[Warning: The following contains spoilers from the Season 3 penultimate episode of Station 19. Read at your own risk!]
Grey’s Anatomy may have had to end Season 16 early already, but we are still getting to see some of our favorite Grey Sloan Memorial docs on the spin-off series Station 19. Thursday’s penultimate episode for Season 3 actually gave us a big update on DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti), who we last saw being carted off by Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) after breaking down in the hospital hallway in the unintended season finale of Grey‘s.
DeLuca’s mental health was questioned throughout the latter half of Season 16 of Grey’s Anatomy, especially when he became more manic about diagnosing his patients. Meredith and his sister Carina (Stefania Spampinato) became increasingly concerned that DeLuca was exhibiting early signs of Bipolar disorder, the same illness his and Carina’s father suffers with. DeLuca fought their diagnosis, claiming they just wouldn’t believe him when he was right, and to be fair all of his judgements did end up being correct.
The last episode of Grey’s Anatomy was the first time we saw DeLuca acknowledge for himself that something wasn’t quite right, but that episode wasn’t intended to be the season finale. Grey’s had to end their season early due to a production shut down caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The season still had three more episodes to go, which undoubtedly would have given more answers about exactly what was going on with DeLuca.
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Fans were expecting to have to wait until at least the fall and Season 17 of Grey’s to get answers, but an update came from Carina, who is dating Maya (Danielle Savre) on Station 19. The two characters were discussing their relationships with their fathers when Carina explained that her father was diagnosed with Bipolar 1, and that her baby brother had recently learned he had the same condition.
That diagnosis wasn’t officially stated on Grey‘s, but before the production shut down, the shows were running concurrently and crossing over every week. Station 19 was able to finish filming Season 3 before the pandemic hit, but if Grey’s had been able to continue, it would have episodes that complimented what was happening on Station 19. In other words, we would have seen DeLuca officially get diagnosed on Grey‘s before Carina mentioned it to Maya on Station 19.
It remains to be seen how Grey’s will tackle DeLuca and his mental state when the show eventually returns, as the premature ending has messed up the concurrent timelines of the two series. However, since Station 19 is a canon spin-off, and shares a showrunner with Grey‘s in Krista Vernoff, we can take Carina’s word for it that DeLuca has gotten an official diagnosis, and hopefully the help he needs to manage it. We want him back on his feet not only for his own sake, but to be there for his sister because the rest of her conversation with Maya about dads was a real disaster. That drama will continue in next week’s finale.
Station 19 will finish its Season 3 next Thursday at 9/8c on ABC.
Giacomo Gianniotti, Grey’s Anatomy