'Grey's Anatomy' Recap: Derek Shepherd to the Rescue
Warning: This story contains character and storyline spoilers from the April 23 episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd have been through a lot in 11 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, including multiple near-deaths. But for one of them, good fortune finally ran out.
This week, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) dealt with TWO close calls — first, in a near collision after a speeding car crashed into an SUV, and then second, when Derek’s car was hit by a truck. He saved the passengers from the first, and survived the second, until he got to the second-rate hospital. There, the not-as-well-trained doctors couldn’t save him, and he was left in a vegetative state. Meredith had to make the difficult decision to remove him from life support, as their two children slept, blissfully unaware of it all, outside the room.
It was a stunning turn of events for the seemingly invincible couple, who have been through a remarkable number of close calls during their relationship. Even Cristina Yang, commented on her best friend’s survival skills a couple seasons back: “Meredith Grey has survived a bomb, a drowning, a gunman, and a plane crash and she’s still here.“ For Derek, it was a beautiful day to save lives — two teens, a mother, and her daughter. And that was a beautiful way for the powerhouse neurosurgeon to go out.
Rather than dwell on what just happened — we’re still kind of in shock — let’s look back on all the previous instances when Meredith and Derek almost died, but didn’t.
MEREDITH
The bomb (Season 2): A trauma patient with unexploded ammunition inside him is brought into the hospital, but the paramedic preventing it from detonating panics. So, Meredith steps in and sticks her hand inside the man’s chest. She’s able to remove the bomb before it explodes — which it does just minutes later, killing two members of the bomb squad and knocking Mer unconscious. Later, Derek comes to visit and says, “You almost died today,” and kisses her.
The drowning (Season 3): After a ferryboat accident, with mass casualties, Meredith is taking care of a little girl separated from her mother when she falls into the water. Derek finds her, nearly drowned and suffering hypothermia. An unconscious Mer goes into limbo, where she meets her dying mother, who urges her to wake up.
The gunman (Season 6): A grieving widower storms Seattle Grace with a gun and shoots over a dozen people, including Derek (see below). While Cristina is operating on him, the gunman threatens to shoot her unless she stops. So, Mer faces him down and dares him to shoot her instead. “Shoot me. You want justice, right? Your wife died, I know what happened. Derek told me the story. Lexie Grey is the one that pulled the plug on your wife. She’s my sister. Dr. Webber, he was your wife’s doctor. I’m the closest thing he has to a daughter. And the man on the table, I’m his wife. If you wanna hurt them the way that you hurt, shoot me. I’m your eye for an eye.” He hesitates, upon finding out Mer is pregnant, and shoots Owen instead.
The plane crash (Season 8): Six of the hospital’s doctors are involved in a devastating plane crash. Meredith is very lucky to emerge unscathed.
Giving birth (Season 9): During a major storm that knocks out the hospital’s power, Meredith goes into labor, and unfortunately, needs a C-section. Her OB performs the C-section by flashlight, and fortunately, her baby boy delivered safely. But when intern Shane Ross is closing her up, he discovers internal bleeding caused by Mer’s earlier fall. Bailey rushes in to help save her life.
DEREK
The gunman (Season 6): Derek is shot by Gary Clark, the grieving gunman, and needs a complicated operation. Cristina performs the surgery, despite being threatened. To appease the gunman, she and Jackson pretend to stop the operation. But as soon as he leaves, they resume and Cristina restarts his heart.
The plane crash (Season 8): During the crash, Derek is sucked out of a door and lands in completely different area than the rest of the doctors. A frantic Meredith doesn’t find him for awhile. The good news is that he’s alive. The bad news is that he has mangled his surgical hand.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
