The seventh season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, commenced airing on September 23, 2010 on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and concluded on May 19, 2011 ending the season with a total of 22 episodes. The season was produced by ABC Studios, in association with ShondaLand Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company; the showrunner being Shonda Rhimes.
The season follows the aftermath of season six shooting, amidst which Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) are shot. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) was the most affected by the shooting, quitting her job. Cristina and Owen later marry with "her person" and the show's protagonist Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) as her maid of honor. Meredith and Derek starting an Alzheimer trial, with Meredith suspecting that Richard Webber's (James Pickens, Jr.) wife Adele (Loretta Devine) may have Alzheimer's. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) leaves for Africa after getting a grant leaving Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) in ruins, she ends up sleeping with Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) only to find out she's pregnant, just as Arizona comes back confessing her love for Callie. Meredith messes up the trial for the sake of Adele only to have Alex find out and to tell Hunt leading to Alex being kicked out of Meredith's house, and Derek leaving Meredith with Zola. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) first decides that she's going to give Mark a second chance but later starts a relationship with Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams). Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) starts a relationship with Andrew Perkins (James Tupper), a trauma counselor, but later falls for her patient, Henry Burton.
The season ended with an average of 11.41 million viewers and was ranked no. 31 in overall viewership and was no. 9 in the 18-49 key demographic. Loretta Devine won the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. The season also garnered seven nominations at the 37th People's Choice Awards and also won the Outstanding Drama Series at the NAACP Image Awards.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Plot
This season starts a little while after the season six finale, where the shooting in the hospital took place, and deals with all of the doctors trying to get their lives back to normal. Cristina seems to be the most affected by the shooting, quitting her job, because she doesn't believe she loves surgery anymore, eventually to come back. In the beginning of the season Cristina and Owen marry, while Callie and Arizona's relationship takes a turn for the worse when Arizona goes to Africa after getting the Carder Madison Grant. With Callie in ruins after breaking up, she ends up sleeping with Mark only to find out she's pregnant, just as Arizona comes back confessing her love for Callie. The season also focuses on Meredith and Derek starting an Alzheimer trial, with Meredith suspecting that Adele may have Alzheimer's. Richard doesn't believe Adele could have Alzheimer's only to eventually accept their offer and put her in the trial. Season Seven shows the show's first musical episode, after Callie and Arizona are in a car accident, and Callie and the baby's life are put in danger, and Mark and Arizona are forced to decide who to save if Callie were to die. When Meredith messes up, and finds out that Adele won't get the drug, and switches them she takes a risk with her job, only to have Alex find out and to tell Hunt. At the end of the season Cristina finds out that she's pregnant, and decides that she doesn't want to keep the baby, with Alex being kicked out of Meredith's house, and Derek leaving Meredith with Zola, the baby they're trying to adopt, questioning if he can have a relationship with someone who could lie like that. Another central story-line in the series is Lexie and Mark, after Lexie decides that she's going to give Mark a second chance, he tells her that Callie is pregnant, and she effectively ends their relationship, and starts one with Jackson.
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Cast
Reception
The reviews to the season were mostly positive. Robert Bianco USA Today gave a largely positive review stating, "Happily, it now seems to have landed on solid ground, with its best ensemble and most engaging stories in years, the union of Meredith and Derek strengthened it by pushing them into a more mature place " praising Sandra Oh's performance, " Cristina, who responded last week with a performance that stands with any you're likely to see."
The TV Addict also lauded the season and wrote, "the seventh season of ABC's genre-defining medical drama is good. Is it "great again"? This would imply that it was great before, a memory I wish I could fondly look back on, but can't. I'll admit to have been taken with the doctors of Seattle Grace in their initial seasons: they had chemistry, gave some nice performances" praising the majority cast including Oh's "powerful performance".
Jennifer Armstrong of Entertainment Weekly also praised the season, "Season 7 hasn't relegated the finale's events to a dramatic stunt; rather, it's reveled in the possibilities of rebuilding life in the wake of tragedy." and added "It's in the shooting's emotional reverberations that the show is regenerating after the past few hit-and-miss seasons."
Tom Gliatto writing for People Weekly called the season "satisfying", "Grey has been on long enough now that it has lost much of its erotic sizzle--McDreamy is edging toward Mcnappy--but the satisfyingly steady seventh season is a model of a hit that keeps fitting nee characters into the blueprint."
Renee Scolaro Rathke of PopMatters reviewing the premiere gave mixed review, "Unfortunately, the best bits of the premiere were the flashbacks to the finale, though their impact was watered down considerably in the context of an action-less storyline, filled with Grey's usual rambling pontifications." Verne Gay of Newsday was rather critical of the season stating, "Unfortunately, they've settled on far-too-easy and facile answers for the most part."
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. The seventh season's episodes are altogether 946 minutes in length.
Ratings
Live + SD ratings
Live + 7 Day (DVR) ratings
DVD release
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