Grey's Anatomy: Best Of Season 16

If we didn't know for a fact that coronavirus concerns had forced Grey's Anatomy to wrap production a few episodes shy of what it had intended to be its finale, we would never have believed it. Season 16 was so overstuffed with hookups and meltdowns, hearts broken and mended, that our list of the 10 most memorable moments ballooned to a whopping 16 entries.

3. 'You Make Me Want to Write Love Songs in the Rain!'

Off some sound advice from suddenly-single Jo in "Life on Mars?" Link showed up on Amelia's doorstep and proclaimed that he didn't care who her babydaddy was, he loved her and the kid she was growing inside her. "I really needed to hear that," she replied, "because he is yours."

1. 'This Letter... It's Officially the Worst Thing I've Ever Done'

In "Leave a Light On," a series of missives from Alex at last revealed why he wouldn't be returning to bride Jo, person Meredith or his Grey Sloan family; he'd formed a new one with Izzie and their twins. "If it was just me missing her," he told Jo, "I would've been able to walk away... but Izzie had my kids."

10. 'Oh My God... Oh My God'

In "Nothing Left to Cling To," Amelia approached Carina about having a threesome with her and Link, only to have the confused OB/GYN ask, "Are you here for your pregnancy or just asking for a menage a trois?" And an even bigger shock was just around the corner: The baby might have been Owen's!

11. 'Marry Me... Again'

Although Jo offered Alex an out in Season 16's premiere by reminding him that they weren't legally hitched, he didn't want it, he wanted her. So as soon as she was done with her 30-day stay in a mental facility, he got down on one knee and re-popped the question.

16. 'Help Me Do the Impossible'

Grey Sloan's loss was Pacific Northwest's gain when, in "Nothing Left to Cling to," Alex landed the chief's job at the latter hospital and persuaded Richard to pursue "a new legacy" there. Three episodes later, Koracick's restraining order against Owen helped Karev recruit him, too!

7. 'She Just Was... and Now She Isn't'

Awful as the car crash that nearly brought down Joe's Bar was, the tragedy that really wrecked us in the midseason finale was Bailey's miscarriage. She was as gutted in its aftermath as she had been overjoyed to learn that, despite being perimenopausal, she was expecting.

15. 'I Quit'

After losing her newfound cousin on the operating table, a distraught Maggie tendered her resignation in the wake of another surgery gone wrong in the midseason finale. When Koracick hesitated to rehire her in "The Last Supper," she accepted a job offer from her dad at Pac-North.

9. 'I'm Not Sorry About a Damn Thing'

There was a moment in "The Last Supper" when it looked like Richard and Catherine might manage to stave off a breakup. But when he demanded that she apologize for not keeping Bailey from firing him, his wife stuck a fork in their marriage and spitefully bought Pac-North!

8. 'We're All Prepared to Quit'

Koracick had just a little too much fun dangling his fellow doctors' jobs over their heads after Catherine bought Pac-North. So in "Save the Last Dance for Me," they mutinied, setting new terms for their employment and explaining to Tom that "you do not get to rule this family with an iron fist."

13. 'When Have You Known Me to Not Be Serious?'

During a warm moment in "Snowblind," Bailey invited street kid Joey to move in with her family. "I have an extra room, extra food, extra love to give... " She also has "a husband who... will understand eventually." (Need we mention that Joey accepted her sweet offer?)

5. 'I Could Never Stay Mad at Anybody for Loving Allison'

Teddy's chance encounter with old friend Claire in "Love of My Life" led to flashbacks revealing that the Allison after whom she'd named her daughter hadn't just been her best friend in New York, she'd been her lover, too. And Claire's. And a testament to the heart's ability to be divided.

6. 'She's Selling Human Beings!'

DeLuca's mania reached a harrowing crescendo in "Give a Little Bit" as he tried to convince his colleagues to help him protect a teenager that he believed was a victim of human trafficking. To add insult to injury, as out of control as he was, he was also... correct.

14. 'I'm Tired of Telling You That I Want More'

Having noticed that he was the only one who ever compromised in his relationship with Nico, Levi challenged his boyfriend to step up in "Give a Little Bit." Instead, Nico walked away, saying simply that he hoped Schmitt would find someone who was less of a d-bag would give him what he wanted.

4. 'Cells... Need Apology'

During Richard's presentation at an L.A. medical conference in "Love of My Life," his deteriorating condition became heartbreakingly apparent. Not for another two weeks would his loved ones — or we — learn that he didn't have Alzheimer's but cobalt poisoning from a years-old hip replacement.

2. 'This Is Goodbye'

That was what Teddy insisted to Tom during their season-finale hookup on the day of her and Owen's wedding. But since she'd accidentally recorded the tryst on her cell phone — and sent it to her fiancé as a voicemail! — it seemed likelier that her runaway groom would be the one saying, "See ya."

12. 'Dead Poets Society — It's My Second Favorite!'

Jackson who? In "Love of My Life," Maggie got her groove back in a big way after running into her former resident Winston at a medical conference. They fell for one another so hard, so fast, that by the end of the episode, she was planning to make spread sheets to decide whether she should move to Boston or he, to Seattle.