We were going to say it was one of the most shocking TV deaths of the year, but Game of Thrones fans know that just ain't true. However, the sudden death of Grey's Anatomy staple Dr Derek Shepherd left fans shocked, angry, and looking for answers.
The show's creator Shonda Rhimes has now given us some insight into her decision at a panel discussion at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in the US. She insists Patrick Dempsey's character had to die to keep the integrity of his relationship with Meredith in tact.
"The decision to have the character die the way that he did was not a difficult one, in the sense of 'What were the options'?
"Either Derek was going to walk out on Meredith and leave her high and dry and what was that going to mean?"
She continued: "That was going to suggest that their love was not true - that the thing we said for 11 years was a lie and McDreamy wasn't McDreamy and that was untenable. Meredith and Derek's love had to remain Meredith and Derek's love."
Rhimes said killing the character off was "painful" for her as a storyteller, but she could not have depicted him as a "bad guy" who left his wife and child."
She added; "For me, the only way was to make Derek and Meredith's magic to remain true and forever frozen in time."
Tut.
I guess we understand.
Kind of.