So, Let's Discuss McDreamy
EntertainmentGrey’s Anatomy is a show that really likes to take it there, again and again. No storyline is too absurd. A cliffhanger about performing delicate surgery on a deer? Sure. Fave character happens to get a rare form of cancer? Why not. Everyone boning everyone boning everyone else boning your best friend in a closet or an elevator or an attic? Anything goes! It’s Grey’s!
[Here be spoilers!]
But last night, something happened that actually managed to shock fans into stunned silence, then rage, then denial, acceptance, sorrow, all that. We watched the entirety of our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds transition through textbook Elizabeth Kübler-Ross emotions. That is because, seemingly out of nowhere, Grey’s Anatomy killed off one of the two most important characters of its 11-season run. Bye, bye, Dr. Derek Shepherd (no relation). The god Shonda giveth, and the god Shonda taketh away.
But why! Fans asked. Why now! Patrick Dempsey, who will never be known by anything but McDreamy so long as his real-life shall live, had just signed a two-year contract with the show, and unlike other characters who’ve faded away over the years—RIP Private Practice—Derek’s place in the Grey’s pantheon was so mighty, so thick with gravitas, it seemed an impossibility.