Grey's Anatomy Finale Recap: Jo Makes a Shocking Confession
by Liz Raftery | May 19, 2016 9:00 PM EDT
[Warning: This article contains spoilers about the Season 12 finale of Grey's Anatomy. Read at your own risk!]
The Grey's Anatomy Season 12 finale was ostensibly about Amelia and Owen's wedding, but it was Alex and Jo who stole the spotlight in the final minutes, thanks to Jo's shocking confession that the reason she can't marry Alex is that ... she's already married. (Called it!) Of course, Alex doesn't know this yet, but they've also got other problems to deal with.
And that's not the only intriguing thread dangling over next season. The finale revolved around the idea of finding a second chance at love, and all the dark and twisty emotions that come with that process. Amelia and Owen each wondered if they were just settling for the other as they prepared to get married; Meredith and Alex lamented that they'll never find anyone as good as Derek and Izzie, respectively; and April and Jackson grappled with the fact that they might lose yet another baby.
Let's recap what went down:
After Jo (Camilla Luddington) rejects his marriage proposal but suggests they have a baby together, Alex (Justin Chambers) decides he's done with drama. (Good luck staying on this show, then!) All he wants is a wife and a house and a family, in that order. Jo, convinced she's lost Alex for good, decides to get shmammered at the bar to cope with her feelings. DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) shows up and, as he's helping her stumble out of the bar, Jo confesses that she's already married. Back at the loft, Jo drunkenly explains to DeLuca that her husband was abusive, so she left and changed her name so that he could never find her. The problem with that is, she can't try and divorce him now, because then he'll know where she's living. As she's saying all this, she's pulling off her jeans and top and getting ready to collapse into bed. We all know where this is going, right? As DeLuca's trying to help her into bed, he falls on top of her - and of course, Alex comes home at that precise moment, just in time to see DeLuca on top of his half-naked girlfriend in their bed. DeLuca tries in vain to spit out an explanation, but Alex proceeds to beat the s--- out of him. In addition to any physical damage to DeLuca (those punches were wince-worthy, even as a viewer), it's uncertain at best whether Alex and Jo's relationship can survive the fact that he doesn't even know her real name.
Amelia and Owen
Did they do it? The answer is ... probably? We don't actually see Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) exchange vows. But, after some initial hesitation in which she came thisclose to being a Runaway Bride, Amelia's feeling pretty positive about her and Owen's future as she starts making her way down the aisle, thanks to a pep talk from Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) over Slurpees.
April
After realizing she's left Owen and Amelia's rings back at Meredith's house, April (Sarah Drew) asks Ben (Jason George) to give her a ride to retrieve them. But, while she's there, she starts having contractions that get worse and worse until her water breaks. Ben gives her a pelvic exam - awkward! - and discovers the baby is breached, which means he's going to have to perform an emergency C-section right there on Meredith's kitchen table. With Arizona (Jessica Capshaw), Jackson (Jesse Williams) and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) anxiously listening in via speakerphone, Ben delivers the baby safely. April's rushed to the hospital, and after she's stabilized, she and Jackson lovingly dote on their new daughter. They look like a picture-perfect family, and I'm guessing next season might see these two getting back together? Also, the delivery restores Bailey's faith in Ben's abilities as a doctor.
Callie and Arizona
Arizona can't handle Sofia seeing her other mommy so unhappy, so she shows up at Callie's (Sara Ramirez) doorstep with Sofia and a pair of plane tickets to New York. She tells Callie they should scrap their custody arrangement and figure out another plan so that Callie can go to New York and be with Penny (Samantha Sloyan) after all. I don't think I'm alone in being lukewarm on the Callie/Penny relationship, but it's a convenient way for the show to set up a potential Callie exit should Ramirez's contract negotiations not pan out. (Update: According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Ramirez is indeed leaving the show, at least temporarily.)
Meredith and Riggs
After their torrid parking lot sex (four times!), Riggs (Martin Henderson) tries to get a little flirty with Meredith in the hospital, but she shuts him down. He's fine with doing a friends-with-benefits type thing, but she says she'd prefer to be friends who had a onetime benefit. Later, with April out of commission, Riggs brings the rings to Owen and they make tentative amends, with Owen proffering a halfhearted invitation to the wedding reception. After that, Riggs and Meredith connect over the fact that their former spouses wanted elaborate wedding ceremonies and they wanted to just get it over with. (Riggs seems charmed by Meredith's Post-It story.) And then, as Amelia's walking down the aisle, they make googly-eyes at each other from across the room. Which brings us to ...
Maggie
Unfortunately, Maggie (Kelly McCreary), who's standing next to Meredith at the wedding, thinks that Riggs is undressing her with his eyes. And she's into it. "I like Riggs," she stage-whispers to Meredith. "I think he likes me too." Ruh-roh! This should make for an interesting dynamic between the half-sisters next season, especially in light of Maggie's sad observation earlier in the episode that, screw all these people looking for their second shot at true love - she'd like to experience it just once.
See you in the fall, Grey's fans! What did you think of the Season 12 finale?
http://www.tvguide.com/news/greys-anatomy-finale-recap-jo-alex-amelia-owen/