Happy Thursday and welcome to another passion blog on Greys Anatomy character deaths! The last few months i’ve covered many of the significant and relatively original characters, and today I will be talking about the one character who tops them all. Introduced in the first scene of the first episode of season 1, Derek Shepherd, nicknamed “McDreamy” by the interns of season 1, was the husband of Meredith Grey, father to three children (one of which he never met), and overall biggest heartthrob of the series (in my opinion at least), which is what made his departure one that caused so many tears.
After being cheated on by his wife in New York, Derek decided to make the move to Seattle, to work at Seattle Grace hospital as a neurosurgeon, and hopeful candidate for the chief of surgery position. It’s the night before his first shift at the hospital that he meets Meredith at a bar, and they immediately hit it off. Their relationship is one that had many ups and downs throughout the first few seasons, as Meredith first tries avoiding him due to them being coworkers, and then later once a relationship starts to bloom, finds out he had been married the entire time, and thats why he came to Seattle. Their relationship is one that could be discussed for hours, but to sum it up, they ended up together in the end, and are arguably the cutest couple of all time, adding to the ever-so long list of reasons Dereks death was such a difficult pill for viewers to swallow.
After surviving a hospital shooting and plane crash, Dereks luck unfortunately ran out in episode 21 of season 11. He had been working closely with the president on a brain mapping initiative, and had been traveling back and forth to D.C. often. Derek was driving to the airport for one last trip to D.C., during which he was going to resign to spend more time with his family, when he witnessed a car crash on the remote road he was driving. The spot it happened in was the blind spot on the side of a mountain, and despite the danger, Derek immediately stopped to help. He was able to get the people from both cars stabilized, and stayed with them until paramedics were able to arrive and take them to the hospital. Once the victims of the crash were safely en route to the medical center, Derek returned to his car and began to pull out to turn around when his phone suddenly rang. Leaving the car sideways in the middle of the road, he began reaching for the phone, not noticing an approaching semi, which came fast around the corner and crashed into the side of his car.
Derek was then taken to the hospital where the doctors began examining him. Conscious but unable to speak, he knew that he needed a head CT, and begged in his mind for the doctors to also realize this. One of them quickly did and lobbied to get the CT, but to no avail, as she was repeatedly shut down by her superior, who believed that Derek’s abdominal bleeding was more pressing, even though he was stable enough to get the CT. Derek was rushed to the OR, but by the time the doctors figured out what was going on and managed to bring in a neurosurgeon (whom they had to wait for over an hour after paging him), it was already too late and Derek was pronounced brain dead. Not long after, Meredith signed the papers to take him off life-support, and he took his last breath.
This death was an impactful one on so many levels, as viewers had watched the family built by Meredith and Derek grow, and it was made so obvious just how much each cared for the other. He was more than significant in the series, and mentioned constantly even after his death, as nobody would ever truly be able to replace him and his talent not just as a neurosurgeon, but as a good person in general. Viewers watched as the series continued, and the light never fully came back in Merediths eyes, always missing the little piece of her true love that left too soon.
Image Sources:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/heartbreaking-moments-from-greys-anatomy-youll-never-forget
‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Derek Shepherd’s Death Was Not As Devastating as You Remember
My heart! This actually hurts my heart! You did a fantastic job describing the heart-wrenching and impactful role that Dr. McDreamy played. I can physically feel the pain that viewers felt at his sudden and terrible death. I liked that you described the way the fellow doctors reacted and their process of addressing the abdominal bleeding before finally getting to his head injury even though it was too late. A lot of soap opera tv shows use this tactic of giving the audience information before the characters, which helps the audience become fully invested and leads to an even more emotional conclusion. Great job and I can’t tell you how much I love reading your passion blog posts!
I have been waiting for you to cover this one! Derek’s death by far had to be the most tragic, unexpected death in my opinion and you completely encompassed this within your writing. His death was extremely frustrating for viewers, especially because was fully conscious during his arrival at the hospital and understood the medical attention he was in need of. The connection that many viewers had to Derek and his relationship with Meredith made this moment absolutely heartbreaking to watch. Another great blog post!