'Grey's Anatomy' Postmortem: Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey on Derek's Major Move

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from episode 1108, "Risk," of ABC's Grey's Anatomy.]

The other shoe on ABC's Grey's Anatomy has finally dropped.

During Thursday's midseason finale, Derek (Patrick Dempsey) finally accepted the president's brain mapping job in Washington, D.C. The decision came after Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek spent the first half of season 11 bickering and admittedly supporting their marriage with Band-Aids.

Derek's decision doesn't come lightly in fact, they both finally agree that he should take the job after the duo nearly consumed Grey Sloan Memorial with a debate over a Maggie's (Kelly McCreary) patient. Meredith sided with her half-sister, while Derek brought Richard (James Pickens) into the fray for support.

Read more 'Grey's Anatomy's' Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey Offer Marriage Advice to Meredith and Derek

Naturally, the couple winds up fighting again and after the president won't take no for an answer, both agree that it's best for Derek to head for D.C.

"I see it as a tremendous opportunity for a really good and interesting conflict that we have not seen between them," Dempsey told The Hollywood Reporter during a set visit for the midseason finale. "We have no idea what [showrunner] Shonda Rhimes has in her mind and where she's going to take [their story]. She might want to break them up to bring them back together. That would be the thing to do. We have a long way to go in this season, so there's a lot you can do and resolve or not resolve. We'll see what happens."

The decision comes after Meredith admitted to Callie that the duo have been constantly fighting and distracting themselves with Derek's so-called time-outs after which their debates get worse.

See moreThe Couples of Shondaland: 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Private Practice,' 'Scandal'

"I didn't know where Derek was going to go," Dempsey says of Derek's story line. "I'm liking that direction. The last couple of episodes for me, and certainly for Derek, there's a lot of conflict internally, and that's good."

Read the original here:
'Grey's Anatomy' Postmortem: Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey on Derek's Major Move