Meredith Grey has been through a lot, to say the least.
Grey's Anatomy has run most of its characters through the wringer, but none moreso than its leading general surgeon, played spectacularly by Ellen Pompeo. She began as a young surgical intern whose legendary mother was suffering from Alzheimer's and who just accidentally slept with her boss, and now she's a widow with a dead ex-boyfriend who's allegedly coming out of a weeks-long induced coma after a bout of COVID-19.
She's technically died once and almost died several more times, and she's lost enough people to put her in a permanent state of grief. Yet somehow, she goes on—assuming she actually recovers from her current illness.
Over 17 seasons, Grey's has thrown just about everything it could at Meredith, and we'd say it was getting ridiculous if it didn't continue to be so damn compelling. So here, as a tribute to one of TV's most resilient characters, is a list of all the terrible things that have happened to Meredith Grey.
1. She accidentally slept with her boss. Maybe if she hadn't slept with the cute guy at the bar, she wouldn't have emotionally suffered so much for the first couple seasons of the show, especially as she was just trying to survive her medical career.
2. That boss had a wife. Never ever forget the end of the first season finale when Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) walked into the hospital to reconnect with her estranged husband. "Hi, I'm Addison Shepherd...And you must be the woman who's been screwing my husband."
3. Her famous surgeon mother had Alzheimer's. Meredith kept her mother's decline a secret for a long time, but it didn't keep her from having to reckon with and try to live up to her workaholic, emotionally unavailable mother's enduring legacy.
4. Her one night stand had priapism and had to become a patient at the hospital. In case you don't remember what priapism is, it's basically an erection that won't end.
Not too bad yet, right? Well...
5. She had to put her hand on a bomb inside a guy. After the paramedic (Christina Ricci) lost her nerve, Meredith had to take over, keeping an old, explosive bit of ammunition steady until the bomb squad, led by Kyle Chandler, could take over. She got to let go after several hours, only to then watch Kyle Chandler (and a portion of the hospital) get blown to smithereens just a few yards away from her.
6. That embarrassing one night stand with George. We skip this episode in the rewatch.
7. Her appendix burst. Like, why?
8. She drowned. While helping a patient during the ferryboat accident, Meredith got pushed into the water and she drowned. She pretty much died for an episode, and Derek realized she let it happen.
9. Her mother died. While Meredith was "dead," Ellis actually died. RIP.
10. Her stepmother died after some really bad hiccups. Meredith then got slapped by her dad because of it.
11. Her boyfriend kissed some other woman. Rose!
12. She realized one of her best friends was a dying patient only when he wrote his name in her hand. Absolutely traumatizing.
13. She had to give her dad a liver. This is only really terrible when you consider the fact that her dad kind of sucked.
14. Her husband got shot right in front of her, and then she had a miscarriage when she thought he was dead. As if that weren't enough, she then found out she has a hostile uterus, and then had to stop taking fertility meds because they made her almost go blind.
15. She ruined the clinical trial. This was less something that happened to Meredith and more something she did, but it really did screw some things up.
16. A plane crashed with her in it. Her husband, best friend and younger half-sister were also on the plane, and they were lost for days, and her sister died!
17. She fell down a staircase while pregnant, had to have a C-section in the dark, and then surgery for her abdominal bleeding. Listen, at least the baby was fine!
18. Her best friend moved to Switzerland at the same time her secret half-sister arrived at the hospital. Mer discovered all sorts of repressed trauma with that development.
19. Her husband died. Right after a season of marriage troubles and long distance, he was hit by a truck on his way to the airport, and taken to an incompetent second-rate hospital that failed to do a head CT. Amateurs!
20. She ran away and had a secret baby while she was grieving. Less terrible and more just sort of a weird way to respond to that situation.
21. She was forced to work with one of the doctors who killed her husband. Because of course she was.
21. She got attacked by a patient. She had to have her jaw wired shut afterwards!
22. Her new boyfriend's missing girlfriend was found. Just when Meredith was ready to move on! She also sort of got in trouble for being the missing girlfriend's doctor without telling her she had been dating the boyfriend. It was a mess.
23. Her Harper Avery award was tainted. Technically all Harper Avery awards were tainted when it turned out that Harper Avery sucked, but of course the reckoning had to happen right after Mer finally got hers.
24. She had to date Josh Radnor. We kid. We have nothing against Josh Radnor, but his character had something against kids, so it didn't go well.
25. She committed insurance fraud and went to jail. Once again, this is something Meredith did that she should not have, but of course she had all the best intentions. Also, one of the judges on the panel to decide the fate of her medical license was a doctor who killed Derek.
26. She got COVID-19. She got it so bad that she had to be put on a ventilator, and ever since then, she's been hanging out on a sort of heaven beach with all her dead friends and family.
27. Her ex-boyfriend died while she was in a coma. After months of recovery and professional help for his bipolar disorder, he died by stab wound in pursuit of a kidnapper. Meredith had to bid him farewell on her heaven beach, and we're still not over it.
But hey, at least she never had sex with a ghost!
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.