Spoilers forward for Gray’s Anatomy’s Season 8 finale from 2012. All seasons of the medical drama may be streamed with a Netflix subscription, Hulu subscription or Disney+ subscription.
We have now witnessed some fairly unforgettable Gray’s Anatomy episodes over the previous twenty years, and it’s protected to say that the aircraft crash that ended Season 8 was one among them. Not solely did we witness Lexie Gray’s traumatic (and extremely memed) dying, however Mark Sloan succumbed to his accidents not lengthy after. There have been different unintended penalties within the aftermath of “Flight,” as Jessica Capshaw recalled an interplay she had with a fan after filming wrapped.
Jessica Capshaw starred as Arizona Robbins on Gray’s Anatomy from Seasons 5 to 14, and he or she opened up about her expertise filming the Season 8 finale on her podcast Name It What It Is. The entire ordeal sounded taxing on the actress, who was within the third trimester of a being pregnant when the crew went on location for a grueling 10-day shoot. She defined:
We shoot the episode, and with the intention to get the blood and stuff — and Arizona had numerous blood and stuff on her face and in her hair — one of the simplest ways to get it out was shaving cream. So that you’d get shaving cream and also you’d simply lather it up throughout, and there was one thing about it that will take away the gooky stuff. After which a sizzling towel.
Since they have been staying at a resort whereas on location at Large Bear Lake, no one often noticed the actors all soiled and bloody on the finish of the shoot. Nonetheless, on that remaining day, Jessica Capshaw was able to get residence, so she hit the street and went a bit “numb” as she began coming down from the trauma Arizona had simply skilled. That was when she hit the freeway and was seen by a fellow driver. In her phrases:
I’m sitting in site visitors and I’m searching the window, and I’m processing and every part else, and I look to my left, as a result of there’s a automotive there. This girl turns, locks eyes with me, and her face registers what I appear to be, which is like I’m in a horror film. Like I’ve bought blood in every single place. I appear to be I’ve been fully, I imply, she didn’t know what to do.
The actress — who will seem on 9-1-1: Nashville when it premieres this fall on the 2025 TV schedule — was in her automotive, zoned out and exhausted, and he or she regarded like she’d simply spent 4 days preventing off dying within the wilderness. Capshaw continued:
I imply, I couldn’t hear her as a result of she was in a automotive, but it surely was like she screamed, ‘Do you want assist?’ and there was nothing I might truly say again that will be comforting to her, proper? Like apart from rolling down my window, asking her to roll down hers and stopping in the midst of the freeway to say, ‘Oh no, don’t fear, I’m on a TV present. We simply filmed.’
All credit score to the man driver for expressing willingness to assist somebody who seemed to be in want, and I’m certain Jessica Capshaw did what she might to guarantee the opposite girl that she was fantastic. Both manner, the actress nonetheless thinks about that driver and wonders if she was affected by the unlucky interplay, saying:
In order that girl is on the market on the earth someplace right this moment, and he or she has some story about — and it most likely is unhappy, proper? She most likely imagines that I used to be a tragic particular person. However I’m right here to let you know that if you happen to ever hear this, it was not unhappy, it was simply me coming residence from work.
I hope both that different driver noticed the Gray’s Anatomy episode and acknowledged Jessica Capshaw or comes throughout the podcast, as a result of I can solely think about she’d be relieved to know she didn’t unwittingly abandon a bloody, damaged stranger on the freeway.
Jessica Capshaw returned for one Gray’s episode in Season 20, however in any other case, she’s moved on to different tasks. Catch her on 9-1-1: Nashville, and tune in for Gray’s Anatomy Season 22, each airing on ABC this fall with episodes streaming the subsequent day on Hulu.