Grey's Anatomy: Is the Spark Between Meredith and DeLuca Gone Already?

It wasn't that long ago that we were losing our minds over Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and DeLuca's (Giacomo Gianniotti) steamy elevator exchanges on Grey's Anatomyand swearing he was the next McDreamy. We're less than a third of the way through Season 16 of Grey's though, and we're already worried that the spark between these two is completely dead.

We started worrying a couple of weeks ago when DeLuca tried to ask Meredith to use some self-preservation before she crossed a line she couldn't come back from, and it only got worse when he tried to get her to go to a court appointment instead of staying at Grey Sloan for Zola's surgery. Meredith took both incidences as a fundamental misunderstanding of her character, and it revealed the cracks in their relationship.

In Thursday's episode of Grey's, the consequences of Meredith ignoring DeLuca's advice or offers of help landed her in jail for a night. While she was locked up to make up her missed community service hours, he stepped up to the plate and helped take her kids to school while Maggie (Kelly McCreary) and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) had to go to work. He's showing up for Meredith, but it doesn't seem to be making a difference. When Meredith returned home from her jail stint, she barely acknowledged that DeLuca was even there, let alone helping her kids celebrate Halloween.

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No one expects MerLuca to constantly deliver steamy elevator goodness -- they have to get into the mundane aspects of building a life together at some point -- but it seems apparent that they are at a crossroads in their relationship. If Meredith wants to find out if DeLuca can be more than "fun," then she needs to give him the chance to actually do so. At the very least, she needs to be more forthcoming with what she expects from him, because every move he makes seems to be too little or too much.

The problems in their relationship are only becoming more evident as the couples around them are figuring it out. Link (Chris Carmack) and Amelia are on the fast track to becoming one of the show's strongest couples. Who would have thought? And Alex (Justin Chambers) and Jo (Camilla Luddington) have overcome trauma after trauma to cement their endgame status. After a major victory at Pacific Northwest, the two decided to officially tie the knot. Is that kind of rebound possible for MerLuca? It will be if they can get back on the same page.

Do you think MerLuca has a chance or are they treading water until the inevitably break up? Vote in our poll below.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.