Why Meredith and Derek on Grey's Anatomy Should Break Up

Meredith Grey and Derek Shepard are two main characters from the ABC hit series "Grey's Anatomy." Through three seasons the pair have struggled with their break up, and fans expected Season Three to be "Mer/Der" time. And yet, should it have been? Should it be?

Most fans tune in on Thursday nights and 9pm, eastern standard time, to watch the workings of the Grey's Anatomy cast. The main characters include first-year interns Meredith Grey, George O'Malley, Isobel Stevens, Alex Karev, and Cristina Yang. Their direct boss is resident physician Miranda Bailey, and attending surgeons at Seattle Grace Hospital include Derek Shepard, Addison Montgomery-Shepard, Mark Sloan, and Preston Burke. Add in George O'Malley's wife, Callie Torres, an orthpedic surgical resident, and Chief of Surgery Richard Webber, and Meredith and Derek are surrounded on Grey's Anatomy by a stellar supporting cast.

Most fans of the "Mer/Der" relationship were crushed at the end of season one when Addison Montegomey-Shepard made her suprise entrance and fans were left wondering whether Meredith and Derek would break up. Derek had never told Meredith he was married, and the first season of Grey's Anatomy ended with "the wife" shocker. Season two showed Derek deciding between Addison and Meredith, and finally Derek chose Addison and had a break up with Meredith--leaving Meredith's speech where she famously begged "Pick me--Choose Me--Love me" as one of the more painful television moments to absorb.

By the end of the Season, Merdith slept and drank her way out of her misery and seemed happy with Finn, her dog's veterinarian. Until Derek, angst-ridden and questioning his choice, confessed angrily to Meredith that he hated being obsessed with her since their break up, but couldn't stop himself. The season finale for Grey's Anatomy ended with Meredith and Derek having sex in an exam room, leaving fans to wonder how Grey's Anatomy would begin, and spending the summer in anticipation of an Addison-Derek break up.

Season three, Grey's Anatomy fans hoped, would give the "Mer/Der" couple their shining 26 episodes of love, an Addison-Derek break up, and a Mer/Der make up. And yet--the writers gave fans none of that. Instead, Derek questioned Meredith's maturity and considered another break up, while Meredith grappled with her mother's disappointment with Meredith. Meredith wouldn't let Derek in, and emotionally seemed to break up--and Derek, self-absorbed and licking his wounds from his failed marriage, couldn't see that she needed him not only to be a "shining knight in whatever" but to break down (not break up) her walls in order to reach her.

And so, these last episodes of the season show Derek disappointed with his perception that Meredith doesn't want him, while Meredith finds again and again that the people who are supposed to love her--her mother, her stepmother, her father--hurt her willfully, or die. She can't bear to make herself vulnerable again, as she did in the "Pick me--Choose me--Love me" moment; Derek and Meredith seemed headed for another break up. When Meredith nearly died in the water and didn't try to swim, was it a metaphor for her relationship? Dead in the water? Or will it revive, as she did? At this point, "Mer/Der" isn't working. Meredith and Derek aren't communicating. Meredith and Derek need to break up.

And that is why "Mer/Der" must die. The relationship must end. Break up. Seriously.

Shonda Rhimes has said, in her podcast and on the Writer's Blog, that "everyone is single" as of the season three finale. Was Meredith's speech on the altar, "It's over. It's so over" a code for Derek, as many fans mused? The hidden Meredith and Derek break up?

Apparently.

So--seriously. End the relationship and let them move on. Break it up. Make season four about their growth, and bring them back together in season five. Or not. Either way, Meredith and Derek on Grey's Anatomy need to be done. Flatlined. Call time of death.