Each week, Shonda Rhimes offers up three solid hours of Anatomy, Scandal and Murder – a new block of must-see TV. If you're not SPOILER-averse, check out Shondaland's hot-button moments below, which we've ranked from least to most shocking.
5. Grey's Anatomy: Trans Aggression
While spreading their father's ashes in the woods in "The Great Pretender," Ben's (Jason George) brother Kurt (Benjamin Patterson) collapsed. Following testing at Grey Sloane Memorial, it was discovered that Kurt had abnormally high estrogen levels – Kurt was in the process of transitioning from male to female. Ben yelled at him, "I'm supposed to be okay with this?" Don't worry: Bailey ( Chandra Wilson) set him to rights. Well, she tried – Ben never really came around.
4. Scandal: Lost but Not Forgotten
With a president, gladiators and black-ops assassins on her side, who would have guessed that the man who ended up saving Olivia Pope ( Kerry Washington) would be caddish former OPA fixer Stephen (Henry Ian Cusick)? In "No More Blood," Liv's former right-hand man returned with gusto – and incredibly convenient ties to the Russian mob.
3. Grey's Anatomy: Staycation Stagnation
Despite packing a "suitcase full of lingerie" and leaving Seattle on the pretense of visiting Derek ( Patrick Dempsey) in Washington, D.C., for a "sex vacation," Meredith ( Ellen Pompeo) never ended up meeting her husband. Confronted by half-sister Maggie (Kelly McCreary), Mer eventually copped to the truth: No, she wasn't cheating on Derek, and no, as some fans had guessed, she was not meeting Cristina ( Sandra Oh). In fact, she never left the city. Instead, she had sequestered herself in an airport hotel. "I don't want to leave [Derek]," she told Alex ( Justin Chambers), "but I definitely do not want to be with him right now."
2. Scandal: That's a Wrap!
Huck ( Guillermo Díaz) "doesn't do [murder] anymore." What does he do? Bind traitors in plastic wrap, inject them with poison and let them writhe in agony until they're almost dead – but not quite. Because Huck doesn't do that anymore. In case you thought we'd never get in deeper than the tooth-pulling torture of season 3, welcome to a new low.
1. How to Get Away with Murder: "Don't You Know a V.I.P. When You See One?"
Did you think Annalise Keating ( Viola Davis) was vicious? Did you think she was important? Did you think she was powerful? And did you think you knew what "V.I.P." meant? Well dispel all those notions, kids, because the library was open on Thursday, and Annalise's mother ( Cicely Tyson) was here to teach us all how to read. For example, to Annalise's students: "Your boss came out of my 'V' and her daddy's 'P.' So show a little respect." And to Annalise herself: "So, your no-account, sorry-ass husband – who I said, 'Don't marry!' – couldn't keep his peter in his pants and slept with a white woman. Then the fool goes and kills the white woman when he finds out she has his bun in her nasty oven. And after that, your ex-police boyfriend kills the no-good husband and gets himself arrested. And you, now, ain't got no husband, ain't got no boyfriend, and you holed up in this bed like the Queen of Sheba – does that about cover it?" Mind you, that scathingly succinct recap was only four minutes into the episode, "Mama's Here Now." Later, after an arsonist's fantasy of a bedtime story about how Mama basically set her brother on fire for molesting Annalise, we were officially on board for the inevitable spin-off: How to Get Away with Mama.
• Reporting by MICHELE CORRISTON and AMANDA MICHELLE STEINER
5. Grey's Anatomy: Trans Aggression
While spreading their father's ashes in the woods in "The Great Pretender," Ben's (Jason George) brother Kurt (Benjamin Patterson) collapsed. Following testing at Grey Sloane Memorial, it was discovered that Kurt had abnormally high estrogen levels – Kurt was in the process of transitioning from male to female. Ben yelled at him, "I'm supposed to be okay with this?" Don't worry: Bailey ( Chandra Wilson) set him to rights. Well, she tried – Ben never really came around.
4. Scandal: Lost but Not Forgotten
With a president, gladiators and black-ops assassins on her side, who would have guessed that the man who ended up saving Olivia Pope ( Kerry Washington) would be caddish former OPA fixer Stephen (Henry Ian Cusick)? In "No More Blood," Liv's former right-hand man returned with gusto – and incredibly convenient ties to the Russian mob.
3. Grey's Anatomy: Staycation Stagnation
Despite packing a "suitcase full of lingerie" and leaving Seattle on the pretense of visiting Derek ( Patrick Dempsey) in Washington, D.C., for a "sex vacation," Meredith ( Ellen Pompeo) never ended up meeting her husband. Confronted by half-sister Maggie (Kelly McCreary), Mer eventually copped to the truth: No, she wasn't cheating on Derek, and no, as some fans had guessed, she was not meeting Cristina ( Sandra Oh). In fact, she never left the city. Instead, she had sequestered herself in an airport hotel. "I don't want to leave [Derek]," she told Alex ( Justin Chambers), "but I definitely do not want to be with him right now."
2. Scandal: That's a Wrap!
Huck ( Guillermo Díaz) "doesn't do [murder] anymore." What does he do? Bind traitors in plastic wrap, inject them with poison and let them writhe in agony until they're almost dead – but not quite. Because Huck doesn't do that anymore. In case you thought we'd never get in deeper than the tooth-pulling torture of season 3, welcome to a new low.
1. How to Get Away with Murder: "Don't You Know a V.I.P. When You See One?"
Did you think Annalise Keating ( Viola Davis) was vicious? Did you think she was important? Did you think she was powerful? And did you think you knew what "V.I.P." meant? Well dispel all those notions, kids, because the library was open on Thursday, and Annalise's mother ( Cicely Tyson) was here to teach us all how to read. For example, to Annalise's students: "Your boss came out of my 'V' and her daddy's 'P.' So show a little respect." And to Annalise herself: "So, your no-account, sorry-ass husband – who I said, 'Don't marry!' – couldn't keep his peter in his pants and slept with a white woman. Then the fool goes and kills the white woman when he finds out she has his bun in her nasty oven. And after that, your ex-police boyfriend kills the no-good husband and gets himself arrested. And you, now, ain't got no husband, ain't got no boyfriend, and you holed up in this bed like the Queen of Sheba – does that about cover it?" Mind you, that scathingly succinct recap was only four minutes into the episode, "Mama's Here Now." Later, after an arsonist's fantasy of a bedtime story about how Mama basically set her brother on fire for molesting Annalise, we were officially on board for the inevitable spin-off: How to Get Away with Mama.
• Reporting by MICHELE CORRISTON and AMANDA MICHELLE STEINER