Note: This story contains spoilers from “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 21, Episode 17.
“Grey’s Anatomy” hosted another iconic wedding, with Jo and Link tying the knot in a beautiful shotgun wedding that delivered on the big feelings — despite missing one key guest.
Episode 17, titled “Love You Like a Love Song,” followed as Jo (Camilla Luddington) and Link (Chris Carmack) prepared for their big day after only four days of planning. The bride and groom were busy ahead of the ceremony, with Jo juggling getting ready with bonding with her future mother-in-law, and Link struggling to write his vows. His struggles paid off though as he surprised his bride with a swoonworthy vow song chronicling their long love story, and promising complete devotion for their growing family.
“We’ve always wanted Chris to sing on the show, but we never wanted to do it gratuitously. We always wanted it to feel special and momentous,” showrunner Meg Marinis told TheWrap. “He probably sang that song 25 times that day on set … and he was so game to do it.”
Marinis praised Michelle Lirtzman and Julie Wong, who wrote Episode 17 and collaborated with Carmack to write the song. The wedding also allowed for the return of Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli) following his exit from the series earlier in Season 21, who walked Jo down the aisle and officiated the ceremony.
Beyond the happy occasion, the episode set up plenty of wild storylines ahead of the Season 21 finale. Amelia (Caterina Scorsone), Lucas (Niko Terho) and Simone (Alexis Floyd) worked to figure out a complication after the brain surgery of a young patient, whose parents (including Piper Perabo’s Jenna) were all over them after convincing them to allow the risky procedure. The case leads to a disagreement between Lucas and Simone that ends with her abruptly ending their relationship — just in time for her to meet a handsome stranger for her to sleep with at Joe’s Bar, played by Trevor Jackson.
A promo for the finale airing after the episode raised the stakes further, revealing a potential catastrophe could befall the doctors at Grey Sloan memorial after Jenna threatens to blow up Amelia’s OR if she doesn’t save her daughter.
On top of all that, Teddy (Kim Raver) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) returned from vacation to find that Nora (Floriana Lima) was back in ER with a complication that might kill her — until Teddy comes up with a potential hail mary to save her patient, Owen’s longtime friend who he also slept with when they tried to open their marriage. When Teddy arrived to let Nora know about her potential lifesaving idea, she found Owen and Nora intimately holding each other as they mourned the possibility of her death.
“There are a lot of things in the pressure cooker,” Marinis said of the many cliffhangers ahead of next week’s finale. “Amelia is unsure if she can fix her patient. Should she not have done this? Will Lucas find out about (Simone’s mistake)? Will Teddy be able to operate knowing there might be real feelings between Nora and Owen? There’s a lot of risk here.”
TheWrap spoke with Marinis about the heartwarming episode, why Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) couldn’t make it and more.
TheWrap: Episode 17 features Jo and Link’s shotgun wedding, one that’s been 20 years in the making and that ABC called the next great wedding event for the show. How was it to balance the pressure of delivering an epic episode while also keeping things true to Jo?
Marinis: It’s a beautiful wedding that she definitely deserves, but of course it’s one they picked up from Mariana and Edgar (former patients who opted not to marry in a previous episode). Also, you know Link’s mother and her passive aggressive ways gave the wedding a little bit of antics. But it was perfectly Jo because we got Levi to be a part of it.
It was really exciting to have him come back. He’s even matured more since we last saw him. It’s not easy in Texas but he and James are together. Previously it was always Jo helping him through something or Jo making fun of him. This is the episode where he gets to hold her hand and help her, which was really lovely. And Jo, someone who did not grow up with a family, she was clearly surrounded by love and now has the perfect family.
We see Levi and his boyfriend again as he comes in to officiate the wedding and be Jo’s person, and we get an update on how he’s doing in Texas and his love for former governor Ann Richards. How did that return come about and why sprinkle that bit of history into the storyline?
Crazily, it did not come from me and I’m the one from Texas. But I got the joke immediately, and burst laughing when I read the script from Michelle and Julie.
The return of Levi came about when they pitched the wedding to be in this episode. I was like, “Well, then we have to see if we can get Jake.” We can’t have Jo and Link get married without Levi. He’s promised to be there for her and she’s promised to be there for him through all these important life moments. I always thought the first time that we were going to see Levi’s return was for the birth of the twins, but then this came about before that so we were lucky enough that he was available and willing to come back and do it. It was so great to have him back home.
As for the Ann Richards references, we wanted to catch up on Levi’s life in Texas and thought, “What if they got a dog?” and when they wrote that in for its name I just started laughing. It’s a little shoutout to someone who championed women and gay couples and it was perfect. She was very outspoken, look her up!
One person who’s noticeably absent from the festivities is Meredith, making this the first big Grey’s wedding she hasn’t been either involved with or at least there as a guest. Did those schedules not work out for her to return?
We knew that we needed to get her for the finale, and when all of this was shooting it was right when “Good American Family” was premiering, so we were trying to accommodate her ability to promote her new show as well as be able to come back for the finale.
Also, it was a wedding planned in four days.
With a lot of chaos set up by the end of Episode 17, what can you tease about the finale ahead?
We’ve got Dylan, our patient whose parents are at their wit’s end. And this burden on Amelia because she’s unsure if she can fix her … in this season, she’s comparing herself to her brother. Should she have done this surgery? Can she fix it?
For Lucas, who’s looking at this patient’s story as a metaphor with Simone, like he doesn’t want to give up on this kid, and he feels like she is giving up on her, and their relationship before it even started. This breakup comes from a moment of anger, and out of pain Simone goes to the bar and makes this mistake. Will Lucas find out about it? Will there be consequences?
And for Teddy and Owen, she feels terrible about this woman because she’s been her doctor all this time, and she’s had complication after complication. She’s got four kids, but it’s so messy because this is the woman that slept with her husband. Even though it was a sanctioned affair, it’s still awful to be stared in the face with it. She’s got to figure out how to put her emotions aside and save this woman. And she does that, she’s able to come up with an idea. But right when she’s coming off that victory, she sees her husband holding her and it’s just like a punch in the face. There’s a lot of risk here (heading into the finale).
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“Grey’s Anatomy” airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.
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