Amac Productions

This is a classic couple for me.

They’ll probably make the list every Pride Month as one of my favorite and core couples.

Despite the utter mess that Station 19 became, it did gift us with this wonderful couple. And I like them – wish we were in like old time Hollywood or even Thai GLs – where we find a couple with chemistry and just keep them together while telling different stories.

They just pick up new characters with a new trope and go to town with their unyielding chemistry.

Which is on full display in the video above, so check it out!

As I said, this couple will probably make the list every year for me. If you’ve read my Couples of Pride – Valu – you’ll know that couple holds special place in my heart for getting me to fall in love with Brazil which led to something even greater for me to discover. Read the other article to know what!

However, I never would have discovered Valu is not for Marina.

On Tumblr, the place I find most of my queerest ships, Maya and Carina were in a gif set comparing the shower sex scene to one with Valu that also dropped in the same year. Needing to know about the couple Marina’s chemistry was being compared to, I looked them up, and the rest is history.

Thanks to this couple, I found that one, and so much more.

Also, Maya and Carina helped me in a way I will never be able to properly convey. I lost my Nana and found videos of Carina mourning her brother. Her utter grief, laying on the floor, the world just feeling too wrong, desperate to do anything to stop the tears from coming – even laying in the shower. Screaming at the world. Feeling overwhelmed by the giant to-do list and having to tell everyone that she’s gone.

It resonated with me.

Because Carina was right. There’s no right or wrong way to grieve. Laughing, screaming, yelling, crying, they’re all forms of letting it out.

And that’s the most important thing – letting it out.

It will find a way out whether you like it or not, so helping it is far healthier than denying it.

This couple helped me work through the initial grief and bring understanding that laughing or remembering good times with the person who is gone is part of grieving. It doesn’t cheapen it. It’s not wrong. It simply is.

Later, Kacy from NCIS: Hawai’i, helped me deal with my grief through storytelling in a much longer term.

These are just some of the reasons that representation is so important.

As for the couple itself, Carina and Maya fell in love, and actually stayed together for most of their time on the show. Something so unheard of from Shondaland. I was shocked.

Which is also why I was sort of happy it was cancelled. They couldn’t screw up the happy couple. I mean, they could on Grey’s but I ignore that show so… I’m good.

Both characters were introduced separately with no intention of making them a thing. It just sort of happened. But even if you look back on their arrivals in their own respective shows, they’re perfect for each other. The writers accidentally made them perfect for each other.

Both struggle with the unrealistic expectations of their fathers and their disapproval which has impacted both of their lives. Albeit, in different ways.

They’re both older sisters who wish they could protect their younger brothers. But they also have had strained relationships with them at varying times. Ultimately, neither of them is able to save their brothers.

Both value their jobs, but also love to have a good time, and vent pressure or frustration through sex.

They’re both pretty open about sex and neither of them really ever put a label on themselves. Instead, it appears both of them just like people and what they like and that’s it.

They are messy and chaotic and don’t really know how to do the whole healthy family thing, but they desperately want to figure it out. Each of them would choose each other over everything else in the world, but the other always doubts it due to their traumas.

Ultimately, Carina and Maya make a great pairing because they are not perfect people. Each are mostly fully realized characters and while Station 19 wished to ignore that more in Carina’s case, we definitely get the sense of depth and character from her. Some things, she is completely unwilling to compromise on.

She’s a good person and believes in doing the right thing. Always quick to help those in need.

However, she is slow to forgive as well. With Maya often being the only exception to the rule.

They get jealous. They fight. They bicker. Tease. Torture. Love each other. Learn to communicate properly. Love healthy. Live better. They’re sexy and passionate. Goofy and ridiculous. They are more than their love for each other – however it is the most valuable thing to each of them.

This couple contains multitudes and I love that.

What about you guys? Still loving Marina in 2026?

Thanks for reading! Please consider supporting if you like my content!

Spread the love and read on!