‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 9: Shonda Rhimes pays tribute to Eric Dane’s Mark

Thursday night’s new episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” is presumably the last time we are going to see Eric Dane on screen, as we already know that during the season premiere we watched him ultimately succumb to the injuries he suffered in the plane crash. With this in mind, Shonda Rhimes made the rather kind decision today to pen one final tribute to a character who has been a huge part of this show for six years, and pen what was a touching sort of obituary to the character.

In a statement per Entertainment Weekly, here is just a sample of what Rhimes had to say about the man that Dr. Mark Sloan had become, someone that in her mind was more than just “McSteamy” or a body for people to lust after:

“After six seasons, the end of Mark Sloan was a great loss for me as a writer and for the show. And for the fans. I like to believe that Mark is with Lexie somewhere. That those two characters are spending eternity together, getting to have the relationship they were never able to have when they were alive. Because, as Lexie’s dying words told us, she and Mark were ‘meant to be.'”

What is especially touching about this statement is simply that it is not something that Rhimes really had to do in any way. She could have just been content with allowing Mark’s death on the show to speak for itself, but she opted to release something extra as a way to show that she is not someone out to just make us fall in love with her characters only to later kill them off. This has been a criticism she has faced over the years, especially in the midst of what happened to Mark, Lexie, and even Pete on “Private Practice” at the start of this season.

Do you think that this was a nice nod and gesture to fans of the show?