The penultimate episode of Grey’s Anatomy brought fans a moment that was years in the making as Jo and Link’s big day finally arrived! Episode 17’s “Love You Like a Love Song,” saw the couple’s impromptu wedding coming together after only four days of planning, but you’d have never known it as the wedding was a beautiful event.
It was a beautiful ceremony that celebrated the couple’s love, it welcomed back the surprise returns of Levi and his boyfriend, James, and gave us the chance to finally see Chris Carmack sing in the most amazing way possible as he sang his vows to Jo in the ceremony. The wedding truly had everything we could have hoped for, well, almost everything.
While the wedding managed to bring together Jo and Link’s friends and family, there was one face we were surprised to see missing from the guest list: Jo’s friend and mentor, Meredith Grey.
Meredith, sadly, was not present for Jo and Link’s wedding, marking the first major Grey’s Anatomy wedding that Meredith did not attend. While she’s not exactly besties with Jo or Link, it was still a bit surprising to see Meredith skipping the couple’s wedding, but it turns out, the decision was simply the result of Ellen Pompeo’s schedule.
As fans know, Pompeo’s episode count has been reduced significantly in recent years with Pompeo only appearing in about 7-8 episodes each season. This means the show has to be very particular about how they work Meredith into the season’s episodes, and it also means that the show has to factor in Pompeo’s availability, which played a major role in why we didn’t see Meredith at Jo and Link’s wedding.
“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,” Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis told The Wrap in a new interview.
Truthfully, we have to agree that the creative team made the right decision. As much as we’d love to have seen Meredith attend Jo and Link’s wedding, she wasn’t really needed for the episode. However, she’s set to play a sizable role in the season finale, which will fully take advantage of Pompeo’s presence and give her a storyline that is worthy of Grey’s biggest star’s return. Plus, from a story perspective, it would make sense that Meredith was unable to make it.
“Also, it was a wedding planned in four days,” Marinis pointed out, reminding fans that the wedding was one that was put together. With such short notice, it would make sense that Meredith would be unable to make it out to Seattle to attend the wedding. Our hope is that Meredith will address her absence at the wedding in the finale, even if via a quick throwaway line in a passing scene between Meredith and Jo.
Though we won’t hold it against the writers if they’re unable to work that into what is shaping up to be an unforgettable finale. As the promo teased, Grey Sloan is about to deal with a hostage situation as the mother of Amelia’s young patient takes drastic actions to save her daughter.