Ever since Grey’s Anatomy returned for its 2019 midseason premiere, it’s been in full romantic turmoil. For weeks, the main story has followed the now-resolved, forever lopsided Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo)-Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti)-Atticus “Link” Lincoln (Chris Carmack) love triangle. Meredith’s sister Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) has her own love square with dad-to-be Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd). Even Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) has been working through her marriage woes with Station 19 link Ben Warren (Jason George).
Amid all of this emotional chaos, it’s been easy almost forget about very stable newlyweds Jo Wilson Karev (Camilla Luddington) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers). However, Thursday night’s “And Dream Of Sheep,” suggests Jo, who finally learns the identity of her mother, may just end up having the most emotional storyline of season 15. You just have to read the Grey’s Anatomy signs.
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The ABC medical drama doesn’t just throw a life-changing wrench into the mix. No, it lays subtle clues throughout all the soap-y drama and terrifying medical emergencies for weeks before delivering the real blow. Grey’s began doing just that with Jo during last week’s “Blood and Water,” when her mother-in-law Helen (Lindsay Wagner) began talking about grandchildren. Jo was clearly freaked out by the conversation. Viewers are led to believe the doctor is simply skittish about changing her life so radically less than a year after getting married. However, Jo finally tells Alex towards the end of the episode, there’s more to this story than run of the mill pregnancy and parenting apprehension.
She’s worried about her mysterious family history. As we said, Grey’s lays serious groundwork before taking fans on a twisty ride. That’s why we’ve learned so much about Jo’s past ahead of this big family planning discussion. Over the years, the series has explained that Jo never knew either of her parents. She was left at a fire station as an infant and bounced around from foster home to foster home until she lived out of her car as a teen. Jo only became a doctor through tireless hard work, rather than the support of any family (other than a lovely-sounding home economics teacher). So, she worried what “genetic lemon”-like DNA may be lurking inside of her — what she may pass on to a prospective Karev baby.
To combat these fears, she orders a 23andMe-ish DNA test.
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That is what brings us to “Dream Of Sheep,” where Jo learns she has won the “genetic lottery,” as Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary) says. Jo's test results confirm she has no predisposition for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or Huntington’s disease — but does have a first cousin named Martha Tomlinson. Since former hacker Dr. Casey Parker (Alex Blue Davis) is in the room for this very personal reveal, he offers to track Martha down through shadowy, but legal, digital means. And if he can find Martha, he can easily find Jo’s mother as well. Jo says no… until the end of the episode.
Jo’s mom’s name is Vicki Rudin, a brunette woman with great eyeliner from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The news is so huge, it gets “Sheep’s” end-of-episode cliffhanger spot, eclipsing any MerLuca drama and Amelia’s genuinely sexy hookup with Link. That’s big.
Despite the fact Jo told husband Alex she “didn’t” want to meet her family during last week’s “Blood and Water,” all evidence points to a long awaited Rudin family reunion in Grey’s Anatomy’s future. The synopsis for upcoming episode “Silent All These Years,” airing March 28, teases, “When a trauma patient arrives at Grey Sloan, it forces Jo to confront her past.” The photos for the episode (including the ones used above and below) show the doctor in her day-to-day clothes, seemingly walking up to a home she’s never been to before. You can tell this is new territory for Jo since one of the images shows her inquisitively looking up at what appears to be the address of a suburban home. Another photo appears to show Jo introducing herself to whomever is inside of the mystery house.
Are we about to meet Jo’s mom? Only time, and “Silent All These Years,” with its very thematically appropriate title, will tell. So get the tissues now to be on the safe side.