Spoilers for Grey's Anatomy's March 11 episode, "Helplessly Hopeful." It was never easy to be Dr. Andrew DeLuca. He had to roll into Grey’s Anatomy in the wake of the gut-wrenching death of Dr. Derek Shepherd, iconic husband to the title character. Then poor DeLuca actually had to romance Meredith Grey, risking the ire of millions of fans who could have easily been like, “This is no ‘pick me, choose me,’” “This is no Post It wedding,” “You will never be our real dad.” But viewers embraced him!

We’ll always know that Mer and Der were each other’s official End Game, even as her life continues (fingers crossed) years after Derek’s death. But DeLuca did what seemed impossible, stepping in for McDreamy himself.

As hard as it was to be DeLuca, and as hard as it is to say goodbye to him after his surprise death this week, we must admit that, for his trouble, he got the Grey’s equivalent of a deluxe retirement gift. His death lands him among the elite class of beloved Grey’s characters who got epic, shocking send-offs into the great beyond: McDreamy, George O’Malley, Lexie Grey, Mark Sloan, Denny Duquette.

They’re the all-stars, the ones we’ll always remember because of their spectacular demises. But there’s another less-appreciated, but equally deserving, class of Grey’s characters: the utility players who have survived and stuck around for a surprising amount of time, far longer than any of their arrivals indicated they would.