Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the Station 19, Season 4 episode “Save Yourself.”
Station 19’s latest episode “Save Yourself” — the first half of its crossover event with Grey's Anatomy — seemingly dealt a blow to fans of Carina DeLuca and Maya Bishop when Carina explained that her visa was expiring and she had to return to Italy. The couple, especially Carina, just can’t seem to catch a break, between Maya's cheating, the pandemic, moving in together post-reconciliation, and the death of Carina’s brother, Andrew DeLuca. “Marina” fans have to wonder if the relationship could possibly survive yet another complication.
By the end of “Save Yourself,” Stefania Spampinato's Carina and Danielle Savre's Maya had cemented themselves as one of television’s most deservedly beloved couples, particularly when Maya announced that she was going to Italy with Carina. So now everyone’s in love and the world is wonderful, right? Wait one hot minute, though. The Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy universe isn’t known for leaving Seattle to peek in on characters who have moved to other countries. (Cough, cough, Cristina Yang.) If Maya and Carina are driving their firetruck into the Italian sunset, what does that mean for the show and its fanbase?
The move makes sense for Carina, who pointed out that her skills as a doctor are needed more in Italy. Plus, Carina has no family in the United States anymore after the death of her brother, and she really wants to scatter Andrew’s ashes on the beach where their mother used to take them. Considering how hard Maya and Carina have worked to form a healthy and ongoing relationship, staying together in the same geographical area makes a lt of sense for Maya as well.
The real question, though, is how will Station 19 handle that move? It’s unlikely we’ll follow the couple to Italy to witness their lives abroad, though that would be amazing to see, even if it would probably just be green-screen scenes. But could there be a time jump, where Carina and Maya already traveled to Italy and come back to Seattle? Or, on the flip side, will something happen in the next few episodes that prevents them from making the trip in the first place?
Any way it goes, it seems unlikely that Station 19 would get rid of two major characters in one fell swoop like this. Not only because of Carina and Maya's popularity, but also the fact that their relationship is a wonderfully necessary bright point in a drama that is tackling some important-but-heavy issues this season. Also, it’s been less than a year since Stefania Spampinato made the jump from being a Grey’s Anatomy recurring character to a Station 19 series regular, so her exit now would be ill-timed at best.
Maya and Carina are hitting their stride; losing one or both of them at this point would be a bad move. Marina shippers seem to understand this, and don’t seem to be too concerned about losing the characters, with some reacting on social media by packing their bags, so to speak.
While others were keen on packing something just a tiny bit larger than a bag or suitcase...
Other Station 19 fans were imagining the Italian life for Carina and Maya, full of food and good espresso.
I want a Marina montage in Italy, post-pandemic, where Carina shows Maya her favorite places and things, and they eat all the food, and Maya gets to enjoy espresso the way Carina likes it. I don’t think this is asking too much.
Seeing Carina and Maya settle into the domestic life has given me life in the world of Station 19, and I so hope the couple’s impending trip to Italy doesn’t mean the end of Marina on the show. But we’ll have to tune in for the rest of Season 4 to see how it plays out. Station 19 airs at 8 p.m. ET Thursdays on ABC, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy.
