Grey’s Anatomy season 11 is focusing less on the relationship drama and spending more time on another passion all the doctors share. The one for medicine.

Romantic entanglements are a dime a dozen on Grey’s Anatomy. Over 11 seasons, fans have watched Meredith and Derek wake up, break up, and fall in and out of love. Alex has gone through his fair share of crazy before hitting it off with Jo. Callie went from George to Mark to Arizona. Even Miranda Bailey has seen one marriage fall apart and another relationship take off.

The doctors are entering some uncharted territory in season 11. Although relationship drama is never off the table entirely, last week’s Grey’s Anatomy seemed to erase relationship troubles from the OR board.

Medicine is taking over

The veterans of Grey’s Anatomy are almost qualified to say they have literally been through it all. Drownings, bombings, rogue gunmen, ferry accidents, giant storms, plane crashes. The tragedies that pass through Grey Sloan Memorial would make anyone cautious to visit Seattle. But beyond the weird and bizarre cases are the doctors who work sleepless nights to ensure the best possible chance of survival for those patients.

That brings us to the love affair that does not quite get the attention it deserves on on the show: the love the doctors have for medicine. Season 11, more than others, is spending more time with research, cases that extend multiple episode arcs, and challenges that force collaboration. More so than any romance, the love of medicine is testing the doctors the most.

Derek is the drawn out case of the season when it comes to love versus medicine. With Amelia taking over as Chief of Neurosurgery and Meredith focusing more on her research than their marriage, Derek finally breaks. His downward spiral to depression sends him back into the arms of brain mapping. A choice that benefits both him and Meredith.

Arizona and Callie are better off married to their work than each other. Arizona’s desire to take on a fellowship under Dr. Herman and Callie and Owen’s Veteran project pull them further away from expanding their family, but closer to recognizing what is important for themselves. Owen takes the time to refocus his energy with Callie after Cristina recognized that her career would always be restrained in Seattle.

Bailey’s journey started early last season when her genome lab took over her life and gave her a renewed purpose in the hospital after her career seemed to reach a standstill. Meredith follows the same path, engrossing herself in the 3D printing of portal veins. Alex’s new position as pediatric attending finally sets him at a level of comfort and authority in the hospital. Without failing board exams, or finding out which rotation he fits into, the rest of the pieces are falling into place for Alex as his passion for working with kids takes off.

Fans of Private Practice know that Amelia has not always had the best of times in love and Grey’s Anatomy is providing her with the area to grow as a professional in her field and earn the respect of other doctors. As she battles the tumor, another new doctor to the bundle, Dr. Maggie Pierce, is holding her own as the attending in cardio. Last week’s adventure into the “Lotus Eater” of tumors brought her closer to her sister, but also to the collaborative medical team of Grey Sloan Memorial.

The focus on their careers has a history of being a right place, right time competition for a spot in the OR. Now that most of the main players are at the top of their respective fields, the pay off is rewarding component of the show to witness for viewers as well. Their work is giving the doctors more confidence in themselves than any relationship has before.

This is not to say that the couples are completely off the hook this season. Meredith and Derek are still thousands of miles apart. Callie and Arizona will run into each other. Owen is not done thinking about Cristina. And Jackson and April have a very rocky road ahead of them. But before the doctors can get to those problems, they first have to get through their shifts.

Watch Grey’s Anatomy season 11, episode 11, “All I Could Do Was Cry,” Thursday, February 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.