Grey's Anatomy: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best
16. Season 5
Where to begin? Season five has some of Grey's Anatomy's most controversial and downright awful storylines, the most prominent of which being Izzie's cancer diagnosis, which causes her to have visions of her late lover Denny, and the absence and eventual death of the beloved George O'Malley.
These developments are, frankly, pretty poor, especially George's. Though his death offers one of the show's most emotional plot twists, it also appears as if from nowhere, with minimal build-up or care considering his importance to the show's success and fanbase. His is a difficult loss to forgive, even after all these years.
The Izzie stuff is better, if only because the performances of Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers are so raw. It tackles grief in a fresh way, though it does drag for an embarrassingly long time before her official cancer diagnosis.
These much-mocked developments are countered by the season's highs, mind you, including the blossoming relationships of Mark and Lexie, and Callie and Arizona, and the introduction of haunted military doctor Owen Hunt. It's a messy season, to be sure, but this is Grey's Anatomy we're talking about - every cloud has a silver lining.