While seemingly heartfelt, Meredith and Derek's loving promise to be together after death in Titanic. Meredith Grey has had various romantic partners in Grey's Anatomy's many seasons, but none were as beloved as Patrick Dempsey's Derek Shepherd. After his death in season 11, Meredith tried to move on, but no one felt as perfect for her as her one true love Derek.
In Grey’s Anatomy Season 17, Meredith was hospitalized while battling her own Covid-19 diagnosis, where she spent most of her time on a beach with past Grey's Anatomy characters. During his return, Derek encourages Meredith to return to her loved ones and move on from their relationship in the real world. He promises to be waiting for her in the afterlife, and they can pick back up once they’ve both ed on. This encouragement pushes Meredith to fight to be back with her family and to end up beating Covid by the end of the season.
This sentiment is similar to the end of the Titanic when Jack and Rose have a similar conversation. While the two wait for rescue in the ocean, Rose feels close to giving up, but Jack won't let her. He tells her that she's going to make it out of the water, live a long life, and "make lots of babies". Jack makes her promise that she'll move on once she's rescued, and she does even though Jack dies with the Titanic. The promise keeps her going until she's finally saved, and she does live a long life, just as Meredith makes it out if Covid to go back to her family. While seemingly heartwarming, these endings are actually surprisingly tragic.
The very last scene of the Titanic shows Rose dying and ending up back on the ship in the afterlife, Jack awaiting her with open arms. This moment is incredibly satisfying for viewers invested in their love story, but it ignores Rose's whole family after Jack's death. Presumably her husband and kids that came after her time with Jack would also be waiting to see her in the afterlife, and she would have to choose between the two paths in her life. While Rose gets the life she wanted in Titanic with Jack, it's at the expense of her other loved ones. In the end someone would have to get hurt, and it would likely not be Jack. For the others, it's a tragic and painful ending.
Given Meredith and Derek's discussion on the beach, Grey's Anatomy seems to be also setting up Titanic's seemingly happy but actually tragic ending for them. Meredith pursued DeLuca, Hayes, and now Nick Marsh in recent seasons with Derek's blessing. The assumption is that she'll have all the afterlife to spend with Derek, but that ignores the possible afterlife she could have with the person she ends up with. Unfortunately, this would mean a somewhat tragic ending for a beloved Grey's Anatomy character, heartbroken as Meredith leaves them for a forever with Derek.
