With so many characters vying for time on one show, it's only natural that some plotlines get mostly swept to the side for weeks on end, and that seems to be exactly what happened to Arizona and Carina's romance on Grey's Anatomy. Between Jo's estranged husband wreaking havoc on Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Miranda Bailey's heart attack, Ben's move to firefighting, this weird situation unfolding between step-siblings Jackson and Maggie, and Meredith's Harper Avery award, there has been little room to explore what seemed, just months ago, to be the new relationship to watch on the medical drama.
Carina DeLuca arrived at Grey Sloan with a bang. Her experiments were one of the main reasons Amelia was able to identify her brain tumor, which has since been removed, and the new doctor hit it off with Arizona immediately. The chemistry was palpable from the very beginning, and it seemed at first like Arizona was about to step back into her first big romance since Callie left for New York. It's definitely got potential for that, but we've seen only moments here and there of this new would-be couple, Carina and Arizona have obvious chemistry, and it's time for Arizona to have something a bit more stable than let-down Tinder dates.
They were going strong for a while earlier this season, though they weren't really in an official "relationship." They hooked up, then had a loose and casual relationship going on for a while. But once it was revealed that Arizona's daughter, Sofia, was coming back to Seattle, the pair fizzled. It appears as if Arizona ended things out of not having enough time on her hands while juggling her daughter's arrival, and couldn't have been helped by the fact that free-spirited Carina realized Arizona is a mother with a lot of commitments attached to her. The split was solidified once Arizona spotted Carina and Owen started getting frisky together, though that also appears to have been a casual hook-up.
Since this all transpired, Carina and Arizona haven't shared a ton of screen time together. They still had a flirty vibe going, though, and fans are definitely not ready to be done seeing the two together. "[Arizona] and Carina have off the charts chemistry," wrote Reddit user silkscarves. "I quite enjoy seeing Arizona, the Queen of Flirty Banter, get nervous and hot under the collar when Carina is speaking to her!"
"I liked [Carina] and Arizona together, and hope that they can reunite. In the meantime, it is great to see Owen have some fun. If the writers decide to deepen [Carina's] character and give her some professional spotlight, I will be all for it. In the meantime, I think that she is a fun, wonderful side character," wrote Sgt_Pepper_LH.
According to the show's head writer Krista Vernoff, fans should rest easy when it comes to this pair. “Carina’s not over Arizona,” Vernoff told TV Line in November. "People have commitment issues in the world and Arizona happens to be one of those people. And Carina also happens to be one of those people. And there’s a lot of fun to be had looking at that down the line. But don’t think for a minute that love story is over."
She also added that Carina's fling with Owen shouldn't be taken as anything other than Carina having fun with her sexuality now that she wasn't tied to Arizona. "Carina is bisexual. I think it’s important for network television to recognize that bisexuality exists," Vernoff continued. "And Arizona broke up with Carina before Carina moved on with Owen, which I also thought was important to make clear."
Judging by how fans have quickly grown attached to Carina and Arizona, Grey's Anatomy will be making a lot of people happy when they finally decide to fully explore the couple.
