Didn't We Almost Have It All?

This article is about the Grey's Anatomy episode. For the Whitney Houston song, see Didn't We Almost Have It All.

"Didn't We Almost Have It All?"
Grey's Anatomy episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 25
Directed by	Rob Corn
Written by	Tony Phelan and Joan Rater
Production code	325
Original air date	May 17, 2007 (ABC)
Guest stars
Elizabeth Reaser as Ava. Loretta Devine as Adele. Chyler Leigh as Lexie Grey
Episode chronology
← Previous "Testing 1-2-3" Next → "A Change is Gonna Come"
List of Grey's Anatomy episodes

"Didn't We Almost Have It All?" is the third season finale and the 61st overall episode from the medical drama series, Grey's Anatomy.^[1][2] The episode runs for 53:05 minutes, making it the largest episode of Grey´s, excluding the two-part ones.

Starring

• Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
• Sandra Oh as Dr. Christina Yang
• Katherine Heigl as Dr. Izzie Stevens
• T.R. Knight as Dr. George O'Malley
• Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
• Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
• Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery
• Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie O'Malley
• Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
• James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
• Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Burke
• Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Episode recap

Addison gets to the ER with the woman from the bar, the previous episode. Burke starts treating her and decides that the babies must be born. Joe and Walter adopt them. Derek, Mark and Bailey start treating the climber. The other climbers eventually talk to the police. Cristina tries to write her vows. Callie writes them on Cristina's hand. At work, Cristina discovers that the wedding has given her the day off. Jeff Pope arrives and hugs Rebecca. Alex asks Jeff why he didn't search for his wife before. Rebecca wants Alex, but he tells her to stay with her 'decent guy'. Derek tells Meredith that he met a girl in the bar. Meredith seems confused. Meanwhile, Adele has a miscarriage, revealing Richard was the father. Mama Burke forces Cristina to remove her eyebrows; she panics and convinces Bailey to let her scrub in. Bailey agrees, having found out that Callie is the new chief resident. Derek removes the axe from the fourth climber while Burke treats the new babies. Callie and George agree to have children, but Izzie tells George she's in love with him. The interns receive their test results. George hides the fact that he didn't pass. Derek feels Meredith is taking him for granted. She evades responding and goes to the chapel. Mark, Addison and Burke are rejected as Chief candidates. At the chapel, Burke finds out Derek is not the new Chief, though Derek doesn't explain. Addison tells Alex to fight for Rebecca. Outside SGH, Bailey and George talk. She thinks that she failed him, but he says: "I failed you". Alex decides to find Rebecca. Callie tells Izzie she is planning to have a baby; Izzie is stunned. Cristina realizes that she washed her vows off when she scrubbed in, and freaks out. Meredith convinces her to go on. Burke sees the delay and calls off the wedding, feeling he has forced her to change. He walks away. Meredith tells everybody that it is over. She looks at Derek, and leaves the Chapel. Cristina arrives at Burke's apartment. He's gone. Meredith hugs her. George runs into the new interns, and meets Lexie Grey, Meredith's half sister. Richard tells Derek he is the new Chief, but Derek suggests he start over. We see the Chief looking over the Hospital.

Title reference

This episode's title refers to the song "Didn't We Almost Have it All?" by Whitney Houston.

Music

• "Roboxula" - The Jealous Girlfriends
• "Falling Or Flying" - Grace Potter
• "Hold You In My Arms" - Ray Lamontagne
• "Closer" - Coburn
• "Within You" - Ray Lamontagne
• "Eulogy" - The Hereafter
• "Explosions" - The Mary Onettes
• "Keep Breathing" - Ingrid Michaelson

Notes

• This is Kate Walsh's last episode as a regular before moving to the spin-off series Private Practice, although she will return as a special guest star in the next seasons.
• This is Isaiah Washington's last episode, due to the actor being fired following a series of publicized remarks about castmate T.R. Knight's sexuality.
• This episode is not narrated by Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey). Instead the chief gives the voiceover at the beginning, and there is no voiceover at the end.
• This is also the first episode of Chyler Leigh as Lexie Grey, Meredith's half sister; in the previous episode she appears only as the girl who offers to buy Derek a drink at the bar.

References

1. ^ Gregory Kirschling, "Yanging Our Chain: The season finale of Grey's Anatomy is full of intriguing twists: Burke calls off his wedding to Cristina, Derek turns down the big job, and George flunks the intern test," EW.com (May 18, 2007).
2. ^ Heather Havrilesky, "Finale wrap-up: "Grey's Anatomy": With so much misery and defeat and no one left to sleep with, has this show's golden goose been cooked?," salon.com (May 18, 2007).

External links

• Andy Dehnart, "The ‘Grey’s’ we’ve known is over ... so over: End of storylines, relationships in finale gives fans little to look forward to," MSNBC (May 21, 2007)