Though Meredith and Derek’s relationship now seems synonymous with Grey’s Anatomy, it wasn’t always going to be a part of the story. Meredith was actually originally planned to be with Preston Burke. In 2013, Ellen Pompeo told the New York Post that she was originally supposed to be with Dr. Preston Burke. Both Owen and Amelia — despite the devastating sadness of the scene — seemed relieved in a way, almost like they knew that they had tried and it was ok that their relationship was coming to an end.
Derek tended to have high and exacting standards, sometimes yelling at interns and residents for not meeting them. Although charismatic, his reputation has been known to intimidate the newcomers. However, he was also liked by interns and residents due to his willingness to teach and allow them hands-on experience in his surgeries. He disliked the competitive “dog eat dog” attitude displayed by some of the residents and has been known to threaten severe consequences or throw out residents and interns who try to get in on his surgeries through such means. Inspired by Meredith’s mother’s disease, Derek decided to try and find a way to cure Alzheimer’s.
Throughout the series, there have been multiple incidents where characters have either come close to losing their lives or have actually passed on. With their marriage finally certified by the government via a judge, the couple were able to move forward with the adoption of Zola. That’s the document the state needs to find a couple “legally married” and, without it, it can become difficult to do things like insuring one another or open a bank account. For Meredith and Derek, they decided to skip all of that and simply write down their vows on a standard-issue Post-It Note, found in any office in the world. It wouldn’t be a Shonda Rhimes show without some serious drama and if you look at Meredith’s life, drama is certainly her go-to. Not only did she romance with someone she was about to begin a professional relationship with, he happened to be one of her bosses.
Unfortunately, she dies later in surgery, upsetting her husband, who calls Derek a murderer in his grief. One night, they had a conversation about their father again, as they had lost two men who were shot that day. They sat down and talked about things, her eventually admitting that she was falling in love with Owen. He reassured her and was totally okay with the idea of her and Owen. Amelia visited for a second time when she wanted him to help her with the brain tumor of Mason’s mother, that was killing her.
Years prior, Nathan had been in a relationship with Owen’s sister, Megan, and the latter blamed the former for her death. Both Nathan and Meredith had lost the person that they loved most, a fact which bonded them. As this relationship progresses, it may find a different spot on this list, but for now, it’s kind of just okay. Meredith’s romance with Andrew has become quite divisive among fans. Yes, she deserves a happily ever after here, but these two don’t have a ton of chemistry.
Meredith struggled to carry a pregnancy to term, and was told that she had a “hostile uterus”. So when baby Zola needed a home, it was the obvious move for them to adopt her. Part of their long journey was working together on a clinical trial for Alzheimer’s. When success hit, it was an excuse to celebrate and Meredith was inspired to build Derek a candle house.
Meredith is determined to get her family of three through the first Derek-less year with as little support as possible. But when she discovers they’re likely to become a family of four, Die might be the only person who understands her past well enough to help her hope for the future. He dotes on Meredith, despite knowing that her heart ultimately lies with Derek. Of all of her love interests, Finn is maybe one of the few men who is worthy of more than she could give. In hindsight, he never really stands a chance against Derek, but he doesn’t deserve to be cheated on – especially at a prom he had taken Meredith to. Link is unwittingly thrust into yet another of Meredith’s love triangles – this time, the new ortho ‘god’ and DeLuca are battling for her affection.
She also starred in Disney’s “Tangled” as Rapunzel, and voices the character on the animated series. But her surgery had to be postponed due to Gary’s shooting spree. She returned for the surgery six months later while the hospital employees were being filmed by a documentary crew, but she unfortunately never woke up from the anesthesia. Mandy Moore’s character, Mary, was originally brought into the hospital for a colostomy bag reversal surgery. He starred on the Netflix series, “Bloodline,” as Detective John Rayburn and appeared in Warner Bros.’s “Game Night.” After a patient was brought to Seattle Grace with a bomb stuck in his chest, Dylan tried, to no avail, to remove the shell from the man’s body without harming others in the hospital.
He and Cristina begin dating but break up after Owen chokes Cristina in his sleep because of post-traumatic stress disorder, but as he goes through therapy, they get back together. They have a rocky relationship because Owen seems to be in love with both Cristina and Teddy Altman, though he chooses Cristina; they ultimately get married, despite not being on the same page about wanting or not wanting children. In addition to his work on Grey’s Anatomy, Dempsey has taken on a few film roles.
Mark sent Jackson to spy on Lexie, but what resulted was a brief relationship that only got more complicated as the days went on. Everyone, including Izzie and George, agreed that their relationship never should’ve happened. Unfortunately, the two originals, who were better off just as best friends, tempted fate anyway. While recently taking advantage of quarantine to conduct a thorough rewatch of Grey’s Anatomy, I was reminded of all the random, failed relationships that were formed within the walls of Seattle’s finest fictional hospital. Derek ended up being hit by a car while trying to save others who had just been involved in a car crash. Coming up with a suitable ending for Meredith and Derek was hard for the writers to do.
Their hookup in the bathroom during their oral boards in season eight is one of the hottest scenes in Grey’s Anatomy history, period. It also doesn’t get much swoonier than Jackson standing up and professing his love for April at her wedding. ” They were broken people after the tragic soulmate com loss of their son, Samuel, but survived a kitchen table C-section (hello, Harriet!) and remained each other’s best friends even as they went on to date other people. I’ll never forget the look on Jackson’s face when he first sees April, nearly dead on the OR table in season fourteen.
The on-screen chemistry between Jesse Williams and Sarah Drew makes Japril undeniable, and the fact that Grey’s Anatomy set aside not one but three Japril-centric episodes to explore their relationship makes them iconic. We never really get to see the romantic side of Bailey’s first marriage, only its destruction. Tucker isn’t around much, but the relationship is extremely important to Bailey’s character development. She was pretty broken post-divorce (what kind of man gives Dr. Miranda Bailey an ultimatum?!), and you can still see those effects today. Bailey learns a lot about herself through her time with Tucker, getting her ready to meet the true love of her life , and we as an audience get to see a more vulnerable side of her for the first time. While in his depression, pushing Meredith away and being almost constantly drunk, Bailey sends Callie and later Owen to try and bring him back.
Sadly, Derek passed away in 2015 when Patrick Dempsey and Shonda Rhimes came to an agreement to write the character off. Dempsey left the series for personal reasons and it came at a cost to Meredith – and to fans who had grown accustomed to watching the couple on screen for so many years. Professionally, Derek is regarded as one of the best neurosurgeons in the world. His services result in two million dollars worth of annual revenue for the hospital.