ShipWrecked: How Are Your Favorite Ships Sailing?

Season finales of your favorite shows are rapidly approaching, and they can be metaphorical hurricanes for your favorite ships.  The end of the season always courts heightened drama, screaming-inducing cliffhangers and swoon-worthy hook-ups.
 
​Let’s review the statuses of your favorite TV 'ships from Jane The Virgin, Grey’s Anatomy, The Flash and more before they’re docked for the summer.

Jane and Michael, Jane The Virgin
This Small Screen Girl has always been a card-carrying member of Team Michael.  Jane’s betrothed is heroic, funny, and embraces Jane’s many quirks.  And even though season 2 of The CW’s breakout hit has been building towards Jane and Michael’s wedding, questions still remain.  Is Michael ready to be a hands-on step-dad?  Is Jane finally going to lose her virginity?  And more importantly, does Jane still love Rafael? 
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Last week’s episode found Jane and her beautiful babydaddy celebrating Mr. Sweetface’s first birthday in the hospital.  While it’s obvious that Rafael still loves Jane, she also seemed to be struggling with some lingering feelings for him a mere two weeks before her nuptials.  Will dutiful Jane marry Michael despite her pangs or is it just cold feet?  Find out when Jane The Virgin’s season finale airs tonight at 9/8c on The CW.  Ship Status: Ship off course! 

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Jamie and Claire, Outlander
It’s insanely easy to get addicted to the sweeping romance and adventure of Outlander—Starz’s titillating fantasy drama about a 1945 Englishwoman who travels back in time to 18th century Scotland.  Its second season has taken Claire and Jamie to Paris on a mission to change history by thwarting the Jacobite Uprising.  This undertaking involves subterfuge, shady meetings in French brothels, and risky robberies.  Unfortunately, Jamie and Claire’s nemesis, Captain Jack Randall, appears in Paris, which threatens their entire operation.

Outlander has created one of television’s most complicated love triangles on television.   Claire's heart is torn between Frank, her husband in 1945, and Jamie, her new husband in 1745.  Jamie’s rapist and torturer is a direct descendant of her current/future husband.  This forces Claire to coerce her husband into not killing Captain Jack Randall in an arranged and illegal duel because he needs to live long enough to continue his bloodline so Frank can be born.  The suspenseful “Best Laid Schemes” details outcome of Jamie breaking his promise, and engaging in the duel in Outlander’s trademark and gorgeous realism.  The fight lands Jamie in La Bastille (no trip to Paris is complete without it), and Claire in the hospital with serious complications from her pregnancy. 

The Fraser marriage has overcome immense tragedy and time travel, but it has been weakened by their brave mission.  Can it survive the double-slap of threatening the lives of Claire’s unborn child and husband(s)?  Ship Status: Iceberg right ahead!

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Barry and Iris, The Flash
The last three episodes of The CW’s The Flash have been epic for WestAllen fans.  Not only has Iris finally taken a bigger role in Team Flash and confessed her feelings for Barry, she was the one to coax him out of the speed force after the disastrous attempt to recharge Barry’s powers.  While the approaching battle with Zoom’s army of meta-humans doesn’t bode well for romance, and The Flash finales generally disintegrates hearts more thoroughly than Wells’ contraption of death, they will always have Barry’s heart-melting speech to pull them through dark times: “The truth is, Iris, I don’t know what this is or where we go from here.  All I know is you are everything to me, and you always have been.  The sound of your voice will always bring me home.” Ship Status: I will go down with this ship!

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Jackson and April, Grey’s Anatomy
For Japril fans and detractors, April’s baby bombshell on the tails of their divorce was stupefying one.  It’s been aggravating to watch control-freak April manipulate, conceal truths and slap Jackson—the man she claims to love—with a restraining order after overhearing a one conversation with Jackson’s mother. 

Having a baby changes everything, but it doesn’t usually save marriages.  While I’m proud of Jackson and April for putting their dukes down and finding common ground for the sake of their child, I can’t imagine any universe where their romantic reunion would be a healthy one, let alone one built by goddess Shonda Rhimes.  Hopefully Callie and Arizona’s recently custody battle will inspire these two doctors to co-parent and date other people.  Ship Status: Abandon ship!

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Cookie and Lucious, Empire
There’s one substantial truth to Fox’s hip hopera, Empire: Cookie and Lucious’s chemistry is a force of nature.  Whether it’s burning hotter than a volcanic eruption or colder than a polar vortex, they operate in extremes only.  During the second half of Empire’s sophomore season, it seemed as if Lucious was finally craving cookies again.  Cookie calmed and comforted a devastated Lucious after losing Empire to youngest son, Hakeem.  They bonded over the unearthed trauma of Lucious’ filming the video for “Boom Boom Boom”—a song that captured his violent childhood with an unstable mother.  Lucious managed to bring together the entire clan and keep the peace for a few hours to celebrate Cookie’s first birthday out of prison.  And he surprised her with a stunning diamond bracelet before attending the ASA Awards. 

But Lyons live ferociously and his past exploits re-surfaced to bite him when his former protégé, rapper Freda Gatz learned that Lucious had her father killed and took a shot at him on the ASA red carpet.  Golden boy Jamal was caught in the crossfire trying to intervene. 

There’s one immovable truth about Cookie: Don’t even come between a Lyon and her cub.  Whether Jamal is just critically injured or worse, Cookie and Lucious will never do more than make bangin' music together.  Ship Status: Abandon ship!


Photo Credits: servietivu.com, denofgeek.us, spoilertv.com, realitytv.co.uk, hypable.com