Ever since Derek was offered a job by the President of the United States of America, tension between him and Meredith has been simmering under the surface, and Thursday's episode will see Meredith finally exploding when he suggests she hang out with her half-sister.
A clip from ETonline shows the couple arguing in bed after Derek points out that the prime reason Meredith didn't want to leave Seattle and move to Washington D.C., was that she wanted to be with her family in Seattle. This upsets Meredith, who accuses Derek of trying to use the fact that he gave up a job with the president to get his way.
The couple has been fighting on-and-off for a while now, and fans of the show have already started speculating if Derek and Meredith will last long. Just as showrunner Shonda Rhimes' love for killing characters is well known, she also takes pleasure in separating fan favourite couples, and many believe Derek and Meredith are on the block next.
But in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in August, Rhimes noted that it was unlikely that the couple will go their separate ways.
"I don't think that it's a marriage-ending argument," Rhimes said. "It feels very TV for people's marriages to end over easy things or hard things. I actually would like to watch a couple have a hard time in their marriage, and have it not be that that means their marriage is over. There's something really great about watching a couple have a mature marriage where stuff goes wrong, things are hard, and people try to push through it and figure it out."
MerDer shippers can also take into account the fact that the couple has gone through a lot in the previous 10 seasons, which include ex-wives and near-death experiences, and therefore they won't give up on their marriage easily.
As for what to expect in the upcoming episode titled "Don't Let's Start," here's what the official synopsis says: "Owen becomes invested in a patient when he realizes she may have served in the military, April's mother (Connie Ray) pays her daughter a visit and bonds with Jackson, and Derek plans a family dinner. Meanwhile, a patient's diagnosis causes Bailey to reconsider her own health issues and Dr. Herman drops a bombshell on Arizona."
"Grey's Anatomy" season 11 episode 6 will air on 6 November 6 on the ABC Television Network.
