For viewers of Grey’s Anatomy who are not up to date on the current storylines, I’ll give you fair warning now, this blog contains some spoilers. For viewers who’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy over the last couple of years, one of the ongoing storylines was the romantic tangle between the doctors Derek and Addison Shepherd and Meredith Grey. Originally, Meredith and Derek hooked up in the first season. Addison Shepherd, Derek’s wife appeared in the season finale.
Meredith was understandably devastated to learn she’d fallen in love with a married man. According to Derek though, his marriage was over – but he wasn’t willing to sign the divorce papers when Addison presented them. Both Addison and Derek were guilty of infidelity, but there were more problems in their marriage than just their infidelities.
Trying to Rebuild
Having been married for so many years, Derek called Addison his family and he couldn’t just walk away from his family without trying to make it work. The gulf between the two of them began with emotional abandonment. No matter how hard they tried though, they could not seem to reconnect the bonds between them.
Their marriage continued to disintegrate, not from lack of effort, but because Derek’s heart was now elsewhere and as much as he loved Addison, his romantic affection was now firmly with Meredith. But Derek played passive aggressive throughout the second season – he didn’t want to lose either woman, though he was unwilling to truly commit to either one until the end of the second season and beginning of the third.
He elected to abandon his marriage when he saw Meredith getting serious about another man. Addison is now in mourning for her relationship – but the man she originally had an affair with is now actively pursuing her. Mistakes were made on both sides in this relationship and despite the fact that Derek was labeled Doctor McDreamy – I feel bad for Addison and Meredith – emotionally, Derek’s been yanking their chains for a long time.
Grey’s Anatomy airs every Thursday on ABC – despite having left his wife, Derek and Meredith are not firmly together – yet.
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