In 16 seasons of hookups and letdowns, “I dos” and “Oh no you didn’ts,” Grey’s Anatomy has turned us all into heart specialists of a sort. So your friends at TVLine are counting down the show’s 25 greatest couples of all time and ranking them from the least to most legendary.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 25. Izzie and George
Juuust kidding. The countdown actually starts with the next slide.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 25. Meredith and Nathan
Turned out he was only a stopgap boyfriend. But the mischievous way that she initially warned her one-night stand not to get any ideas about them — not to mention the tryst itself! — gave us a lot of ideas.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 24. Alex and “Ava”/Rebecca
As deeply as Karev loved the amnesiac — and the unhappily married woman she turned out to be — he couldn’t pull her from the depths of mental illness.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 23. Callie and Erica
So into Torres was Hahn that their friendship-turned-romance made her realize that she was a lesbian — and one who was unable to deal with her lover’s bisexuality.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 22. Richard and Adele
Thanks to the Webbers, to this day, we can’t hear “My Funny Valentine” without tearing up. Luckily, when it gets played a lot, there’s usually chocolates around.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 21. Owen and Teddy
When he insisted that his answer to any problem they might face would be “I love you,” it was hard to disbelieve him. But it was also impossible to buy that either of Allison’s folks would be able to give up their favorite hobby: self-sabotage.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 20. Richard and Catherine
Passionate and petty, immature and jealous, the estranged marrieds have long had a relationship that’s as volatile as an active volcano.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 19. Levi and Nico
Rather than reflect on the callousness that led to Schmico’s split, let’s instead remember the good times — those palpitation-inducing glances and the kiss that made Schmitt feel like he was holding the Sunsword.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 18. Amelia and Owen
“This is messy and scary,” she once said of their on-again/off-again relationship. And if that isn’t the very definition of love, we don’t know what is.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 17. Teddy and Tom
Granted, Koracick can be a lot. But it’s hard not to root for him to win Teddy away from Owen in the end when, time and time again, he’s proven that she’ll always come first with him.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 16. Owen and Cristina
Since, even post-divorce, these two couldn’t stay apart, their relationship didn’t end until they’d put between them… um, however many miles there are between Seattle and Zurich.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 15. Teddy and Henry
No sooner had the doc come to agree with her smitten patient — that their marriage was more than one of convenience — than she realized the gravity of “till death do us part.”
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 14. Cristina and Burke
Hot as it may have been, the cup of coffee that started their tempestuous relationship had nothin’ on the relationship itself. So maybe it was inevitable that someone would get burned.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 13. Bailey and Ben
There’s nothing wrong with being a show’s rock-solid “old married couple”… provided the couple in question, as this one does, still has the passion and playfulness of frisky newlyweds.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 12. Mark and Addison
She argued that, “just because [she] made what can only be called a transcontinental booty call,” they needn’t try to make a go of a relationship. We respectfully disagreed (and still do).
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 11. Meredith and DeLuca
Some viewers never saw the sparks between these two. We, on the other hand, don’t know how they could’ve missed ’em, especially anytime Andrew was whispering sweet nothings in Italian.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 10. Alex and Jo
Secrets, breakups, breakdowns… Nothing could tear apart Jolex for good, we thought. Until the sudden departure of original cast member Justin Chambers went and did exactly that.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 9. Izzie and Denny
When Stevens tried to resist her charming patient, he wished her luck — with good reason. She could no more deny her feelings for her future husband than he could elude the Grim Reaper.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 8. Callie and Arizona
After their bitter breakup and custody battle, it would have been nice to see the former marrieds’ eventual reunion play out on screen. But Calzona’s ending was still a lot happier than the couple at No. 4’s.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 7. Jackson and April
Whether breaking up or hooking up — or both in the same episode! — the former Averys exhibited the kind of combustible chemistry that should have come with a “Danger! Explosives!” warning label.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 6. Link and Amelia
They’ve come a long way from being one another’s “pain management.” Sweet and sexy in equal measure, the parents-to-be make us want to write love songs in the rain.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 5. George and Callie
From the moment that Torres popped O’Malley’s dislocated shoulder back into place, he was destined to take her in his once-again-functional arms… at least for a while.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 4. Lexie and Mark
If there’s one thing we all can and should take away from the couple’s romance — and certainly its heartbreaking conclusion — it’s, “If you love someone, you tell them.”
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 3. Alex and Izzie
Years (and years) after we had given up on the idea of the former marrieds being endgame, Grey’s shocked the hell out of us by giving them a happy new beginning. Well, not so happy for Jo, but…
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 2. Meredith and Derek
Well, duh. Of course MerDer is at the top of the… Wait a minute. They’re not at the top of the list, they’re No. 2. But if they’re not Grey’s best couple ever, who is?
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Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC 1. Meredith and Cristina
Yeah, yeah, we know — they weren’t that kind of couple. But you’ll never convince us that Grey and her person didn’t and don’t have a truer love than any of the show’s many (many!) romantic couples.
