@The Watcher – I can see that. But that’s more of a feature of the fandom (and its rabid shipping culture) than the nature of the narrative, or of TV shows more generally. Take BTVS for example — the Buffy/Finn relationship was allowed to run its course, in all its complexities, without needing a death to end it.
As to wanting RH to be off the show, by all accounts it seems that they’ve been meaning to do this for a bit, as others here have said. If so, then they certainly had the opportunity to plan ahead, without having to produce more narratively lazy melodrama. And if the problem is that they’re afraid of the fandom’s reaction, and hence are trying to make the actor’s exit bullet proof, then I have zero sympathy. A&E largely cultivated this fandom to be crazier than an outhouse rat. It’s just too bad that this happens at the expense of the actors, and the quality of the story.