Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Shonda Rhimes gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly Thursday in which she hinted that our favorite couple, Calzona, may be headed for disaster. Well, Rhimes, a master heart-string tugger essentially refused to comment on any future storylines for Callie and Arizona, and anyone who’s watched the teaser for the season finale next week knows there’s a plane crash in Seattle Grace’s near future.
When EW asked Rhimes what was in store for Callie and Arizona she cryptically replied, "In the second-to-the-last episode, you get to see them working as a couple in a way that’s really lovely. And then in the finale, there’s nothing I can say."
Aside from Rhimes’ refusal to comment on Calzona there are reports that Sara Ramirez (Callie), Eric Dane (Mark) and Jessica Capshaw (Arizona) are the only core characters who haven’t signed on for additional seasons. That’s not a good sign as Rhimes has confirmed that Grey’s is killing off a major, beloved character during the season finale. Rumors abounded on the internet a few weeks ago that beautiful, brash Callie would be the one to go. But for those of you who saw the last two minutes of Thursday’s Grey’s episode, or the teaser for next week, we now know it’s Arizona on the plane and not Callie. Still, Rhimes could be planning to off Callie in some sort of freak/sidebar accident. In Shondaland the plane crash could be a ruse for the real death.
Either way -- to killing off Callie or Arizona we say…."NOOOOOOOO." Shonda, please don’t!
Calzona is one of the best (if not the best) lesbian couples on TV. We anxiously tune in every week to see where our role models are headed, or let’s face it, to see what sort of adorable bickering they’ll get into.
We’ve stood by them during all of the good and the bad. Through their initial meeting, flirtation and falling in love, through Arizona taking off to Africa on a fellowship and leaving Callie behind to seek solace in Mark’s bed –which resulted in a baby—through Arizona’s return and their decision to raise the baby together, through death-defying car crashes, musical numbers and weddings.
After all the couple has been through and after all they have overcome, to see them ripped apart for ratings would be devastating to viewers. And the show could suffer for it.
Please Shonda, lesbians in pop culture have been killed off for decades for the perceived transgression of merely loving women. Once upon a time in movie and TV land lesbian characters met with either suddenly becoming straight or with sudden death. From Hollywood’s Golden Age to contemporary television lesbian characters often got their comeuppance by meeting with death including Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock’s Rebecca, Martha Dobie in The Children’s Hour, Barbara Stanwyck’s madam in Walk on the Wild Side and Sandy Dennis’ character in The Fox. On the small screen recent lesbian deaths include the beloved Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kerry Weaver’s lover Sandy on ER and most recently Maya on Pretty Little Liars (that is if she’s in fact really dead).
Let’s face it, Calzona is the only stable couple at Seattle Grace. We don’t just need them, Seattle Grace and Grey's does.
Down deep we know that the episode is already shot and in the proverbial can, so an 11th-hour plea likely won’t hold sway. But if a Calzona death is imminent, here’s hoping you’ve got enough on the cutting room floor to alter the course of history for Seattle Grace’s most beloved couple.
The Grey’s Anatomy season 8 finale will air on Thursday at 9pm ET on ABC.
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