Patrick Dempsey’s best Grey’s Anatomy episodes
From the pilot to the proposal, here are Dempsey’s best hours as Derek Shepherd.
McDreamy has finally achieved the dream.
PEOPLE named former Grey’s Anatomy star (and upcoming Ferrari star) Patrick Dempsey as its 2023 Sexiest Man Alive, and it’s hard to argue with that choice (in fact, we even predicted it once). After all, this is the guy who spent more than 200 episodes as one half of television’s hottest couple.
During his time on Grey’s Anatomy, Dempsey saw his character, Derek Shepherd, deal with a number of extreme life experiences: A ferry crash, a plane crash, multiple car crashes, and a bunch of stuff that had nothing to do with crashing at all. Derek went from being a husband to an ex-husband to a husband again (via a Post-it note) and then a father, until finally, he died in a tragic accident doing what he did best: spending a beautiful day saving lives.
In honor of Dempsey’s new title, we’ve rounded up his five best episodes of the long-running ABC medical drama.
“Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Okay, this one’s obvious. You have to include the episode that first introduced us to the McDreamy “look” — Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) knows the one. He might have started as just a guy in a bar, but this was the episode that launched the love story that would prove he was so much more.
“As We Know It” (Season 2, Episode 17)
The second-half of the two-part bomb episode saw Derek step up in more ways than one. Not only did he risk his life by refusing to evacuate the operating room in order to save Bailey’s (Chandra Wilson) husband, but he ended the episode on Meredith’s doorstep delivering an unforgettable speech about the last time they kissed. (Her hair smelled like lavender!)
“Losing My Religion” (Season 2, Episode 27)
As the season-long tension between Meredith and Derek was about to boil over, Dempsey delivered the single hottest look of the entire series as Derek spots Meredith across the dance floor and simply cannot help himself. What followed was a lot of passion, a lot of screaming, and the beginning of a love … square?
“Drowning on Dry Land” (Season 3, Episode 16)
Dempsey got to play a different side of Derek in this dramatic episode. After Meredith drowned, he pulled her from the water and brought her back to the hospital, but her chances didn’t look good. With few words, Dempsey delivered a heartbreaking performance as the distraught boyfriend forced to wait in the hallway while his friends tried to save the woman he loved.
“Elevator Love Letter” (Season 5, Episode 19)
This one also feels obvious because it’s THE PROPOSAL. Sorry, but if we’re talking about one of the greatest couples in television history then we can’t skip over the episode where Dempsey delivers a McDreamy-level proposal … in an elevator, naturally.