'Grey's Anatomy' season 12 episode 9 spoilers, plot news: Meredith gets attacked

Once again, not everything will be well at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital when "Grey's Anatomy" season 12 returns after two months of winter hibernation.

ABC's medical television drama will start with an assault on main protagonist Dr. Meredith Grey, portrayed by actress Ellen Pompeo. The unsuspecting doctor is attending to a patient when, out of nowhere, the patient stands up and physically assaults her. 

She tries to pacify the patient but the row quickly turns into a living nightmare as the man shoves her and starts his one-man reign of terror on the now-bewildered physician. Dr. Grey gets her light physique chucked around the confined space of the room with much determination by her attacker. Thankfully, as the scene shifts to another view, both individuals are caught out of breath. With a barely-breathing Dr. Grey lying flat on the cold hospital floor, the room begins to fill with her colleagues. Immediately she is placed on an operating room table, with her vitals continuously being checked, but her future seems grim as her loved ones cry nearby.

Dr. Grey has had a long history of grief in the 12 seasons of "Grey's Anatomy." One of her life's biggest blows was when she lost her husband Derek "McDreamy" Shepard following a freak accident. The character was portrayed by Patrick Dempsey.

Other traumatic deaths that happened in the Shondaland series were: Dr. George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) after almost being crushed by a speeding bus; Dr. Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who died due to a stroke after a heart transplant; and Dr. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) in a plane crash just after she found her one true love.

"Grey's Anatomy" season 12 episode 9, "The Sound of Silence," will air on Thursday, Feb. 11, on ABC. The episode is directed by actor Denzel Washington.