“Grey’s Anatomy” has been with us a long time. How long? The show has outlasted three popes (and counting). In that time, many cast members have left (and reappeared, then disappeared again, then come back in dream sequences). But the exit that was the hardest to overcome was McDreamy himself: Dr. Derek Shepherd.
Derek survived 11 seasons on the show, and “survived” is the key word in that sentence. In his time on the series, he was shot, lived through a plane crash, and then was hit by a truck. That last one led to Derek’s death, a difficult decision for the “Grey’s Anatomy” writers and something the show never fully recovered from. Whereas the show was routinely a top-ten ratings hit when he was on, the ratings have experienced a slow and steady decline following his death.
There are many reasons why losing Derek was a huge blow to “Grey’s Anatomy,” but at the top of the list is the loss of the show’s most popular and entertaining couple. “Grey’s Anatomy” was built around the Meredith/Derek dynamic for 11 years. Their hookup is literally how the pilot episode begins. Even learning that Derek was already married didn’t dampen the torch that fans had for “MerDer.” Then came the Season 5 finale, where they write their vows to each other on a Post-it note — one of the show’s highest-rated episodes on IMDb.
Derek and Meredith were the emotional throughline for the show
Not only did the Meredith and Derek relationship give fans endless wonderful moments, like the infamous “Pick me! Choose me!” scene, it also gave the show a steadying force the other characters could revolve around. While everyone else turned Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital into their own personal speed dating service, we got to see Meredith and Derek’s bond grow slowly over multiple seasons, helping us invest emotionally in their relationship.
When Derek got shot in the Season 6 finale, it devastated audiences on multiple levels. Yes, the thought of losing Derek was sad, but watching Meredith wrestle with the thought of losing him was even worse. The couple had been through over 100 episodes of ups and downs at that point, so the grief was earned and felt visceral. In fact, that episode is IMDb’s highest-rated “Grey’s Anatomy” episode.
Later on, once the couple welcomed Zola and Bailey, they became one of the only nuclear families the show had seen up until then. Their family became the lightning rod for the entire show, and losing Derek robbed the show of that magnetism.
The writers have struggled to replace Derek’s strength and energy
When “Grey’s Anatomy” lost Derek, it also lost one of its few strong male leads. Shonda Rhimes did a masterful job early on of balancing the storylines and character development between the men and women. But the show kept losing men and struggled to replace them effectively. First there was Preston Burke, played by Isiah Washington, who was written off “Grey’s” following Washington’s use of a homophobic slur on set. Then came the deaths of George O’Malley and “McSteamy” Mark Sloan.
While some of the replacements worked, they were harder to connect with. We certainly got to know Owen Hunt, played by Kevin McKidd, who just recently announced he’s leaving “Grey’s Anatomy,” but his three marriages made it hard to be invested in any of them. Jackson Avery bounced around between four long-term relationships and could never quite decide what role he wanted to play at Grey Sloan. Then there were characters like Andrew Deluca and Cormac Hayes, who were good additions but didn’t last long enough to make an impression.
Ultimately, the machine that is “Grey’s Anatomy” isn’t going away anytime soon. It will continue churning out episodes, finding new ways to put the hospital staff in danger, and uncovering more bizarre medical cases to solve. However, the one case they will never solve is how to properly replace Derek Shepherd.
