#i hope both shows give carina/stefania more stories

[ygsunflower]

I know I’m not the first one to notice this, but Carina is a lot more laidback with Maya- She’s comfortable with letting Maya speak for her both in serious (at her visa interview) and non-serious (here at the bar letting Maya order her white wine) situations, or at least allowing Maya to take charge first.

At first I did not like this character “change” at all and I blamed it on the inconsistent writings on Carina’s character between when she first appeared on Grey’s Anatomy and when she moved to Station 19. However, as we see her appearing more on both Station 19 and Grey’s (only occasionally), and as she started to have more storylines apart from Maya and their relationship, I kinda appreciate her different personalities (for lack of a better word).

When Carina DeLuca was first introduced on Grey’s, she was this straightforward, no-filter fireball of a sexy Italian goddess. She was extremely confident and firm about her profession and her sexuality. Yet she has a soft spot for her brother. And we also see her almost losing her usual confidence and fieriness in front her father. She was never afraid to speak her mind, but when she was with her father, and later on her mentally-illed brother, she almost became too scared to speak up and be firm with them. I’m not a mental health expert/psychologist, but from what I saw, Carina has the tendency to shrink her ego and be extra soft to those she loves. I don’t think it’s uncommon for people, but it’s just a more obvious trait for her. Anyways, this is the justification I made to understand Carina’s different personalities with Maya and everyone else.

She loves Maya deeply, so she feels comfortable enough to shrink her ego. It’s not about Maya dominating her in the relationship, but more so about Carina feeling safe to let Maya take care of her and she doesn’t feel like she has to constantly putting her feet down and be firm. But I cannot draw this conclusion until the S6b of Station 19 and Grey’s S19b. Before this two half seasons, we did not see much of her as her independent self. But now we get to see her having her own storylines. The abortion clinic storyline and her running this trauma here on Grey’s showed us the good-old confident Dr. DeLuca is still very much present.

Her scenes in 6x07 of Station 19 even proved my previous point on her trusting her loved ones to make the call for them- once she got yelled by an obviously unstable Maya, she no longer considered this Maya her safe place. She immediately switched to her stern doctor voice to Maya and took back her trust in Maya to make any decisions. Carina did not back down as her last resort to try saving her wife from essentially killing herself.

In terms of her fun and almost rambunctious side of personalities, even though we don’t see her as excited Dr. Orgasm again (wasted potentials if you ask me, both the actual research topic and her overall mannerism during that storyline were gold), we still have the fake abortion clinic comedy and her scenes with Vic and Dr. Lewis are always fun. Her comedic side now is just toned down which I can accept. (Props to Stefania, I love her little physical comedy acting for Carina.)

That to be said, her personality trait of being extremely soft around her loved ones also made it easy for her to get walked-over by her loved ones… Both her father and Maya, as much as I hate putting Maya next to Carina’s dad, they abused and took advantage of Carina’s love and softness around them when they were in a mental health crisis (a longggg crisis). Her love to them made her tongue-tied in front of them and almost turned her into a slight pushover… And that’s why this second half of S6b has been great for Carina’s character- A slow burn Marina recovering road allows us to see Carina realizing the downside of her “weakened heart” around those she loves. After repeatedly getting hurt by her loved ones, Carina is finally burned out this time. She lost her strengths to pick herself up from the pain caused by her loved ones and keep loving them. She is so hurt that she’s scared of not surviving the next pain. She still wants Maya and she is still hopelessly in love with her but she needs Maya to win her back despite her instincts to forgive her again and again. She needs to see Maya’s changes to regain the courage to comfortably let go of her rationale to love Maya fearlessly again. What makes it worthy for Carina is that this time her love is changing, for the better. Maya is healing and she apologized to Carina. And the difference between Maya and Carina’s dad is that Maya now listens to Carina and respects her needs. Despite their downs and heartaches, Carina is still able to feel safe enough to spill all her fears to Maya.

This long rant is just to say that with the past few episodes of Grey’s and Station 19, we finally get a holistic understanding of the character Carina DeLuca. Rather than inconsistent writings, with simultaneous appearances of both Dr. Carina DeLuca and loving wife Carina DeLuca on 19 and Grey’s, her different personalities are explained and demonstrated well. These seemly contradicting personalities now make her more human and endearing.

[loveislovealways]

Make Or Break !!!!!

Respect! Respect! Respect!

I have a lot to say, so kindly bear with me.

When you feel what the characters are feeling while they are performing, it means they have great acting skills and they know what to be expected from them in a given situation, I don't know how to say this but big shout to Danielle Savre and Stefania Spampinato they can be really proud of themselves because that was some intense performance.

This whole episode was one big roller coaster ride when it comes to Maya and Carina ( I least care about other characters on the show for now, though I have a lots of not so good things about them when it comes to Maya) This is one the most important situation in their relationship as they have not being like this in past.

The essence of child abuse and having a traumatic childhood weather its from abusive or maniac father is so well captured, that how it effects a childhood and its there with you in some point of their life even if they are grown up, from showing how Maya being so strong headed and stubborn that she is unable to see her own issue and ask for help, the way she got panic since the time she opened her eyes and ask for Carina till the time where she was screaming Carina's name and had a panic attack.

Carina, such a strong character from being soft and giving space to Maya to that extended that she trusted that her wife will come back to her, and than fighting for her relation in the hospital so that her wife can get help to the extended that she is ready to loose her but can't see the love of her life in pain or most probably die.

Its a breaking point for both of them specially for Carina given her past history. I am really intrested to see how the writers how they will write their relation because they both need therapy and this will be the make or break for their relation, its like now or never kind of situation. I am just gonna trust the process till it run its course and hopefully we get our favourite couple back together. I just want happy ending. (My little heart is still not over from Sanvers break up and I love Marina so much that I just want happy ending. There is something special about women loving women having happy ending just like Wayhaught)

P.S - Special thanks to our Ao3 writers they have done a great job and helped us through the hiatus and hoping to read lot more great stories in future. You guys are Awesomeeee. Keep writing.

[englishstrawbie]

THEY’RE MARRIED!! ❤️❤️

And look how happy they were about it - even Carina, who doesn’t believe in marriage! (Even if them singing was cheesy and made me cringe a little!) My heart was so full of joy at how happy they were. I thought it was lovely... Maya forgetting to write her vows and Carina finding it endearing, both of them being so keen to just say ‘yes’, all the dancing. I love all the physicality between Danielle and Stefania, they play with that so well.

Andy walking into the apartment while they’re having sex? I lol’d. “We just got out the shower” Maya says with dry hair. 😂

I’m so proud of Maya for going to see her parents, for coming out to them and for not letting her dad say anything that would ruin her day. She was in control of that conversation, she was so strong.

We got a mention of Mason! It was brief, but I appreciated it.

Does Maya own all those white outfits or did she rent them not knowing what she was going to wear?!

Two grumbles...

When Carina was tearing up before the wedding, she deserved a moment to remember her mom and Andrew, and all the family that couldn’t be there and I’m sad they didn’t give it to her. As sweet as the scene between Carina and Vic was, I wish it had been with Maya (or Ben, at a push) and she could have shared her feelings.

Maya went through all that with her parents for her mom to turn up but they didn’t give them a chance to connect at the wedding. I wanted them to have a moment before Maya got married. Does it mean that she has left Maya’s dad? Is she going to be living with them in season 5?

I feel like Maya’s firing was to be expected. It wasn’t about her breaking protocol at the scene, it was about the fact that she has been supporting her team at the protests and Dean’s lawsuit against the PD. Breaking protocol was the excuse they needed to fire her. Doing it on her wedding day was cruel, but made for a good plot twist at the end of the episode! I’m interested to see how she reacts to it, she’s not exactly the stay at home wife type.

Sullivan? Ugh, don’t get me started on how much I dislike him. After Maya stood up for him when he was in front of the disciplinary panel and gave him a job when no-one else would, he just stabbed her in the back. Andy’s comment that he is the hero of his own story was spot on. I hope she divorces his ass. But is Andy pregnant???!!!

Jack and Inara breaking up? Don’t care. Travis and Emmett? Don’t care. Dean/Vic/Ruiz? I care a little, I guess - I just want Vic to be happy and to have more storylines that don’t revolve around men.

So if Grey’s has jumped to April 2021, does that mean we get cheated out of the immediate aftermath of Maya’s firing when the shows come back in the autumn??

[calzona-ga]

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you haven’t watched the March 11 crossover episodes of “Station 19” (“Train in Vain”) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (“Helplessly Hoping”) on ABC.

RIP, Andrew DeLuca: surgical attending at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, ex-boyfriend of Meredith Grey, brother of Carina DeLuca, and, as of ABC’s crossover episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Station 19″ on Thursday night, murder victim by the hand of a henchman in a trafficking ring. Yes, DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) was stabbed by one of the human traffickers he and Carina (Stefania Spampinato) had chased through Seattle, and despite receiving care at his own hospital, he died. But his efforts weren’t in vain, we learn: The traffickers are all arrested.

It was the culmination of a “Grey’s Anatomy” story that had been cut short by the COVID-19 production shutdown in March. In what turned out to be one of the final episodes of Season 16, DeLuca suspected a patient was being trafficked by her so-called “aunt” who had brought her to the hospital, but because he was in the middle of a manic episode, no one believed him. In the midseason finale of “Grey’s” in December, DeLuca — medicated for his bipolar disorder, well-rested and clear-eyed — spotted the trafficker, Opal (Stephanie Kurtzuba), and this time, he wasn’t going to let her get away.

In an interview with Gianniotti, who was on “Grey’s” for seven seasons, he said that when he learned how his character was going to die, he’d wanted to make sure that it was apparent that DeLuca — “a very brave and noble person,” in Gianniotti’s words — go out as “a pillar of representation for people struggling with mental health.”

“It wasn’t that he was unmedicated and unrested, and that’s what led him to put himself in a dangerous situation,” Gianniotti said. “This was the most DeLuca thing DeLuca has ever done.”

In the episode, as DeLuca hovered between life and death, he communed with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) on the beach where she has spent most of this season, also in a liminal state, having been taken down by COVID in the season premiere. There, Meredith has hung out with Derek (Patrick Dempsey), her dead husband, and George (T.R. Knight), her dead friend — as well as characters who are still alive.

Of his beach scenes with Meredith, Gianniotti said: “You see DeLuca more happy and relaxed than you’ve ever seen him ever on the show, because all of those stressors are all gone. And he’s with the person whom he loves, which puts them even more at peace.”

“Grey’s Anatomy” — now its 17th season, and still the one most watched shows on television — is itself in limbo, according to showrunner Krista Vernoff. With negotiations with Pompeo for a contract extension ongoing, Vernoff told Variety she has to “plan for both contingencies” as she and the writers room map out the end of the season — or the series.

Though DeLuca is dead, Vernoff revealed that we haven’t seen the last of him — that’s what the beach is for, it seems. And Gianniotti, mentored by “Grey’s” executive producer-director Debbie Allen, returned recently to direct an episode that will air in the spring. He will miss the fans, Gianniotti said: “I’ve never seen a show be so beloved. To feel that love, and have felt that love over the seven seasons has really been remarkable.”

As Vernoff said, “He’s still in the family.”

In an interview, Vernoff talked about how she conceived of DeLuca’s death, the difficulties of not knowing whether the show is ending and how shooting during COVID has changed “Grey’s Anatomy.”

And what in God’s name is happening on the beach!?!

You killed DeLuca.

I’m the worst.

How did this story come about?

Honestly, the story told itself to me. I went for my walk on the beach to come up with my pitches, and these episodes came in whole cloth, like a vision. And I was like, “Oh, no! Really, that’s the story?” And it was. We knew as I pitched it that it was the midseason finale story.

Sometimes stories tell themselves to you, and your heart just breaks. You’re like, “That’s not what I want the end of that story to be!” But that’s so much of life this year.

Can you talk about killing a major character this season, and having the cause of death not be COVID?

That was born, I’m certain, of my psyche wrestling with all of the ongoing tragedies and traumas in the world not stopping due to COVID. There’s this feeling of injustice, like, no, COVID is enough. But sometimes you’re going through all of it at once.

Can you talk about putting DeLuca on the beach with Meredith, and the larger meaning of the beach as a storytelling device this year?

The beach was born out of desire to have an escape from the pandemic.

We came back before almost anyone else. And the actors were scared, and nobody really knew for sure that all the safety protocols were going to work. Doing the pandemic felt like the right thing creatively, but it also felt like the thing that was going to make the actors feel safe to come back to work, because they were all going to be able to be in masks. And if they weren’t, they would be outside. And once the decision was made to do COVID, and then the decision was made to give Meredith COVID, it felt like a way to get Meredith outside without a mask, and in a non-pandemic world.

If you’re a magical thinker like I am, that beach is a real magical in-between place. But if you’re not, if you are not a believer in magical things — if you are an atheist, a scientist, a whatever, my stepsons don’t believe in a magical place — we’ve designed it very carefully so that it also could just be a dream. So anytime someone’s on that beach with Meredith, they are also in her room so she’s hearing their voices from her hospital bed.

When DeLuca visits her on the beach, for me, DeLuca’s between life and death. For my stepsons, Meredith heard in her hospital room that something happened to DeLuca. So now she’s dreaming DeLuca! I wanted very much for the motif to work no matter what you believed.

It just feels to me like whatever you believe, that’s right.

DeLuca has been on the show for a long time. What did you want his final episode to say about him?

I think he went out a hero. I think that he went out fighting for what he believed in. And he was through his mental health crisis. He’d become a very productive member of the hospital staff. And he wasn’t going to let this woman walk away again.

What was it like when you told Giacomo Gianniotti what was going to happen to DeLuca?

He was so relieved that I was not having him kill himself, or go out in a mania frenzy. And he was excited to play it — he played the hell out of it. He actually does appear in a couple more episodes this season. And he’s directing an episode.

I’m going to assume that Meredith wakes up and finds out that he’s dead. Do you see the beach as a place she’ll have an awareness or a memory of in any way?

Yes.

OK!

I don’t have too much more to say about that, because I don’t want to spoil too much. And also: Sometimes I change my mind. But at the moment, yes.

It’s been such a heavy season for both “Grey’s” and “Station 19,” reflecting the world right now. But I know that’s not necessarily where your heart is as a storyteller. Can you talk about where the thinking is on continuing “Grey’s Anatomy”?

When you’re living through a pandemic, and you’re coming back amidst a pandemic, and you decide to do the pandemic, the nature of the storytelling turns a little bit darker. And so for this moment, it is where my heart is.

And I also feel like my heart as a storyteller, my sense of light, and my sense of hope and beauty and joy that infuses most of what I do is expressed through that beach. The joy, the collective joy for all of us in getting to see Derek Shepherd again, getting to see George O’Malley again, in getting out of the hospital and getting onto the beach, and seeing Meredith’s relief there — I know that we’re worried about her, but also there’s joy.

And in terms of whether or not it’s the last season of “Grey’s Anatomy,” I don’t know. And that’s the truth. I wish I knew. It’s a source of frustration at this point. And it sort of doubles my job, my workload, because I have to plan for both contingencies. But I am. And God willing, I’ll know soon.

It can’t end like this! Can you reveal how many episodes will be in this season of “Grey’s Anatomy”?

17.

That’s a lot.

It is a lot. Yeah, it’s a lot, considering what we’re navigating.

Will anyone else be joining Meredith on the beach?

Yes! But I won’t tell you.

Returning cast members or current?

There are some surprises in store.

Now that you have shot more than half the season during COVID, can you talk about what you’ve learned over the course of the year?

The crew is exhausted because they’re behind masks and visors all day. The masks and visors are dehydrating and stultifying, and as a result, you need more breaks. You need to send everybody off the stage to take their masks and visors off to hydrate. You can’t ask everybody to be there for 12 or 13 hours at a stretch. So we’re shooting 10-hour days. And that is a really significant change to what we’re able to accomplish and shoot.

What I’ve learned, and I’m continuing to learn, is how to write the show in a way that makes it producible — we cannot have scenes with as many characters in them. And we cannot have as many scenes. And we cannot have as many locations! Because we can’t have as many company moves. All of it has to become smaller, and that changes the stories we tell. If you usually have five or six people in a scene, and now you usually have two people in a scene, sometimes the whole cast isn’t in the episode. You look at an episode and you’re like, “Where’s Amelia?” Well, she’s home with the kids! We didn’t make the company move.

I think that there are silver linings: Deeper, longer richer scenes are really beautiful things sometimes. But they’re different for “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel, both for these fictional characters and for all of us?

Yes, I do! I feel like we’re all living the light at the end of the tunnel right now as our parents and grandparents get vaccinated. And as we begin to emerge, hopefully, from this year of cocoon. I feel like we’re living in in some light, and I do see a light at the end of the tunnel for these characters,whether this is the end of the series or the end of the season.

There’s so much coming up! I know this one is going to be devastating for the fans. And I feel it too. I cried harder watching this episode, this cut, than I’ve cried since I watched the episode where George O’Malley died. And that is a really powerful tribute to the character that we built and to the actor.

[mayasdeluca]

Sorry to break this to you guys, but…

We can hope and hope and hope, but the sad truth is that: they absofuckinglutely gonna make Jack involved in every aspect of this boy and Marina life; from painting the nursery, to the doc appointments, to buy stuff for Carina cravings, from the delivery room, the babysitting, the people mistakenly thinking him a Maya are the parents (just to twist the knife on us) to the always helping and being at the right place right time, every single fucking time, and consequently the continuous praise of the writers of Jack by Marina, the golden boy savior of lesbians…🤢🤢🤢

Someone in the WR has a crush on Grey or really hate lesbian maybe both…

What’s the point for the show runner to have build a season, A FUCKING SEASON GUYS, of this storyline and create all this drama and constant praise of Jack,the force friendship, the man pain sharing, if not to follow through with the seeds they planted (pun totally intended) and make it even more nauseating for the future seasons, they made sure to have enough material for future drama and controversial storyline to keep going for years and give the fans enough to be angry about and create online interaction.

Like they said;

“It doesn’t matter if we say bad things or we are upset and triggered by their stories, the important is that we talk about it”

This tells your everything you need to know about the show runner, that’s why I ain’t watching no more, I don’t trust them and I don’t want to keep being trigger by homophobic storyline hidden by fake representation plus being gaslighted and make us look like the bad guys.

So guys be ready to be disappointed and if you can’t stand it, just detach yourself from the show, luckily we are in a time where we can find more representation and sometimes is even well written 1/10 times probably…

I’m sad about Marina it’s like a lost a good friend or something…

I can understand people feeling this way and I'm sure it's possible. But I honestly don't want to make myself miserable thinking about it ahead of time until it actually happens. There's still a chance a baby won't even be born. The insemination may not work, Jack may be infertile, Carina can miscarry. There's so many ways they can go with it and I know these writers love their men and Jack and it would be so easy for them to have this baby and have Jack so involved and have that be the drama for Season 6 but I don't know...I'm not totally sold that's the plan yet. It's just been too easy and obvious all along. I still think something else needs to happen this season first and if it doesn't well then I guess we can prepare for the worst case scenario.

But you are right in that they don't care if we're talking about the show negatively as long as we're talking about it, that much is clear. Krista has been MIA this whole season and she clearly doesn't give a damn that people are mad. It is unfortunate this is what they chose to do with Marina after making the choice to make Stefania a regular mainly because of the amazing chemistry Danielle & Stefania had. You would think they'd have the brain cells to then not waste it on inserting a man in their storyline and making it about sperm for 9 episodes but here we are.

[englishstrawbie]

penhallowblackthorn replied to your post “I know it wasn't super fleshed out but in the context of Station19 as...”

I’m hoping that between her relationships with her brother and Maya and friendship with Teddy and Amelia that they’ll show us more of Carina herself. Also, Marina needs to be more involved in each other’s worlds, it’s pretty much only been the two of them so far, no other interactions. Vic and Jackson had that shitty rs of theirs that amounted to absolutely nothing be featured on both shows and more extensively than Marina I mean ��

I know a lot of people feel the same about getting more Carina next season. Stefania has had some good emotional scenes in Station 19 and it’s proved just how under-utilised she is in Grey’s. I hope with the popularity of the ship that they’ll give her a storyline of her own in season 17, instead of always being a part of someone else’s story. 

The Vic and Jackson relationship just didn’t work, it was too soon after Ripley (at least on screen) and so a lot of Station 19 fans struggled to get behind it. With Maya and Carina, they have the chance to have the crossover relationship they want to integrate the shows more. I agree, I want to see them interact with more characters outside of each other in both shows.

[calzona-ga]

New co-showrunner Krista Vernoff, who returned to the Shondaland drama after working as a writer for its first seven seasons, talks with THR about the ups and downs of the two-hour opener.

ABC's Grey's Anatomy returned for its 14th season Thursday, delivering a fast-paced and jam-packed two-hour premiere that featured a few key returns (on-screen and off), several nods to its past and one massive bombshell.

Kim Raver's Teddy returned to support old friend/crush Owen (Kevin McKidd) and his former POW sister Megan (Abigail Spencer), with the latter setting up a new love triangle that involved Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Nathan (Martin Henderson).

Owen planted a long-awaitd kiss on Teddy, who with his mother and sister, agreed that his wife Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) was just not his person. Head of neuro Amelia, meanwhile, delivered the premiere's biggest stunner — as she learned in the closing moments that she had a brain tumor.

April (Sarah Drew) realized it's time to move out of ex-husband/baby daddy Jackson's (Jesse Williams) place — despite her feelings for him — while he pursued Maggie (Kelly McCreary).

Jo (Camilla Luddington) and Alex (Justin Chambers) patched things up with her estranged and violent husband Paul (Matthew Morrison) still looming if the couple really want to get married.

Ben (Jason George) admitted to feeling a "rush" when he helped save Stephanie (Jerrika Hinton) in the season 13 finale as the series set the stage for the character to segue over to the firefighter spinoff.

After Eliza (Marika Dominczyk) ghosted her, Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) got her groove back on (again) — with Andrew's (Giacomo Gianniotti) Italian sister Carina (Stefania Spampinato), whose study about the female orgasm helped reveal Amelia's tumor.

Peppered in among all the twists and turns were several nods to the past — including multiple references to Mer's late mom Ellis (Kate Burton), nod to George (T.R. Knight), Derek (Patrick Dempsey), Callie (Sara Ramirez) and a photo of Cristina (Sandra Oh) in a medical journal. The blasts from the past — and return to its classic humor — came from Krista Vernoff (Shameless), who returned to the ABC Shondaland medical drama as the co-showrunner after helping to launch Grey's as part of its core writing staff for its first seven seasons.

Below, Vernoff opens up about season 14's eventful start and where ABC's top drama goes next.

The first two hours are really eventful. How much of that is setting the new pace of Grey's vs. setting the stage for the season to come? Setting the stage.

There were a lot of nods to the past — we see Cristina's photo and there's a reference to George. Why was it important to acknowledge the past? I'm not sure that it was important so much as it felt natural to me. I think it's a little bit like, "I'm back so they are, too!"  Also, we are doing the 300th episode this year. I think I came into the season planning to acknowledge where it all started.

Webber points out a few times how similar Meredith is to Ellis. Is that part of bringing the show back to its origins or part of looking forward to a potential Alzheimer's story? It's neither. It just felt really organic for a man who grew up with the mother of the woman he is now working with to acknowledge similarities and even be a little haunted by them. Also, Meredith has a surgical birthright that we are leaning into this season. This is the season of Meredith being something of a medical superhero — like Ellis was.  

There's a lot of humor in the first two episodes — all that was missing was a "seriously?!"Is bringing that humor back part of a larger effort to bring the show back to its roots? It's not about the roots so much as where my heart lives right now.  I'm not interested in writing darkness. I feel like the world has gone dark enough. I feel like we who are part of the resistance right now need some relief in our entertainment. I feel like it's part of my personal activism to help people sit down and laugh at night so they can get back up in the morning and fight the good fight.  

There's a parallel between Megan returning home and creating the triangle with Nathan and Meredith to when Addision returned and created the same for Derek and Meredith. Will you be exploring that more? That's interesting, and it honestly hadn't even occurred to me! No, I don't want to give away too much — but I am writing this story very differently.

Is there a potential for Abigail Spencer and Kim Raver to stick around longer — maybe series regular status — this season? If I had the budget for it I would bring them both back forever, immediately. They are incredible talents and it's a joy to write for them and to work with them.  

Amelia has a brain tumor. Talk about the decision to go that route — does that explain her behavior last season too? What's the larger story you're looking at with her? When I caught up on the show, I thought Amelia had been behaving really oddly. It got my wheels turning and this is where they landed!

Has Owen given up on his marriage to Amelia when he kisses Teddy? I believe that he has. Which is why when he learns that a brain tumor may be the answer for how Amelia's been treating him — it will be really complicated.  

How might Meredith respond to Amelia's tumor? Is there a place where she goes dark and twisty again? No, Meredith has already survived too much to return to dark and twisty. I really believe that. I believe that as people survive the unimaginable they tend to get lighter because they know now that they can survive anything — unless they go completely the opposite direction, which Meredith, happily has not!

Jo and Alex are moving forward — and Paul is coming back. Where do they go from here and what will that look like? I can't answer that without giving away too much! But I will say — for all my talk of light and hope and joy — that it wouldn't be Grey's Anatomy if there were not some dark and twisty turns here and there.  

Ben felt a "rush" from saving Stephanie. How will he lean into that and what does that mean for Bailey? Well, since it's been announced that Jason George is going to the firefighting show I think everyone can anticipate how he's leaning into that! And as you can imagine, that is an extremely complicated thing for Bailey to process. It makes for great drama and Chandra Wilson is so incredible I'm really enjoying writing it.

April is moving out of Jackson's apartment as he has interest in Maggie. Will he fight for her? April is moving out of Jackson's apartment because it is causing her pain to continue living with the man she divorced. When she thought she recognized feelings between Jackson and Maggie, she realized that living with a man you still love but are divorced from is maybe not the smartest thing to do. I feel like it's a really beautiful, grown-up move from April. I also think that there were not necessarily feelings between Maggie and Jackson last season! I think her jealousy led her to that conclusion but when she said it, she opened a kind of Pandora's box. I think it will be a lot of fun to see how it all plays out.  

Arizona and Carina are really funny together with Andrew. How will this relationship be different for Arizona? This is a season of fun! And Carina brings so much fun! Because I am anti-spoiler, that's all I'm going to give you on that!