10 TV Characters Who Deserved Better
3. Derek Shepherd - Grey's Anatomy
There have been few relationships on television capable of rivalling that of Grey's Anatomy's Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd. The two doctors had been through the wringer on the hit ABC series, and suffered loss after loss, as well as betrayal after betrayal, but that never stopped them from returning to each other's arms, time after time.
The strength of this relationship is why Derek's death during the middle of the eleventh season is a rather hard pill to swallow. For years, the Grey's Anatomy writers had built up this relationship, and Derek was largely part of Meredith's happy-ever-after. Killing him off in such a brutal fashion was a strong blow to fans of the series, who simply couldn't understand why this happened to their beloved neurosurgeon.
Not only was Derek's untimely death a kick in the head, but Shonda Rhimes didn't give the Grey's icon the end-of-season treatment one would've expected for a character of this status, but rather wrote him out of the show during a random episode. If that wasn't bad enough, the show subsequently jumped a year into the future, robbing fans of the opportunity to grieve for Derek alongside Meredith.
It remains a mystery as to why Patrick Dempsey departed the from show, but one thing's for sure: this isn't the exit that the character - or his fans - deserved.