The eighth season of the American television

medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the characters' jobs and portray som ...

'' Grey's Anatomy'', commenced airing on the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...

(ABC) on September 22, 2011, with a special 2-hour episode and ended on May 17, 2012 with the eighth season having a total of 24 episodes. The season was produced by ABC Studios, in association with Shondaland Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company, and overseen by showrunners Shonda Rhimes, Tony Phelan and Joan Rater. This season follows the storyline of Meredith Grey ( Ellen Pompeo) and Derek Shepherd ( Patrick Dempsey) as they try to save their marriage and adopt Zola after Meredith tampered with the Alzheimer's trial in the previous season. Miranda Bailey ( Chandra Wilson) also struggles to forgive Meredith because Richard Webber (

James Pickens, Jr. James Pickens Jr. (born October 26, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Webber on the ABC medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy'', and for his supporting role as Deputy Director Alvin Ker ...

) takes the blame for Meredith and steps down from his role of Chief of Surgery, and

Owen Hunt Major (Ret.) Owen Hunt, M.D., F.A.C.S. is a fictional character from the medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy'', which airs on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States. The character was created by series' produce ...

( Kevin McKidd) takes his place. Cristina Yang ( Sandra Oh) decides to have an abortion, putting her relationship with Hunt at odds.

Callie Torres Calliope Iphegenia Torres, M.D. is a fictional character from the medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy'', which airs on the ABC in the United States. The character was created by series' producer Shonda Rhimes, and is portrayed by ...

( Sara Ramirez) and Arizona Robbins ( Jessica Capshaw) co-parent their baby with Mark Sloan ( Eric Dane) who continues to have an on/off relationship with Lexie Grey (

Chyler Leigh Chyler Leigh West (pronounced ; ''née'' Potts), known professionally as Chyler Leigh, is an American actress, singer and model. She is known for portraying Janey Briggs in the comedy film ''Not Another Teen Movie'' (2001), Lexie Grey in the A ...

Alex Karev Alexander Michael Karev, (né Evans), M.D., F.A.C.S is a fictional character on the ABC television series ''Grey's Anatomy'', portrayed by actor Justin Chambers. Introduced as a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, Karev eve ...

( Justin Chambers) deals with the fallout of his decision to tell Owen about Meredith altering the Alzheimer's trial, and becomes an outcast by the other residents. Teddy Altman ( Kim Raver) marries Henry Burton ( Scott Foley), who later dies of a heart condition, leaving her devastated. The season hit the series' low for ratings as it ended with an average of 10.92 million viewers ranking at #34 and in the 18-49 key demographic ranked at #12. Loretta Devine garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of Adele Webber and earned numerous nominations including the

Primetime Emmy Awards The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series and the Critics' Choice Television Awards.

won Outstanding Supporting Actor at the NAACP Image Awards, and Chandra Wilson and Sandra Oh both received nominations for Outstanding Actress in a Drama. Stacy McKee was nominated for Humanitas Prize for writing "White Wedding". Sara Ramirez was nominated at the 13th ALMA Awards for Favorite TV Supporting Actress. For the 38th People's Choice Awards, the show was nominated for Favorite TV Drama, and Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey were respectively nominated for Favorite TV Drama Actress and Favorite TV Drama Actor.

Episodes

The number in the "No. in series" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series, whereas the number in the "No. in season" column refers to the episode's number within this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to the number of Americans in millions who watched the episodes live. Each episode of this season is named after a song.

Cast and characters

Main

* Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang * Justin Chambers as Dr.

* Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey *

as Dr. Richard Webber * Sara Ramirez as Dr.

* Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan *

as Dr. Lexie Grey * Kevin McKidd as Dr.

* Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins * Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman * Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner * Jesse Williams as Dr.

Jackson Avery Jackson Avery, M.D., F.A.C.S. is a fictional character in the ABC prime time medical drama, '' Grey's Anatomy'', portrayed by actor Jesse Williams. The character was created by series creator and executive producer, Shonda Rhimes. He was intro ...

* Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Recurring

* Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren * Jela K. Moore as Zola * Scott Foley as Henry Burton * Loretta Devine as Adele Webber *

Daniel Sunjata Daniel Sunjata Condon (born December 30, 1971) is an American actor who performs in film, television and theater. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series '' Rescue Me''. Early life and education Sunjata was born a ...

as Nurse Eli *

Debbie Allen Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an ...

as Catherine Avery * Janora McDuffie as Social Worker Janet * Holley Fain as Dr. Julia Canner *

Amanda Fuller Amanda Fuller (born August 27, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for being the second actress to portray Kristin Baxter on FOX's '' Last Man Standing''. Career Early career In ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Fuller played Eve, one o ...

as Intern Morgan Peterson *

Summer Glau Summer Lyn Glau (; born July 24, 1981) is an American actress best known for her roles in science fiction and fantasy television series: as River Tam in ''Firefly'' (2002) and its continuation film ''Serenity'' (2005), as Tess Doerner in ''The ...

as Nurse Emily Kovach * Nicole Cummins as Paramedic Nicole

Notable guests

* Kate Walsh as Dr.

Addison Montgomery Addison Adrianne Forbes Montgomery, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.C.O.G is a fictional character who appears as a supporting main character on the ABC television series ''Grey's Anatomy,'' and as the protagonist of its spin-off '' Private Practice'' play ...

Caterina Scorsone Caterina Scorsone (born October 16, 1981) is a Canadian-American actress. She is best known for playing Dr. Amelia Shepherd on the ABC medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2010–present) and its spin-offs '' Private Practice'' (2010–2013) and ' ...

as Dr.

Amelia Shepherd Amelia Frances Shepherd, M.D., F.A.C.S. is a fictional character on the ABC American television ''Grey's Anatomy ''medical drama and the spin-off series '' Private Practice'', portrayed by Caterina Scorsone. In her debut appearance in season th ...

* Debra Monk as Louise O'Malley * Kate Burton as Ellis Grey * Robert Baker as Dr. Charles Percy *

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King), ...

as Justine Campbell * Stella Maeve as Lilly *

William Daniels William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927) is an American actor, who is best known for his television roles, notably as Mark Craig in the drama series '' St. Elsewhere'', for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards; the voice of KITT in the te ...

as Dr. Craig Thomas * Nia Vardalos as Karen * Vanessa Marano as Holly Wheeler * Mitch Pileggi as Lawrence Jennings * Lee Majors as Chuck Cain * Jordan Belfi as Nick * Cynthia Watros as Ms. Konner * Mark Saul as Dr. Steve Mostow * James LeGros as Pilot Jerry *

Holland Roden Holland Roden is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Lydia Martin in MTV's teen drama series ''Teen Wolf'', Zoe Woods in Syfy's horror anthology series '' Channel Zero: Butcher's Block'', Bridget Cleary in Amazon Prime Video's h ...

as Gretchen Shaw * Rebecca Hazlewood as Dr. Mara Keaton

Reception

Ratings

Live +SD ratings

Live + 7 Day (DVR) ratings

Critical response

The season received mixed-to-positive reviews. Tanner Stransky of ''Cinema Blend'' gave a fresh review to the season, "Juxtaposed against that nightmare that launched season 8's 2-hour season premiere was exactly what the show does portray rather accurately (most of the time) - the relationship drama." Verne Gay of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'' acknowledged the following for the show stating, "''Grey's'' has had a good season and has an intensely loyal fan base to prove it." ''TV Fanatic'' reviewing the episode ''Free Falling'' wrote, "This episode set the season in motion, and from the looks of it, it's going to be good." Carrie Raisler of '' The A.V. Club'' gave a negative review to the season's alternate-reality episode, "Just because a show is meant to be fun doesn't mean it shouldn't have standards, and this episode just simply didn't measure up."

Poptimal Zuberi Bakari Williams (born December 1, 1978) is an American attorney and jurist serving as an associate judge of the District Court of Maryland, for Montgomery County. He was appointed by former Governor Martin O'Malley in December 2014. He ...

'‍s Tanya Lane regarding the

season finale A season finale (British English: last in the series; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will try to ...

wrote, "Wow…just wow. ''Grey's Anatomy'' has once again managed to shock with its season finale." While she appreciated the "realism and authenticity that ''Grey's'' is known for", she found the episode was "almost too much" as it was "extremely gory and difficult to watch, initially because of the grisly wounds" but later because of the "heavy and emotional things that transpired". She added that " Ellen Pompeo gave one of her best performances when her character learned that her sister was dead."

DVD release

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey's Anatomy (Season 8) * 2011 American television seasons 2012 American television seasons Grey's Anatomy seasons