On this chapter of The Queerest Things I Watched Last Week, the Grey’s Anatomy season 18 finale is an ode to queer joy. Thank you, Shondaland.
- Grey’s Anatomy – Season 18 Episode 20 “You Are the Blood” [Live]
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After the previous week, I was scared it was the last we’d see of Kai. “Kids vs. No Kids” broke up the zillionth Shondaland couple and that was that. Then this week we had the double-episode, Grey’s Anatomy season 18 finale with an appearance from Jackson and April (Japril seems to be doing great btw).
Amelia tells April about being sad over a breakup, and April says, “Never say never. Sometimes love comes back around.” Hmmm, this gave me some hope maybe Kai will be back next season. Then, in one of the last scenes of the finale, Kai finds Amelia in the parking lot and they do a grand romantic kiss!
I edited the 2 scenes together for y’all, you’re welcome!
To be honest, I was really surprised. I’m so used to zero couples being happy I just assumed Amelia and Kai were over.
But a Shondaland miracle happened, both Amelia and Kai and Carina and Maya on Station 19 had happy endings this season. Maybe someone in the writers room understood our community needs to see queer joy because even in 2022 we see it so rarely. And over our lifetimes, we’ve been fed the opposite.
There is a long history of straight representation spanning the relationship spectrum from heartbroken to happily ever after. Straight people got to turn on the TV (and every other form of media) to see a huge array of representation. We got invisibility, rejection, loneliness, punishment and death. This is why on a show where almost no couples wind up happy, it is still important to protect queer couples and portray queer joy.
Am I asking for queer couples to get special treatment? Yes I am. We need this to undo generations of damage done to our community.
E.R. Fightmaster (Kai) posted this beautiful tweet.
“Your joy is powerful.” It’s so true. Showing queer joy on the small screen is a radical act that nourishes queer people.
It’s sad tweets like this have to be made, right? We have to be explicitly told our queerness is beautiful and our identities are valid, especially for non-cis folks.
Thank you, Shondaland for bringing queer joy to our screens this year.
I hope Amelia and Kai can work the kids/no kids thing out next season without Kai having to pivot to wanting kids. Maybe they’ll move to Seattle and work at Grey/Sloan but not move in with Amelia. We’ll just have to wait and see!
And as a special gift to me Owen fled Seattle on the Grey’s Anatomy season 18 finale. I know he’ll be back but a girl can dream.
This week: My goal this week is to make it through all of Stranger Things season 4 to see how things go with Robin’s crush on Vickie.
Once again both you and Nikki have done a very nice job summarizing the happy queer couples highlighted in a few season ending episodes including NCIS: Hawaii Lucy and Kate, Grey’s Anatomy Amelia and Kai and Station 19 Carina and Maya. As a Star Trek fan from the beginning, over 50 years and counting, I have to mentioned one more happy queer couple. I was thrilled with Seven of Nine (played by Jerri Ryan) and Raffi (played by Michelle Hurd) happy season two ending on Picard. They have hinted at a thrilling and passionate storyline for this couple in season 3. There is even talk of a spin-off. I think that’s unlikely, but there is talk nonetheless. Let’s hope for the best for all these couples in the next season.
Thank you so much for highlighting them!