#Grey’s Anatomy Round Table: Should Jo and Link Pursue a Romance?

Who doesn’t love a filler episode?

Some of our Round Table, for starters. While Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 Episode 7 gave the Kai and Amelia, Mer and Nick, and Jo and Link shippers something to nibble on, there wasn’t much to the penultimate midseason finale.

Join Joshua Johnson, Meaghan Frey, and Jasmine Blu as they discuss the hour.

Is Mer’s separate Minnesota arc detracting from the series and your enjoyment?

Joshua: Lord, yes. Even with Amelia in Minnesota, we rarely see Meredith interact with anybody from Seattle. I love that Meredith is pushing herself professionally and exploring a new relationship, but I also feel like there’s a magic that’s missing by Meredith never being in Seattle.

It feels like she’s moving on, which is okay! She’s been at Grey Sloan for 18 years! That said, I don’t like it, and it’s kind of boring.

Meaghan: I’m a big fan of the actual Minnesota plot, but I don’t think they’re executing well. It feels like two different shows are going on. Even with Amelia in Minnesota, they barely give them scenes together, so Mer is pretty much just in her own spin-off at this point.

Also, given that they have to devote scenes to both Grey Sloan and Minnesota, it is hard to develop any storylines. I think they, unfortunately, stretched themselves too thin with this one.

Jasmine: I’m somewhere in the middle and agree with you both. I’m leaning more toward how Meaghan summed it up. It does feel as if we’re watching two different shows, and it makes it harder for extended, interconnected arcs that flow easily.

I think they’ve tested what the show could look like if it continues with Pompeo, and at this rate, it’ll be fine. We barely see her connected to any of the other characters anymore anyway.

But I wish there was a way to merge the two storylines, so it didn’t feel this off all the time. It also hasn’t spared both Mer and Amelia from the observations about them as mothers when they are never with their kids anymore, which is odd.

What are your thoughts on Mer and Nick working together and Nick’s background?

Joshua: I loved that Meredith didn’t let her connection or relationship to Nick compromise her surgical process. In all the rewatches of Grey’s that I’ve done, I look back to her being in therapy in Grey’s Anatomy Season 4 and realizing that she’s every bit the surgeon that her Ellis is.

But she gets to learn from her mother’s mistake, which was letting a man get in the way of her professional goals.

Then I look at the end of  Grey’s Anatomy Season 10, with Cristina reminding Meredith that Meredith is the sun–another reminder not to let anyone else get in the way of what she wants out of her career.

So it was nice to see Meredith put her foot down and not worry about whether or not Nick would get mad at her for kicking him out of the OR. It’s the Meredith that I miss–the boss-ass surgeon who’s got herself on lock.

Meaghan: It’s great to see how Mer has grown over the series. In the earlier seasons, Mer would have never taken control of that situation the way she did.

Hell, she would have been the Nick in that situation. She and the other interns were constantly letting their emotions get in the way of their surgeries. Now she has learned from her past mistakes and come into her own as a fantastic surgeon.

Jasmine: I thought it was an exciting way to see them both in their area of expertise while together. It was cool that we learned more about Nick, and yes, Mer’s growth shined during the surgery.

Amelia and Kai made a breakthrough in the Parkinson’s trial. React.

Joshua: …cool? I don’t know; I always have a hard time suspending my disbelief when the show tackles major things for which there are no concrete or easy solutions.

In the course of six episodes, they’ve suddenly come up with a potential cure for Huntington’s? Okay, yeah, sure.

I suppose I have to do my research to see what’s being done in the real medical field (I know that Grey’s often picks up what’s happening in the real world and just adds their drama to it) to see how authentic the medicine of the story is. But that’s just me and my nerdy science brain.

If it’s one step closer to getting Mer and Amelia back to Seattle, then huzzah!

Meaghan: I agree that it is hard to suspend disbelief in storylines like this because we know that it isn’t as simple as shows make it out to be.

Regardless of that, I’m excited about the team. It’s a little bit funny to me, though, that Hamilton was so dead set on getting Mer for this, but Kai and Amelia are the ones doing all the work.

Jasmine: I’ve gotten a good chuckle out of the fact that they eased up on St. Meredith because the second she was away from the lab, they made headway for the first time in weeks.

Did you enjoy learning more about Kai? What are your Kai and Amelia relationship predictions, and how do you feel about the two of them getting closer?

Joshua: I want to learn more about Kai and care about them, but I can’t get past E.R. Fightmaster’s acting. They just don’t have that Grey’s dynamic that you see from other guest stars (they remind me a bit of Marika Domińczyk/Eliza Minnick, who also didn’t have that same Grey’s elan).

What keeps me interested in this storyline is Amelia and watching her navigate her attraction to somebody who doesn’t identify as a man. It’s always been a bit obvious that Amelia isn’t entirely straight, and I love that we’re finally seeing Amelia explore the boundaries of her sexuality (in my opinion, I think Amelia is more pan than bi). Caterina Scorsone is lightning to watch in these scenes.

As an actor–particularly, an actor who would kill to work with Caterina Scorsone–watching her in these scenes is like a masterclass in acting.

Meaghan: I’m just not fully on board yet. I’m with Joshua that E.R. Fightmaster’s acting is really what holds it back for me. On the upside, we finally saw them display some emotions when celebrating their success.

I do love this journey for Amelia, though. I feel like we all have to admit that Amelia is the most dynamic character on this show and gets all the best writing — as she should because Caterina is a gem.

Jasmine: I agree. Caterina Scorsone is one of the best actors on this series, and she always gets me invested no matter the storyline. She’s doing the lion’s share of the work selling the hell out of this dynamic and potential relationship.

I still hate how they did this whole thing with Amelia and Link, but I’ve also been on record wanting the series to explore her sexuality instead of dropping tidbits about it.

And I think Kai was a way to do that, but at the same time, for once, I don’t feel like their casting was self-congratulatory ticking off of a box, and they’re actually getting some content and evolution, compared to the previous token casting they’ve done in the recent past

I appreciated tidbits about Kai and seeing this attraction between the two as it blossoms further. I feel like there’s an actual direction for these two now instead of casual flirting and ship-teasing.

How do you feel about Jo suddenly pining for Link? Do you like this possible ship, or should they just remain friends?

Joshua: Hate it. I hate it so much, and I don’t think that Jo actually has feelings for Link all of a sudden. But I hate this show’s tendency to have to pair people off.

One thing I’ve always liked about these two was their friendship and that it wasn’t based on any sort of romance. I think it’s so much more interesting and dynamic for them to be each other’s Person, rather than love interests.

Meaghan: I know I’m in the minority, but I’m on board. I completely agree that it is frustrating when shows can’t just let men and women be friends, but I like their chemistry together, so I’ll let this one slide.

I honestly wish they could go back in time and leave Jolex as friends and have Link be the OG friends to lovers for Jo. I don’t like them having Link make this confession to her and then Jo just magically realizing she has feelings for him. I wish she had come to that realization without that.

Jasmine: I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would, but I’ve approached this with resignation more than anything else. Of course, they would do this for Jo and Link instead of keeping them friends. Sure. I like Jo and Link’s friendship, and through it, I tolerate Jo more than I do on her own.

I hate that she’s now pining for this man because he said he loved her once. It’s no polite way to say it, but it makes her look pathetic and desperate for validation or something. After all of these years, I also don’t believe this is brand-new information.

What’s your first impression of Bailey’s new resident?

Joshua: How do you just…transfer? As a med student? In the middle of your residency? To a new hospital?

How did Nick let Meredith poach his best resident? Does he know that Meredith took him to meet Bailey? I don’t get it.

Great for Bailey–one thing I’ve always felt about Bailey is that they never give her a storyline related to medicine, so for her to get her due as a surgeon and not as the chief is great. Until we see more, I’m ambivalent.

Meaghan: I feel like I’ve seen other shows do similar things, so I’ll ignore the fact that it might not be something that happens in the real world.

I love giving Bailey this win after the day she had. I’m also really down to see mentor Bailey. We have never gotten even close to enough of that on the series.

With the OG interns, she was less a mentor and more a maternal figure. Richard was always the one who took on the mentor role. It’s time for Bailey to shine.

Jasmine: LOL, Joshua! Don’t give yourself a headache asking these questions. We simply must breeze on past all of that.

For a bit, they had Bailey taking a bit of a mentorship role with Levi, but yeah, she’s too passionate to rarely have a mentee of her own. I loved that she got her flowers. She more than deserves that shine and for folks to put some respect on her name.

What was your favorite arc, scene, character, etc.? Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Joshua: Honestly? I was so bored with this episode. If I had to choose something, I’d say that the scene where Kai and Amelia were saying goodbye to each other and the camera was circling them, I absolutely did want them to kiss. But that’s about it.

All of the other plots were somewhat meh, and I thought everybody involved with the recruitment storyline was incredibly unprofessional (Winston just…not showing up, Meredith making the text mistake, etc.

Even Bailey being as grumpy as she was about the recruitment–I sure wouldn’t want to visit her table if all I heard when I walked by was her complaining about everything).

Meaghan: This episode was a total snoozefest and by far the weakest of the season. Even with Amelia and Kai’s breakthrough, it felt like a pure filler episode. If I had to choose a favorite part — and it is tough to choose — it would be Mer taking control of the situation in the OR.

Jasmine: I was so pissed at everyone bailing on Bailey at the recruitment thing. I would’ve been cussing and fussing, too.

I enjoyed Jo and Link out in the field. I always find the doctors practicing medicine outside the walls of GSM exciting.

Also, the scrubs in Minnesota are ugly as hell. Even Scott Speedman couldn’t make those things look good.

Over to you, Grey’s Fanatics! Do you agree with us? Do you disagree? Hit the comments below.

The midseason finale of Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursday on ABC.

Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.