according to Dr. Hunt, is a "cardio goddess." Teddy and Owen served together in the military and Owen recruited Teddy as the new head of Cardiothoracic surgery. It's revealed that Teddy and Owen also have a romantic history, which makes Cristina go from wanting to get to know Teddy and work on her service, to resenting her.
Shiny Happy People (8.4)
Seattle Grace gets wrapped up in a love story when two elderly people, Henry and Betty, are admitted into the hospital for separate reasons and are reunited in the emergency room after not seeing each other in decades. The doctors dig deep into their love story and even try to reunite the love birds.
This episode also guest stars Demi Lovato as Hayley, a young girl believed to have schizophrenia. Derek and Alex aren't convinced that's what's wrong with their patient and after running several tests, discover their instincts were right.
Good Mourning (8.5)
In the first episode of the sixth season, viewers see both George and Izzie fighting for their lives as all of the doctors at Seattle Grace do everything they can to save their fellow surgeons. After a couple of shocks, Izzie's eyes open, while in another operating room, George's brain swells and he's pronounced dead.
Dr. Webber asks if anyone knows if George is an organ donor. The hospital is in mourning, especially George's closest friends – Meredith, Callie, Cristina, Izzie, and Alex – who all deal with their grief in different ways.
Goodbye (8.5)
It's been three weeks since George's death and things are slowly starting to return to normal for the doctors at Seattle Grace. Meredith and Derek can't seem to keep their hands off of one another, while Cristina and Owen have to refrain from touching each other per the orders of their couple's therapist.
Lexie and Mark are having their own issues when Lexie learns that Mark's new apartment is right across the hall from his ex-lover, Callie Torres, making Lexie extremely uncomfortable and a bit insecure. Callie is reunited with her former boss, Dr. Webber, after he is sent to Mercy West's emergency room with an injured ankle due to a car accident.
Invest In Love (8.5)
Arizona has been looking after a very special patient for months. 10-year-old Wallace Anderson has been living at Seattle Grace for seven months due to his short gut syndrome. Wallace has had multiple surgeries and treatments and has gotten to know a few of the doctors, including Arizona, who he's gotten very close to.
Later, Wallace's mother and father request a meeting with Arizona and a few of her bosses to tell them they are making a 25 million dollar donation to the hospital. While obviously good news, this also puts Arizona in a tough position when she reluctantly agrees to do another operation on the young patient.
Give Peace A Chance (8.7)
This episode centers around a character viewers haven't met before, Isaac, a lab tech. Isaac comes to Derek with an MRI of a tumor sitting on a patient's spine. Derek's eyes light up at the sight of the tumor, but he tells Isaac there's no way he would operate on it because of its location and size, as the only way to remove it would be to cut the patient's spinal cord.
Isaac reveals the patient is himself and he's admired Derek for his whole career and wants Derek to operate on him. Derek is reluctant, as is Dr. Webber who tells Derek not to do it, but Derek eventually does and is successful at ridding Isaac of his tumor.
The Time Warp (8.9)
When Derek becomes Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital, he decides to bring back a lecture series that allows attending surgeons to talk to residents and interns and share their past experiences and cases that stuck out.
In this episode, Bailey is briefly seen on the first day of her internship, while Callie reflects on a polio case, and Dr. Webber takes viewers back to his days of working with Meredith's mom, Ellis Grey. Young Webber and Young Ellis, played by Sarah Paulson, treat a patient with GRID, which would later be called AIDS.
I Saw What I Saw (9.0)
In addition to debuting a lot of new characters, season 6 also introduces a new storyline that saw Seattle Grace, in the midst of budget cuts and financial troubles, merging with their competitor hospital, Mercy West.
This merger brought with it a lot of stress and tension, as the doctors learn to get along with and work with a whole new team of surgeons, while also dealing with the anxiety of possibility getting laid off. Stress levels increase when a patient unexpectedly dies and an investigation ensues to find out what happened and who is at fault.
Death And All His Friends (9.6)
Gary, a distraught man whose wife died at Seattle Grace, returns to the hospital with a gun to take vengeance on the doctors he thinks are responsible for his wife's death. He specifically targets Derek, Lexie, and Webber.
Gary ends up shooting more people than he originally planned and kills two interns, Reed and Charlie. He also shoots Derek and leaves him for dead. Meredith and Cristina get to Derek, who is barely hanging on, and under a lot of pressure, they realize they have to save his life.
Sanctuary (9.7)
When a shooter arrives at Seattle Grace Mercy West looking for the doctors he thinks are responsible for the death of his wife, the hospital goes into lockdown in the first of the two-part season 6. Before chaos erupts, it seems like a normal day at work for Meredith and her co-workers and friends, except Meredith seems to be on a mission.
Meredith searches for a pregnancy test, which she eventually finds and takes, and the test comes back positive. Meredith tells Cristina and then leaves to find Derek to deliver the news, passing the soon-to-be shooter on her way to find her husband.