Didn't We Almost Have It All?

Season 3, Episode 25, Aired
EDIT

Episode Summary

Callie and George make a big decision. A successor to Chief Webber is named. A man named Jeff Pope arrives. He is looking for his wife and newborn child. Cristina and Burke's wedding day has arrived and so have the interns exam results.
8.8
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
826 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate It

Watch Online

Netflix
Subscription
Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy
Hulu Plus
Subscription
Amazon Prime
Free Trial/Subsc...

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (80)

See All

  • This episode really highlights the superb acting of the cast.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By bowesylp, May 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    Three things really stand out for me in this episode. First is Burke's speech. His vows were incredible, the writing of this episode stands out in a season that didn't impress me in comparison to the previous two. Secondly was a simple sentence that shows us that Alex really does have a heart. When Rebecca's husband suggests that after the ferry crash Rebecca/Ava would of looked ugly Alex turns and says that she was beautiful. It was a really touching scene and actually was my favourite part of this episode. Lastly, Christina and Meredith have one of the most touching scenes we have seen between them. After Christina is left at the alter and returns to her apartment she breaks down to Meredith and it shows that these two seemingly strong women actually need each other more than they let on. The rest of the episode revolves around the interns receiving there test scores, the race for chief, the new and may i say disturbing George/Izzie relationship and the Christina/Burke wedding. I really enjoyed this episode. What did everyone else think?moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 0

  • dang I wish the people who do this website would number the episodes properly. 1 thru to 20 whatever per season.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By mellee2008, Feb 10, 2011 Report Abuse
    dang I wish the people who do this website would number the episodes properly. 1 thru to 20 whatever per season.blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahcount so blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah sorry bout the spam what ya suposed to do when it's 100 min words lol. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahmoreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 2

  • A very underrated episode - lots of character development, moving stories, wrapping up of storylines and the beginnings of new story lines.

    9.3
    "Superb"
    By kizza_boy, Sep 10, 2010 Report Abuse
    I don't know why many people didn't like this season finale. It may not have been the famous tearjerker that was the Season 2 finale but it was just as good - only different. Many plotlines that had been brewing throughout the season came to a head in this episode - Cristina and Burkes marriage, Meredith and Derek's troubled relationship, the Izzie George and Callie love triangle, Alex and Ava's feelings for each other, the chief and Adele's marriage issues and many more.

    The only thing I didnt really like about this episode was Meredith - she needs to make a decision about her and Derek and stop moping about all the time. Her and her self pitying ways can get really annoying.

    But apart from that, great episode that leaves a great many questions unanswered and ready to start a jam packed season 4.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 1

  • What is up with this timeline?

    5.5
    "Mediocre"
    By Ting13, Jul 04, 2010 Report Abuse
    This episode was in many ways saved by the great performances of Chandra Wilson, T.R. Knight and above all Sandra Oh. Knight did a great job with his scenes, and the scene with George and Bailey was very touching. Wilson was good at handling the scenes with Bailey regarding the chief resident thing.

    It was really Sandra Oh's episode though, like last season finally was Katherine Heigl's. And like Heigl she did a wonderful job, especially in her last scene.

    On the negative side, the plausible relationship between Alex and "Ava"... not a good idea. When her character was first brought in it was a great way of showing how Alex had started to belong in the same field as Addison. To have him then go and fall in love with that patient feels quite tame.

    And how exactly is the timeline supposed to work on this show? Are we to believe that from the pilot episode until now only a single year has passed? So in that single year George has fallen in love with Meredith, had sex with her, fallen out of love with her, fallen in love with Callie, married her, and fallen in love with Izzie? And Izzie has been in love with Alex, fallen in love with and gotten engaged to Denny, gotten kicked out of the program and then welcomed back, and is now over Denny and his death, and is in love with George? Meanwhile Christina has gone from afraid of committment to falling in love with Burke, getting pregnant, losing the baby, recovering, getting back together with him, moving in with him, gotten engaged and planned a wedding? Also Bailey has coached the interns for a few months, then gotten pregnant, given birth, been away on maternity leave, gotten back from maternity leave and opened up a clinic? And let's not forget Addison, who aborted Mark's baby before Bailey got pregnant, yet her due date was much later than Bailey's? Alex, meanwhile, slept with Olivia, had a thing for Izzie for months, was jealous of Denny, fell for Addison and is now in love with "Ava"? And of course there's Mary Sue, who dated Derek, then found out he was married, pined for him, got back together with him and now is breaking up with him? Not to mention her mother got better from her Alzheimer's (sp?), then died, her long lost dad and step family appears and she suddenly has two sisters, and then her step mom dies?

    And also during this one year they have seen more medical rareties than ten or twelve doctors combined do during an entire career. Also there's been a huge train crash, a bomb in a patient, a ferry crash (complete with a sort-of suicide attempt by Mary Sue), Izzie cutting the LVAD, Bailey's husband needing brain surgery, a crazy gunman has gotten loose in the hospital, they had a touch of plague, George's dad has died and... well I know I've forgotten something.

    And they wonder why people say this show is hopeless...

    Oh, and also... Mary Sue's sister just HAPPENED to be accepted at SGH? Wow, what a small world indeed...moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 5

  • The interns' test grades come in. Adele reveals something to Richard. Rebecca's husband comes to see her. Burke and Yang prepare to get married George gets some bad news. Richard chooses the next chief or surgery.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By breezy2281, Dec 13, 2007 Report Abuse
    Wow, what a season finale. There were so many things revealed in this episode, it was so emotional. I really have to say the writers of this show are just absolutely amazing. Joe and his boyfriends' surrogate mother is fine after passing out in the last episode. The team saves the babies and her. Adele gets rushed to surgery because she may be having a possible miscarriage. Addison does everything she can but it unable to save the baby who turned out to be a boy. Adele reveals that Richard was in fact the father. I think we may see these two try to work things out. The chief makes his decision on both who he wants as chief resident, and who he wants as chief of surgery. for chief of surgery we find out that he didn't chose Mark, basically because he causes so much drama and fighting. We then find out that he doesn't choose Addison because she needs something to live for, she needs this job to give her a reason to get up in the morning, to have a life. The chief tells her that's why she didn't get the job, and that if she needs that position for a reason to get up then she needs a new job or a new life. He then turns down Burke for the job because of the obvious reason of the whole tremor episode with his hand after being shot, and also because Burke acts like he always knows everything and that he's perfect. The cheif told him he's not perfect and he doesn't know everything. He finally names Derek as chief, who in turn tells the chief that HE should continue to be chief, to do it all over again but do things differently this time around. In the race to see who is going to be cheif resident, Mark basically congradulates Bailey and asks her how it feels. We find out that the chief actually picked Callie, which i don't understand. I remember thinking "What, why? Why didn't Bailey get the job?" Although i like Callie, that kind of made me sad and a little confused. The interns' test results come in and we find out that everyone passed, everyone but George. I guess he'll be kissing that job at Mercy West goodbye. When he asks Bailey what he can do, she tells him he can either basically drop out of the program, or he can repeat his internship. George doesn't want to do that, but i wonder if he will? With all of this going on, Izzie tells George she's in love with him and hope he's in love with her, and Callie tells him she wants to have a baby. He tells her if she really wants to then they can do it. George tells Izzie he'll talk to her at the church where Burke and Yang are getting married. George never shows, and Izzie is still sitting in the church waiting i think still for George unless she was just in shock that he didn't show up, and she didn't realize Callie notices her there after all the people left. This was after Callie told Izzie that she was named chief resident, and that her and George were trying to have a baby and were actually together that very day. I don't think it's right that they should be trying to have a baby, especially since George hasn't come clean to Callie yet about Izzie. Ok, so i thought everything that was being done to Cristina to get ready for the wedding was funny. After her eyebrows got shaved off it was just hilarious. I cannot believe that Burke left her...I think he's really gone for good. I guess he felt that he was trying to change her and that she wasn't really sure that she wanted to marry him. Grey tells everyone that they can leave, it is over. After her earlier confrontation with Derek, i'm pretty sure she just told him it was over between them too. She winds up at Cristina's apartment when Cristina starts freaking out because Burke took all most of his valuable and sentimental things, and she starts crying because she knows he's gone. Then she says "i'm free" and starts freaking out, but i don't know if she was freaking out because he was gone, or if she was freaking out because she was actually relieved. Rebecca's husband shows up and she doesn't really seem like she wants to be back with him. We find out that she really wants to be with Alex. Earlier in the episode i figured out that Alex fell for her. She gives Alex a very heartfilled speech about her feelings and that she wanted him to give her a reason to stay. He doesn't get right away that she's trying to say she wants to be with him, but she puts it bluntly after that. Alex shoots her down. He shows up at the church to sit next to Addison who he tries to hit on again, and she tells him that he doesn't want her, he wants Rebecca. He goes back to the hospital to talk to her but she is already gone. I knew that was going to happen. Also, Grey had been assigned to Adele in this episode, so they got to talk briefly. Adele said she watched Grey a lot when she was little, and they talked about Richard and Ellis a little bit. The episode ends with George cleaning out his locker, and the new interns all walk in. Most of them leave after a few minutes but one girl stays to talk to George. We then find out the girl's name is Lexie Grey.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Just like last season's finale, Derek and Meredith are both formally dress, he's in a suit, she's in a black dress, and they are in a room alone, together. Only in this season's finale, they are fighting, not having sex. Edit
    • In many parts of this episode, Webber talks individually with doctors from the regular cast. That also happened in the previous season finale Losing My Religion. Edit
    • Goof: Last episode, Adele said she was 51. In this episode, Addison is talking about Adele and says that pregnancy at age 52 is risky. Unless it was Adele's birthday.....she can't be 52 and 51 at the same time Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • International Titles: Czech Republic: Copak jsme neměli skoro všechno? (Didn't We Almost Have It All?) Edit
    • This is Kate Walsh's last episode as regular cast member and Isaiah Washington's last episode. Edit
    • There is no closing voiceover for this episode. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Meredith: Do you remember your vows? Cristina: Yeah, I wrote them on my... (looks at her hand) Oh, my God, I scrubbed in and the vows were on my hand... I scrubbed off my vows. Meredith: Oh, okay...um... Cristina (panicing): Okay, hello, I scrubbed off my vows! I-- I can't do this. I don't-- I don't have anything on my hand! There are no words in my head, I have no vows, no vows! Meredith: It´s okay, it´s going to be okay... Cristina: You now what? Stop saying that! Will you say something else? Meredith: Like what? Cristina: Say something that is gonna help me! Meredith: Okay! Okay! I... Cristina: Meredith! Please, you know what? Say something... Say.. I don´t know, I don't know what, say... say... Okay. Say what I would say to you if you were me... Meredith: Okay! Cristina: Good. Meredith: Got it! Cristina: Good, go. Meredith: Stop whining! This is your wedding day, you will go down that aisle and you will get married! If I have to kick your ass every step of the way to get you there... you will walk down the aisle, you will get married. Do you hear me, Cristina? We need this! We need you to get your happy ending... Cristina: Okay, I´m ready. Izzie: Alright then. Edit
    • Izzie: Did you see George in there? I didn't see him. Callie: He's probably gonna be late. We sorta had a big emotional day. Izzie: Oh, really? Did-- Did something happen between you two? I mean... Callie: No, it's just that I was named Chief Resident. Izzie: Oh. Callie: And plus, we decided to have a baby. Izzie (shocked): A baby? Callie: Yeah, we're trying. We tried today in fact. Izzie: Wow. Callie: Yeah... big day. Edit
    • Burke: You okay? Derek: Fine. You need anything? A mint? A getaway car? Burke (smiles): If it's the chief thing, don't worry about it. You deserve it. Derek: Richard didn't pick me to be chief. Burke: We all assumed... Well, who did he pick? Derek: I don't know, it wasn't me. Burke (pause): You really don't... look so good. Derek: Meredith and I, we might not make it. I think I want it more than she does. But, today's your day, it's all about you today. Burke: You really are a good best man. Derek: I try. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Episode Title: Didn't We Almost Have It All? This episode's title refers to a song by Whitney Houston, Didn't We Almost Have It All?, the second single from her second album Whitney. The song was released in August 1987 and it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from September 26 to October 9, 1987. Edit

Show Forums

See All
Last Activity
Replies

Watch Grey's Anatomy Full Episodes

See All

Related Shows

Season 3 Episodes

See All
Ep 25
Didn't We Almost Have It All?
Ep 24
Testing 1-2-3
Ep 23
The Other Side of This Lif...
Ep 22
The Other Side of This Lif...
Ep 21
Desire
Ep 20
Time After Time
Ep 19
My Favorite Mistake
Ep 18
Scars and Souvenirs
Ep 17
Some Kind of Miracle
Ep 16
Drowning on Dry Land
Ep 15
Walk On Water
Ep 14
Wishin' and Hopin'
Ep 13
Great Expectations
Ep 12
Six Days (2)
Ep 11
Six Days (1)
Ep 10
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Ep 9
From A Whisper to a Scream
Ep 8
Staring at the Sun
Ep 7
Where the Boys Are
Ep 6
Let The Angels Commit
Ep 5
Oh, The Guilt
Ep 4
What I Am
Ep 3
Sometimes a Fantasy
Ep 2
I Am a Tree
Ep 1
Time Has Come Today

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
BROWSE | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use