Jo and Link’s friendship has long been one of Grey’s Anatomy’s closest and best, but their romantic connection hinted at in Grey’s Anatomy season 18 has yet to be explored, leaving their relationship at the mercy of their current uncertain situation. While Grey’s Anatomy eventually revealed much of Jo’s history, her backstory didn’t let much from her past appear at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Her abusive ex-husband Paul and her biological mother both impacted Jo’s life in Seattle negatively, but Link’s arrival in Grey’s Anatomy season 15 did the exact opposite, providing Jo with one of the few positive links between her past as Brooke and her life as Jo.

Link and Jo’s friendship provided an insight into their past, letting Grey’s Anatomy explore various timely topics and leading to learning more about them. Throughout Grey’s Anatomy seasons 15 to 19, Jo and Link’s friendship proved one of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital’s best, showing the two wholly supporting each other through difficult, happy, or surprising times and offering one of the few friendships in Grey’s Anatomy that weren’t destroyed by seemingly unreconcilable arguments or romantic relationships gone wrong. However, Jo and Link hooking up in Grey’s Anatomy season 18 changed things, but instead of giving a romantic relationship a try, they ended up walking on eggshells around each other.

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Camilla Luddington as Jo Wilson and Chris Carmack as Link in Grey's Anatomy season 19

Link’s persistence with the idea of getting married pushed Amelia away, and Grey’s Anatomy season 18 spent its first half with Link trying to get over her. However, in Grey’s Anatomy season 18, episode 7, Link revealed his crush on Jo when they were teenagers. This had Jo re-evaluate their relationship, especially after she saw firsthand another couple of best friends she believed were clearly in love with each other. Grey’s Anatomy season 18 saw Jo and Link hooking up after Jo’s heartfelt speech about Link deserving not to suffer, but their respective feelings were never explicitly discussed.

While Jo and Link were both caught looking at each other longingly throughout Grey’s Anatomy season 18, they never faced their feelings, instead developing them at different times. Jo had nevertheless shut out any prospect of a romantic relationship with Link at the beginning, afraid of ruining their friendship. However, despite Jo’s choice, Grey’s Anatomy season 19 still showed Jo and Link unsure about where they stood, not entirely over their feelings, while also unable to go back to being just supportive friends for each other.

Grey’s Anatomy risks drawing out Jo and Link’s will-they-won’t-they situation too far. Instead of building upon the tension between the two and employing it to bring forth their potential romantic relationship, Grey's Anatomy season 19 stalled Jo and Link in an awkward limbo where they’re neither friends as before nor lovers. Whether the medical drama decides to bring the lifelong friends together or not, it should choose a path and follow it. Otherwise, Grey’s Anatomy only risks ruining Jo and Link’s friendship without letting them take any kind of decisive step forward in relation to the feelings Jo and Link clearly started having in Grey’s Anatomy season 18.

Camilla Luddington as Jo Wilson and Chris Carmack as Link in Grey's Anatomy season 15

Grey’s Anatomy season 18’s ending encouraged Jo and Link’s reconnection as friends, with the two bonding over Jo’s love interest’s quirks and Link sleeping with Jules without knowing she would have been an intern at Grey Sloan. However, before Link and Jo’s situation reached an awkward phase, the two were among the strongest Grey’s Anatomy friendships. Even before revealing interesting tidbits about their past, Grey’s Anatomy established Jo and Link as dependable friends to each other by having the two support each other no matter what.

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Not only did Link support Jo during her depressive episode after meeting her biological mother, but he also recognized how he could have only achieved so much when she needed professional help. Despite learning about Amelia’s pregnancy in Grey’s Anatomy season 16 being more shocking than draining for Link, Jo still provided insightful advice and fully supported Link, reminding him that his feelings were valid and worthy of being voiced even if Amelia’s decision would have been the final one. Even when matters were less serious, Jo and Link were there for each other, with Jo encouraging a date between Meredith and Link in Grey’s Anatomy season 15.

Camilla Luddington as Jo Wilson and Chris Carmack as Link in Grey's Anatomy S18

Link’s past crush on Jo might have led her to develop feelings in the present prompting Jo and Link’s hookup, but Grey’s Anatomy season 18’s ending stopped any exploration of Link and Jo’s feelings for each other. The aftermath of Jo’s decision not to let their friendship be destroyed by a potential breakup had they become a couple never encouraged a discussion about their feelings, and even if Grey’s Anatomy season 19 showed them in a better place, Jo and Link still never talked about what they felt. Grey’s Anatomy season 18 instead had Jo and Link unilaterally pine for each other or confide in others about what to do.

Jo’s fling with Todd in the second half of Grey’s Anatomy season 18 clearly spurred Link’s jealousy, but instead of that becoming a catalyst for Jo and Link to finally talk about their feelings for each other, it tentatively led them back to being just friends. Jo’s connection with Todd, along with Link’s talk about his potential feelings for Jo with Teddy in Grey’s Anatomy season 18, episode 18 all could have led to a final confrontation between the two. Instead, it only cemented their awkwardness, as they became set on avoiding any real talk, shattering their chance at a relationship anytime soon.

Chris Carmack as Link and Camilla Luddington as Jo Wilson in Grey's Anatomy season 18

A romantic relationship between Link and Jo could prove something new for Grey’s Anatomy. While many of the medical drama’s characters hooked up after being friendly with each other or even friends, none had such a stable, dependable friendship as Jo and Link. Even Owen and Teddy, who had been friends for years, couldn’t come close to Link and Jo, as Teddy spent most of their friendship secretly pining for Owen. Jo and Link becoming a couple could set up a love story worthy of Grey’s Anatomy’s best, precisely because they’d start their relationship already knowing each other well. Hopefully, Grey’s Anatomy will soon decide what path Jo and Link should follow.

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