‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season Premiere: Mark Sloan Dies, Arizona Loses A Leg

Courtesy of ABC (2)

After ending season eight with a shocking plane crash, the doctors at Seattle Grace returned — well, most of them, anyway!

A new year means a new round of interns at Seattle Grace! On the Sept. 27 season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy, we learned Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is no longer the reigning stern attending, thanks to a harsher Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), who has earned the nickname “Medusa.” After the plane crash, Christina (Sandra Oh) left Seattle Grace and is now working at a hospital in Minnesota. Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) is also mysteriously missing from the halls of Seattle Grace.

But the most shocking revelation after the plane crash was that Mark (Eric Dane) was in a coma! He requested to be taken off life support after 30 days if there were no signs of recovery – so at 5:00, his time would be up.

The doctors continued their day, avoiding the ticking clock. Alex (Justin Chambers) was up to his usual antics, initiating the new batch of interns — by sleeping with them. It looks like Dr. Bailey’s happiness with Ben (Jason George) has caused her to lose her power over the new interns.

Meanwhile, Christina had trouble adjusting to working with a new group of doctors in Minnesota. A new head of pediatric surgery, Dr. Mel Barnett (Phillip Casnoff), was also introduced — further deepening the mystery of Arizona’s absence.

Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) teamed up for Derek’s first surgery since he injured his hand in the plane crash, and during the surgery, he lost his grasp on a tool and left the O.R. in frustration.

When 5:00 finally arrived, the Chief, Derek and Callie tearfully gathered around Mark’s bedside as he was taken off life support. His heart rate slowly tapered off, and another life at Seattle Grace was lost.

Several of the doctors were also faced with flying for the first time since the crash. Christina tried to fly back to Seattle in time to say goodbye to Mark, but she ended up backing out. Meredith tried to go to Minnesota to visit Christina, but panicked on the plane and abandoned ship before it took off. Alex was supposed to leave for his fellowship, but he also ditched his flight. In fact, the only doctor who succeeded in flying was Owen (Kevin McKidd), who went to April’s (Sarah Drew) home to give her her job back.

The mystery surrounding Arizona was finally revealed at the end of the episode: She did survive the plane crash, but she’s certainly not okay — one of her legs had to be amputated!

HollywoodLifers, what do you think? Were you shocked by Mark’s death? Why do you think Christina left Seattle Grace? And do you think Arizona will return to work after her amputation? Drop me a comment with your thoughts!

– Jenny Pickard

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This isn’t the true depiction of life scenario. No tragedy befalls a circle of people like this. Lexie, george, now Mark. How do we digest this, lexie did not get the time to enjoy her love life and that makes me sos sad. Frankly I feel so down by this, infact I feel If I continue watching everyone is going to die in a heartbeat. So sad, I need time to continue watching greys anatomy.

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oh God, I really HATE SHONDA RHIMES ! I was IN LOVE with seaosn 1-6 but after that, all of the good characters start to die or leave, oh god this is stupid. Mark :(((

yeah i’m just not going to watch anymore cause this happens to every show that has potential love interests in them (derek and meredith) as long as they are not together and that sexual tension is in the air its exciting to watch hoping they get together then when they do the writers of the show seem to go down hill and there is nothing interesting to write about anymore happens everytime and now that they killed off mcsteamy and lexi it seems they are really struggling to come up with ideas how long before cristina decides to leave the show since shes at a whole new hospital and arizona the most happiest person alive that it was so unreal now shes depressed and mad at calli like she would not have done the same thing if it was going to save the person that she loved give me a break wont be watching anymore thanks for ruining greys anatomy for everybody

Now I officially HATE Shonda Rhimes!
How cld she do that to the show? What’s there to watch? I hope she doesn’t try the madness wiv private practice.
First it was Burke (I didn’t lyk him anyway so good riddance) den George, den Izzie, then Lexie (I love dat babe) now Mark?! Who’s next?
How is d show going to continue? She shld have ended it in season 8, and Bailey is all happy? That’s just sad :)

So exactly what did Marc die from….the accident or a terminal illness? They were talking about the “surge” that terminally ill patients have…just curious!

I was trying to figure that out, too!

I do hope that Arizona returns to her duties at the hospital. Mark’s death was certainly a surprise to me. And Christina leaving only adds to the drama for the new season her character is so diverse.

I love watching grey’s just watch it and I will not be watching any more I couldn’t believe what you did to the show had a hard time watching it BORING !

I was kind of shocked with Mark’s death. It was crazy to me how they made him stay alive for so long. It gave me hope that he would live. I think Arizona will return after her leg amputation, it will be really interesting to see how her character progresses with everything she has to go through. This episode gave me and my DISH coworkers plenty to talk about. Luckily my Hopper recorded it automatically with the Prime Time Anytime feature. I love that this feature records all prime time programming that comes on major networks without the need of a timer.

Owen wouldn’t have a fear of flying since he wasn’t on the crashed plane, Alex either. I wasn’t shocked by Marc’s death but I was shocked that they showed him dying I thought he would’ve died at the crash site. Now Arizona’s story line was a shocker!!