text: losing my religion ( grey 's anatomy ) " losing my religion " is the twenty - seventh and final episode of the second season of the american television medical drama grey 's anatomy , and the show 's 36th episode overall . written by shonda rhimes and directed by mark tinker , the episode was originally broadcast with " deterioration of the fight or flight response " , in a two - hour season finale event on the american broadcasting company ( abc ) in the united states on may 15 , 2006 . grey 's anatomy centers around a group of young doctors in training . in this episode , dr. izzie stevens ( katherine heigl ) and her fellow interns have to plan a prom for dr. richard webber 's ( james pickens , jr . ) niece camille travis ( tessa thompson ) . further storylines include dr. preston burke ( isaiah washington ) recovering from his gunshot wound and denny duquette 's ( jeffrey dean morgan ) death following his seemingly successful heart transplant surgery . the episode marked sara ramirez 's ( dr. callie torres ) final appearance with recurring billing , as she would be upgraded to a series regular in season three . morgan , ramirez , thompson , brooke smith , sarah utterback , loretta devine , and chris o 'donnell reprised their roles as guest stars , while hallee hirsh and tiffany hines made their first and only appearances . the episode received mixed to negative reviews from television critics , who disapproved of the storyline involving grey and shepherd and the show 's lack of repercussions for the interns , but lauded dr. cristina yang 's ( sandra oh ) storyline along with heigl 's performance . " losing my religion " was also included in several " best episodes " lists . upon its initial airing , the episode was viewed 22 . 50 million americans , garnered an 8 . 0 / 22 nielsen rating / share in the 18 – 49 demographic , ranking fifth for the week in terms of viewership , and registering as the week 's second highest - rated drama . plot dr. derek shepherd ( patrick dempsey ) and dr. richard webber ( james pickens , jr . ) finish dr. preston burke 's ( isaiah washington ) surgery to remove a pseudo - aneurysm in the subclavian artery that threatened the functioning of his arm and which was caused by a gunshot wound . at the same time , dr. erica hahn ( brooke smith ) successfully transplants a heart into denny duquette ( jeffrey dean morgan ) . the interns face webber , who orders them to plan a prom for his dying niece , camille travis ( tessa thompson ) , until the one who cut duquette 's left ventricular assist device ( lvad ) comes forward . with the instructions of camille 's friends , claire ( hallee hirsh ) and natalie ( tiffany hines ) , they prepare the prom as they each struggle with their own personal problems . trying to recover from his injury , burke finds a tremor in his right hand . dr. meredith grey 's ( ellen pompeo ) love interest dr. finn dandrige ( chris o 'donnell ) , the vet of doc — the dog she shares with shepherd — informs her that doc has had several seizures due to his bone cancer and that she and shepherd have to make a decision . webber interrogates the interns individually about duquette 's lvad wire , but only learns about their personal problems instead . dr. izzie stevens ( katherine heigl ) finally accepts duquette 's marriage proposal . at dandridge 's office , grey and shepherd , joined by dr. addison montgomery - shepherd ( kate walsh ) , decide to put doc to sleep . the hospital staff begins to arrive at the prom and dr. callie torres ( sara ramirez ) and dr. george o 'malley ( t. r. knight ) discuss the status of their relationship , which leads to the former admitting her love and commitment . during the dance , grey and shepherd escape dandridge and montgomery to have a heated argument that leads to sexual intercourse . in the meantime , as duquette waits for stevens alone in his room , he experiences a sudden sense of pain , and unexpectedly dies . while webber is sitting in the operating room gallery and reflecting on his career , dr. miranda bailey ( chandra wilson ) announces duquette 's death . news of the death spreads , and the interns hurry to his room to find a shocked stevens , lying on the bed , clinging to his still form . as they each try to comfort her , the cause of his death is revealed to have been a blood clot that led to a fatal stroke . stevens says that if she had taken less time to dress , she would have arrived at his room sooner and could have been with him while he died . dr. alex karev ( justin chambers ) then talks to stevens , picking her up and hugging her . afterward , dr. cristina yang ( sandra oh ) , who did not know how to handle burke 's situation , goes to his room and puts her hand on his to show him her support . as the episode ends , stevens confesses to webber that she was the one responsible for the lvad wire cut , and claiming she cannot be a surgeon , quits the program . after everyone begins going their separate ways , grey remains torn on who she should follow : shepherd or dandridge . production the episode was written by series creator shonda rhimes and directed by filmmaker mark tinker , while ed ornelas edited it . it was the last episode to feature sara ramirez as a guest star , as she began receiving star billing in the season three premiere . morgan , ramirez , thompson , smith , utterback , devine , and o 'donnell reprised their roles as duquette , torres , travis , hahn , harper , adele , and dandridge , respectively , while hirsh and hines made their first and only appearances as claire and natalie , respectively . the soundtrack of the episode consisted of pete 's " under the waves " , dressy bessy 's " side 2 " , amos lee 's " colors " , masha 's " destination vertical " , kate havnevik 's " grace " , and snow patrol 's " chasing cars " . the american profile of northern irish band snow patrol increased after their single was used in this episode . lead singer gary lightbody was initially uncertain about licensing a song for the soundtrack , but has since admitted that the publicity had a positive effect . rhimes entitled the episode " losing my religion " because she felt " that is what happens to each intern in this episode . each intern lets go of the things they 've held onto all season . george lets go of loving meredith . cristina lets go of her well - checked emotions . izzie is forced to let go of her idealism . and that leads to her letting go of medicine . alex lets go of his rage against izzie . and meredith ... well , meredith just lets go . " the costumes were designed by mimi melgaard ; rhimes noted that everyone was dressed in dark funeral colors to the prom , except stevens who was dressed in pink . stevens ' dress was an creation . monologues done by the five main characters were used in this episode . rhimes commented : " this was something we 'd never done and i wasn 't sure would work . but you place those pages into the hands of the actors and each and every one of them layered their characters ' souls right into the dialogue . " the episode 's theme was the prom ; rhimes said she wanted to do it since the beginning of the season . reception " losing my religion " was originally broadcast on may 15 , 2006 in the united states on the american broadcasting company ( abc ) , along with " deterioration of the fight or flight response " . the episodes were watched by a total of 22 . 50 million americans . it represents a slight decrease in comparison to the episode airing the previous night , " 17 seconds " , which garnered 22 . 60 million viewers . the episode received an 8 . 0 / 22 nielsen rating / share in the 18 – 49 demographic , ranking fifth for the week in terms of viewership , and registering as the week 's second highest - rated drama . the episode 's rating outranked cbs 's the new adventures of old christine and csi : miami , the national broadcasting company ( nbc ) ' s the apprentice , and the fox broadcasting company 's 24 . the episode received mixed to negative reviews among critics . joel keller of the huffington post expressed mixed opinions on the episode , putting the emphasis on yang 's development , whom he deemed " transformed " by the end of the episode . he applauded torres ' evolution throughout the episode , and also praised heigl 's performance and dress . keller criticized the non - realism of the punishment the interns received , grey and shepherd 's storyline being tiresome , and the cliffhanger , calling it a " lame cliché " . writing for the chicago tribune , maureen ryan gave a negative review of the episode , stating : " overall , the whole thing just fell a little flat . " though ryan appreciated the scene of doc 's death , she was critical of torres ' underdevelopment , the lack of chemistry with o 'malley , and her prom dress . abigail chao of television without pity was also critical of torres ' dress , but liked heigl 's pink dress . she also applauded karev 's intervening to calm stevens down , and agreed that grey 's cliffhanger was not good . eyder peralta of the houston chronicle criticized stevens ' ethics for cutting duquette 's lvad wire , writing that she " should not be practising medicine " . alan sepinwall , a former television columnist for the star - ledger , commented favorably on karev " finally displaying some humanity " in the scene following duquette 's death . he was critical of shepherd 's arc , however , and on the absence of severe consequences for stevens having cut the lvad wire , an action he called " insane and dangerous " . this episode was included on the list for the " 25 sexiest tv shows on dvd " by magazine entertainment weekly . it was also listed in entertainment weekly 's " 20 unforgettable proms " and in starpulse 's " top ten tv proms " . aol tv placed the hook - up scene involving grey and shepherd on its top 20 of tv 's sexiest scenes . in 2009 , tv guide ranked " losing my religion " # 63 on its list of the 100 greatest episodes . in 2013 , the magazine named duquette 's death one of tv 's most deaths . in december 2011 , wetpaint named " losing my religion " one of the five best episodes of the series .