'Greys Anatomy' Season 16: Jo stealing a baby is a callback to how Meredith almost ran off with Zola
A midseason finale of 'Grey's Anatomy' that is engineered to provide some upsetting revelations and cliffhangers. In the ninth episode titled 'Let's All Go To The Bar', a car crashes into Emerald City Bar, Amelia Shephard (Caterina Scorsone) realizes that her baby daddy might not be Link (Chris Carmac) but Owen (Kevin McKidd) instead *yawn, yawn*, Maggie Pierce (Kelly McReary) is fumbling in her surgeries, and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is heading towards another love triangle (please stop).
Yet, the part of the episode that really gets our attention is that Jo Karev (Camilla Luddington) steals a baby. Yes, that happens. And as always, with the best intentions (because when do Grey's characters do illegal things with the wrong intent?) In the episode, Jo goes to Safe Haven as a volunteer. She has decided to care for babies who are dropped off at fire stations in the area. She believes that if she helps these children, she might be able to heal some of her trauma. Jo is overwhelmed when she holds a baby, and that's enough motive for her to take the baby back home. While this shows that Jo is ready to take care of a child, it's also downright illegal *sigh*.
Baby-stealing isn't entirely a novelty in 'Grey's Anatomy'. Remember how Meredith "stole" baby Zola? Technically she didn't go anywhere but was still unreachable for four hours, which not only complicated her custodial rights for Zola, but threatened her relationship with her husband Derek (Patrick Dempsey), which was already on the rocks thanks to some other impulsive actions taken by Meredith. Her maternal instincts backfired on her at that point. However, at the end of it all, Meredith and Derek still got custody of Zola.
Will Jo be just as lucky? It remains to be seen. Except, Jo's actions might cause her a heavier penalty than Meredith.
'Grey's Anatomy' will return after its hiatus on January 23, on ABC.