Grey’s Anatomy Boss Never Considered Killing Off Alex Karev — Here’s Why
With Justin Chambers unavailable to shoot additional episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, showrunner Krista Vernoff had precious few options when it came to writing Alex Karev off the show last month.
“At the end of the day, there were three choices,” the EP explains to TVLine. “Kill Alex off camera; have Alex be alive and in Seattle — and still married to Jo — and we just never see him; or [reunite him] with Izzie.”
As we learned in the March 5 episode, Vernoff went with Option 3, which she saw as the only viable one. Killing Alex would’ve been “cruel to everyone — particularly Meredith and Jo,” she says of the character’s BFF and wife, respectively. “There was no way to not put those characters through gut-wrenching, ongoing grief if we had killed Alex off camera.”
An Alex death also would have been unfair to Grey’s diehards, Vernoff says. “Some fans were upset, particularly the Jolex shippers, that [Alex left Jo to be with Izzie] — and I understand why. But I would fight real hard anyone who tried to tell me that fans would not have been equally or more upset if I had killed Alex Karev off camera.”
And Option 2 — having Alex remain in Seattle and married to Jo — would have done a disservice to Chambers’ TV wife, Camilla Luddington. “It wasn’t fair to her to keep her married to a character who was off screen,” Vernoff says. “It would absolutely eliminate [the chance for her to play] so many colors that she is so good at playing.”
As a result, “this wasn’t even a debate in the writers room,” stresses Vernoff, adding that giving Alex a happy ending with Izzie “was so clearly the right course.”
Agree 100% and they’ve moved on just fine without him, as Grey’s always does. The last several episodes of the season were the best.
Reading her comments makes me personally want to laugh out loud. She even said “some fans” were upset, as if that was only a small portion when nearly the whole internet, particularly twitter, were incredibly angry. Just look at the ratings of the episode of IMDb, they’re the worst of the entire series because people hated how she ruined Alex’s character development in a single episode. She got flooded with angry tweets the night when the episode aired. So many fans are still upset weeks later but she’s trying to act like it was only the minority who hated this ending for Alex. And nobody can tell me that besides the first two options, all the writers could think of was making Alex go back to an ex he hasn’t seen in 10 years only days after marrying Jo. Aren’t they supposed to be professionals who ooze creativity? Then why did I read so many other scenarios coming from fans that actually made sense? The only people who seem to buy this ending are people who don’t really know Alex well or always hoped he would somehow end up with Izzie. Literally everyone else is upset because the character we loved for so many years, who had become an amazing husband and never gave up on Jo just like she never gave up on him, suddenly left her the same way Izzie had left him years ago, when he out of everyone knows how much that hurts. Or he would’ve forgiven Izzie when she came back in 6×12, would have never met Jo and everything would have made sense as well. But to point out for years how much being abandoned scarred him only to make him do the same to his wife is just character assassination. And thankfully I saw most of the internet not buy into this picture perfect ending Krista Vernoff tried to paint. A happy ending for Alex should not have come at the expense of his character development.
Another thing I find hilarious is that Krista Vernoff is acting like those “some fans” are only upset because Alex left Jo to be with Izzie. That shows that despite the countless angry comments she received in the past weeks, she still doesn’t understand what has people so upset, and thinks this is just about shipping. Of course lots of people were angry that Alex left Jo for Izzie, but the outrage wouldn’t have been so big if it had been done in the slightest bit believable way. If there had been any build up or if Alex had called Jo two days after going to Kansas and had told her that he’s not coming back and that he’s very sorry but that he had to be a father to those children. Or if he had actually confided in her about finding out he has children and asked her to come with him to see them like a normal husband would. And nobody can tell me he would just lie and disappear when he always used to say that he hates lies and that if anything he is always brutally honest with people, even if it makes him look bad. But watching him ghost his wife for weeks, not reply to her calls, ignore that she was worrying sick about him and crying when she left him the voicemail. Alex, who went through the same exact thing with Izzie would have never acted that way. In his letters it sounded like he played house with Izzie and the kids for weeks before finally deciding to write those letters. Is that how Alex treats the people he loves? No, it’s not. And that’s why there was this outrage. Because dare I say 80% of the viewers knew him well enough to know that even if he had left Jo to try to be a family with Izzie, he wouldn’t have done it the way he did. That after loving her for years and never giving up on that love despite Paul, despite Jo’s depression, he could just easily leave her and everyone else in Seattle that were like a family to him. People who were there for him when Izzie wasn’t, to help him heal from the scars she inflicted. The fact that the writers made it look so easy for him to do all these things is what caused people to be beyond angry. You can make characters do one or two things that seem out of character, but to basically ignore every single character trait of Alex’s (except the fact that he would want to be there for his children, that one rings true) and erase his entire growth on the show for that “happy ending” is just too much character destruction at once. And the fact that I wrote a whole essay about it here should tell you that I’m not just writing this to disagree with the showrunner but because there are actually people who pay attention to these characters and don’t just accept every badly written ending the writers throw at them.
What I find disgusting is that Izzie used those embryos that were both of their’s. Not just her’s but also his and never told him till years later. What kind of bitch would do that? I’ve always had a problem with Izzie but even for her that’s bad.
Please watch the episode again. Alex clearly ELABORATED that he signed off his rights to the embryos. He allowed Izzie to do whatever she wants with them. Alex asked her to go and not come back. He didn’t want to be bothered. Izzie respected that so why you all hatin’ on her? Geez!! Blame Alex coz he chose to leave everyone. Izzie didn’t steal nor force Alex.
Yes, he let her decide what to do with the embryos.
But once the children were born, Izzie owed it to Alex as well as to her kids to let him know about them and give him the chance to be in their lives.
Horribly selfish, and terrible ending that Alex cheated with her and then left Jo who he had just re-married.
I get that, legally, Izzie did nothing wrong. But it’s still insanely weird to have your ex’s babies and just never tell them.
Please don’t speak for “literally everyone else”. I’ve been an Alex Karev fan for 15 years and I’ve rewatched the show endless times. I was both an Alex/Izzie and Alex/Jo shipper are different times in the show. I was okay with Alex’s ending and I didn’t find this to be character assassination at all. It obviously wasn’t a kind thing to do to Jo, but Alex wasn’t abandoning her out of fear, he wasn’t running away, he wasn’t dropping her because he couldn’t handle the relationship. He left because he had a family out there that he wanted to be a part of. That’s nowhere near the same as the abandonment he’d suffered at the hands of others; this isn’t him doing to Jo what Izzie did to him, either. If Izzie had left him to go take in the daughter she’d given up for adoption (say the parents both died) pretty sure Alex would would have understood, despite the hurt. Yes, leaving Jo in a letter is objectively a bad thing to do, but the reasons behind it mitigate a LOT of the problems with that action. I’m okay with Alex making one crappy move to get the happy ending he always wanted, rather than getting killed offscreen, or having him just move and hang in some limbo for the sake of keeping Jolex intact.
Yes. He DID abandon her. He lied to her and left her to worry about him while he cheated and shacked up with his ex. That is unbelievable cruel and does qualify as abandonment. You may be okay him being a cheat and a coward and Izzie being a homewrecker for the second time in her life, but there’s a valid reason why this episode has been trashed by a majority of the audience.
AMEN
PREEEEEACH
PREACH!!!
I would have been way happier if they had even changed a few details.
He found out Izzie had his kids and he wants to move out there to be with the kids, but he asks Jo to go with him. And then we don’t lose the character development. Jo ultimately decides not to leave because she has too much going in Seattle for her career with her projects with Meredith. Maybe they try long distance for a while, maybe they break up right then… but either one would have saved his character and kept Jo on the show.
I don’t understand why he couldn’t come back for just one episode. They didn’t even show his face in his last episode there is something else going on. Usually, when someone wants to leave, they have a send-off, but here he left so abruptly.
He quit. So no, he wasn’t available for “just one episode”.
I know that’s what happened, but there must be a back story you don’t just quit in the middle of everything was fine.
And he had a contract. I imagine they could have sued him for breaking it. Which makes me think he had a very valid and serious reason for having to leave so abruptly. Or he did something so horrible that they wanted him gone immediately. The second option doesn’t seem all that plausible though. The show has gotten rid of several actors for their behavior, but thought through how to convincingly remove the character. Also, I believe Justin was very well liked. I just hope he and his family didn’t have some kind of serious emergency, but that’s what I keep coming back to.
Makes me think something happened behind the senses to make him quit so suddenly. Either that or he has something coming up that’s going to be really good for his career and he couldn’t work at Grey’s and the new project at the same time.
Either way most fans agree him going back to Izzie was a bad idea. He was so hurt when she left so him doing basically the same thing to Jo is wrong and he wouldn’t do that to her or any of his friends. Doing it that way made Alex go backwards in character development 10 years it was a disservice to the character and fans. Alex should of died it wouldn’t of ruined the character.
There were more than 3 options, Krista. You just didn’t care enough about Alex to give him an exit that didn’t tarnish his character development.
I was only watching for Alex anyway and him leaving meant I could finally quit the awful show Grey’s has become. Good riddance
What were the other options, then?
They could’ve followed through with the original story and have Alex decide to move to Iowa to help his sick mother. He could’ve gotten a job offer from another hospital in another city (Catherine had bought Pac North and closed it so he didn’t have a job to return to) or done something with his African orphan program that he started back in season 8 and kept going through the years (which Krista and the writers don’t seem to remember). For Krista to act like those were the only 3 options and reuniting him with Izzie after 10 years was the best exit possible when Alex had clearly moved on and fallen in love with Jo is laughable and a testament to what a bad showrunner she is. Even if she went with the Alex-Izzie reunion, there was a much better way to do it that didn’t make it so onesided on Alex’s part and have him act so out of character.
Even TVLINE came up with other ideas (though I don’t like all of them) but there were clearly other options. Here’s the link https://tvline.com/gallery/greys-anatomy-alex-karev-exit-photos-justin-chambers/justin-chambers-camilla-luddington-17/
I’m curious- how would you have written it? What’s the fourth option?
I’m not the person you responded to, but here’s one (better) option.
Go with most of the stupid Izzy storyline, but eliminate the Alex/Izzy renewed romance. Have Alex state in his letter that 100% of the reason he wants to stay is because of the twins. He has no feelings for Izzy. He wants Jo to move there with him. He says he’s even arranged for a job for her there.
This way, the decision becomes Jo’s, and she’s not victimized yet again. Over the next episodes, Jo gets to decide whether to stay or go. She stays, but becomes stronger by knowing she’s controlling her fate for one of the first times in her life. Alex says he’ll always wait for her.
(Plus, when Camilla ultimately decides to leave the show in the future, her out is there waiting for her.)
I love this ending and am now pretending thats what happened. He didnt wanna be like his Dad but is raising them together but not in love with that monster Izzie (I hate Izzie mostly cause I hate Katherine Heigal)
Yes! Like Nels, I am going to pretend this what happened.
YES! I would be fine with this. What she did made NO sense at all. She made Alex a coward who couldn’t own with his own choices and face the people he loved. That ending for him was worse than killing him
Boom! You covered all the bases with that one. Like your version much better.
See, this is why I’m coming down are hard on the writers. Because fans have already come up with better ideas than they have and they’re supposed to be professionals
Yes, this is exactly what I always pictured as happening too! It’s seriously not that hard to change a couple details to make the whole dynamic actually make sense and not undo so much character development.
Alex just disappears. Did he become bipolar and is now living on the streets somewhere? Did Jo feed him to a tiger? Is he in Ecuador under an assumed name? Who knows! Apparently these things happen in real life, so, you know. Plausible. As plausible as the Izzy thing, anyway.
You people really want to tell me that reuniting with Izzie all of a sudden made more sense to you than him needing to take care of his mother or going away for his career?
Seriously. People sound like they are either drinking the Vernoff kool-aid or work for her/Greys/ABC with the way they are defending her and the exit
I think it would have been reasonable to have him stay in Iowa to help his Mom and siblings. And as Jerryg suggested, have him ask Jo to come. I can see her deciding to stay in Seattle for a number of reasons that would seem believable. It wouldn’t have been so bad had Alex not promised her specifically that he would never abandon her, since that was her biggest insecurity because of being abandoned as a newborn. We see significant others making stereotypical promises all the time – I’ll love you forever. I’ll never hurt you. I’ll never leave you. But he very specifically used the word “abandon” for a reason and promised to never do it. And then he did! Krista messed up.
I’ll give you a 4th, 5th, 6th option… and I’ll even link you to TVLine’s 10 suggestions. LOL
They could’ve followed through with the original story and have Alex decide to move to Iowa to help his sick mother. He could’ve gotten a job offer from another hospital in another city (Catherine had bought Pac North and closed it so he didn’t have a job to return to) or done something with his African orphan program that he started back in season 8 and kept going through the years (which Krista and the writers don’t seem to remember). For Krista to act like those were the only 3 options and reuniting him with Izzie after 10 years was the best exit possible when Alex had clearly moved on and fallen in love with Jo is laughable and a testament to what a bad showrunner she is. Even if she went with the Alex-Izzie reunion, there was a much better way to do it that didn’t make it so onesided on Alex’s part and have him act so out of character.
Even TVLINE came up with other ideas (though I don’t like all of them) but there were clearly other options — https://tvline.com/gallery/greys-anatomy-alex-karev-exit-photos-justin-chambers/
You stopped watching 5 weeks ago and are still clicking + commenting on articles about the show?
Hi, Damen (Krista). I only clicked on this particular article because it was about Alex Karev, who is my favorite character ever on Grey’s Anatomy (and Chambers a fine actor) and wanted to see the BS that was said about his crappy exit. I didn’t bother clicking and commenting on other Grey’s-related articles because I no longer watch the show due to the awful storylines and writing. Bye
I’m so glad they didn’t kill off Alex!! However, I would think that Jo would be displaying a bit more grief since her husband just left her for his former love. Jo’s a little too happy IMO. Wouldn’t you think she’d be struggling with this a bit more? I know they want her to move on quickly, but this is a little too quickly!
I mean she can either diminish herself over a man who wasn’t big enough to say a proper goodbye, or she can pick herself up and be happy like she deserves. I love that they didn’t have her wallow.
She’s suffered so much in previous seasons, particularly last season with the storyline about her birth mother and her traumatic depressive episode, that frankly I’m glad she’s been allowed to move on from this. Alex proved himself to be a cheater and a coward, why should a woman who has survived abandonment and abuse repeatedly, and has built herself back up each time, even waste her energy mourning a man who cared so little that he left her via letter? after he did that to her, good riddance.
I personally agree with her. I was terrified they’d kill him offscreen, which would’ve been the worst option. At least this way I know he’s out there living a happy life (which is more than I can say for most of my other old Grey’s favorites).
So you’re happy they ruined years of character development and made him a cheater, liar and a coward who couldn’t even say goodbye personally? Alex was my favorite character and literally any other ending including him dying would have been better than making him do everything he never would have done. You really want to tell me he would do to Jo what Izzie did to him and leave her worried for weeks? He didn’t take Izzie back when she ghosted him and it gave him abandonment issues thinking everyone he loves will do that to him. Jo proved to him she never would do that and what did he do now? Do the same to her in the worst way possible.
My guess is they were sitting on that storyline in the writers room for the past decade. It just felt way too elaborate and way too formulated for it to have been written at the last minute when Justin Chambers left. This was probably be the ending Alex got no matter what.
To me it felt the opposite, like they crammed it together last minute because it made zero sense. If they had somehow planned it, they shouldn’t have made Alex propose to Jo and marry her again two episodes before leaving. Or do you think they always planned for him to be a terrible husband who leaves his wife with a letter?
I don’t think they were expecting Justin to leave I do think that this is the ending they always intended though, and I don’t think they were willing to budge from their intended path.
I really don’t understand what makes you think that. They made such a big effort to show that he truly loved Jo and wanted to grow old with her, and that he didn’t even let her depression scare him off which was always something hard for Alex to deal with. They made an effort to show that Jo loved him so much that she would never leave him like Izzie and Lucy did. They made an effort to show she understood him in ways other people couldn’t because of her childhood being similar to his. Never in those 7 years of watching their relationship did I get the feeling that the writers intended for him to end up with Izzie somehow. If anything, I got the feeling they wanted to show us that Alex could have a great relationship that wouldn’t end with someone leaving him like Izzie did. Plus I actually read a Shonda Rhimes interview in the oast where she clearly said that Jo was going to be Alex’s one true love. Of course Izzie’s name came up over the years because she was a big part of Alex’s past, but IMO the writers made it clear Meredith and Jo were Alex’s real family, not Izzie.
This was the most random way ever to write him out and and the likelihood they came up with this on the fly just seems rather slim. Not to mention looking back there was a ridiculous amount of forshadowing that we missed, there was Jo finding the receipt to the Embryos, then Alex openly admitted to Meredith that he wondered if Izzie was his chance for an epic love, then there was the 300th episode where the Izzie doppelganger was pregnant, and where Alex admitted to Jo how he imagined Izzie’s life turned out.
I didn’t miss those mentions, however to me they never indicated him still wanting to be with Izzie or that the writers wanted to write that ending for him. Jo finding out about the embryos was bound to happen because before that episode, the writers had not really made him and Jo ever talk about Izzie. We see current characters also talk about their past partners with their current ones. Plus fans had been asking about those embryos for years on social media. To me this felt like the way of the writers addressing them somehow making Alex say in that episode that Izzie was dying and he was asked for his sperm which he donated. They made him talk about it in a very disconnected way. “It had happened 100 years ago” he said, telling Jo it didn’t mean anything to him anymore. The writers wanted to get him and Jo to the point where they talked about marriage and used the whole “Izzie was my wife” argument back then to make Jo wonder about their future. Back when he wondered if Izzie was his one true love, Jo had just declined his proposal for the 2nd time within months. it made him feel like she didn’t love him enough because why else wouldn’t she marry him? He didn’t know she was already married so he was filled with all kinds of doubts about their relationship, thinking that apparently the only person who loved him enough to want to marry him was Izzie. If you think about it, it’s actually very sad he thought that she must be his only chance at a one true love. We have to also look at the circumstances in which these dialogues were written, and the circumstance of Alex wondering if Izzie was his one true love was because he felt Jo didn’t love him enough. Later Alex found out why Jo said no to his proposals, they got back together and the writers gave us a scene where he talked to Jo (! not Meredith) about the life he pictured for Izzie. It was in the episode where they found lookalikes for all original interns and of course it made the most sense to have Alex talk about Izzie. That scene to me felt like the writers’ way of giving closure to his storyline with Izzie, because for years whenever her name came up, Alex didn’t want to talk about it or looked sad and upset. In that scene he finally felt like he had found the right person for himself so for the first time since Izzie left, he could wish the best for her. If that scene should have been foreshadowing, I think Jo wouldn’t have been so nice about Alex talking about Izzie like that. And he wouldn’t have told these things to his girlfriend, if he had felt like he would rather want to be with Izzie. He even specifically said that he hopes Izzie found someone who makes her as happy as Jo makes him. i can see why these Izzie mentions over the years now make people think the writers planned this ending all along, but to me it’s a classic way of how they write the show. Izzie and George left quite early and nearly all characters who are still on the show don’t even have a connection to them anymore, yet the writers love mentioning them at every chance they have. Why? Because of nostalgia. Callie, who was on the show almost twice as long as Izzie was and even had a bigger connection with most characters who are still on the show, barely gets mentioned at all because she was not one of the original five interns. As an Alex fan, I could always explain whenever he brought Izzie up, but he still never gave me the feeling he’d leave Jo in a heartbeat for her. If anything, I got the feeling he learned over the years to not be angry with her anymore and wish her the best in her life. But there were still scenes where he thought of how she abandoned him and how scared he was that Jo would do the same. Eventually they made him do to her what Izzie did to him, and that’s where most people’s anger comes from, including mine. I personally don’t think the writers always intended for him to end up with Izzie. I think if Justin Chambers had stayed, they would have made him end up with Jo. But there’s no denying that the writers love Izzie more than they love Alex or Jo. And that’s why Krista’s mind apparently immediately went to reuniting him with her as her only third option, and she didn’t care how bad it made Alex look.
Totally agree! I believed Shonda believes that Izzex will be endgame no matter what. They could’ve just killed her offscreen but no. They keep mentioning her name over the years and everytime her name comes up, Karev just gets rattled. I hope not killing both of them means there’s a chance to see a glimpse of them at the end of the series. Things weren’t good eversince the OGs start leaving one by one.
I want a spin-off or one episode of Alex with Izzie and their kids on the farm.
I agree. Without Justin Chambers physically in the episode, there weren’t a lot of good choices. This was the best option for the rest of the characters. I’m enjoying Jo and Levi being BFFs now! And Meredith didn’t need another heartbreak. I’m glad Alex got a happy ending, even if it wasn’t with Jo. Hopefully Jo will find a happy ending with someone else.
Krista Vernoff seems to be unaware that M*A*S*H killed Col. Blake off the show off-camera. Okay, sure, everybody got to say goodby to Henry because he was killed in a helicopter crash while leaving to go back home, but still … speaking as a fan of Alex since day one, of Izzie since day one, of Jo since she joined the show, and both Alex/Izzie and Jolex, killing Alex off offscreen has the 4077th as precedent for killing a lead character offscreen (on a medical show, to boot!) This was definitely a situation where Vernoff is too close to both the character of Alex and the actor Chambers to understand that she hurt the show by failing to understand that she went with the option that was the biggest betrayal of all three of the characters, Alex, Izzie, and Jo and therefore, of their fans, too.
.
I mean, seriously. We’re supposed to believe that Izzie would accept any relationship with Alex when it’s based on him backsliding into Evilspawn mode to ghost Jo? Give me a frakking break!
The Izzie choice was stupid and unbelievable.
I would have went with kill him off camera.
In real life, we always don’t get to see someone’s final moments. Sometimes it’s a knock at the door by police or that dreaded phone call.
Dramatically that had many possibilities they could of went with given the circumstance of Justin not being available.
This is so stupid. Why was reuniting him with Izzie even an option? He hadn’t seen her in 10 years and only got remarried two weeks before he left. You want to tell me him actually having been with his mother and maybe needing to stay there to take care of her was not am option but making him look like a terrible person by ghosting his wife the same way he was ghosted years ago was? Making Jo lose her husband in a tragic way knowing he loved her and only her would have been too sad but him abandoning her for an ex is just okay? Krista’s reasoning makes no sense. She didn’t care about making Alex look terrible at all which tells me this ending was solely done for Izzie.
Thank you! I don’t understand how piling on to Jo’s abandonment issues was somehow a better option in the writer’s mind.
Alex could have easily left to work with Doctors without Borders (or some other relief organization) OR how about that he was simply working at his own hospital. Even leaving to take care of his mother was more acceptable. Just because they didn’t kill the person, they essentially killed his character by having him dump his wife — someone who, with Alex, overcame huge obstacles together– only to go live with an instant family. It took years for the character to grow into a good person, Meredith’s person, and to quickly brush him off to be with Izzy, the woman who didn’t tell him he was a father for YEARS!? There certainly were more options to consider.
Krista will never be forgiven for what she did to Alex Karev and his storyline. There were more than 3 options too. Season 16 has singlehandedly been one of the worst if not worst written seasons of Greys. Amelink is really the only true highlight of the season but even that storyline was just as poorly written before it reached where it got to be.
I always loved Alex and Izzie and I was ecstatic to see that they got back together. The kids are adorable and Alex always loved Izzie. He loved Jo to but with twins he missed the first five years with, of course that was the way to go. I loved it and I even watched it twice.
Another thing I find hilarious is that Krista Vernoff is acting like those “some fans” are only upset because Alex left Jo to be with Izzie. That shows that despite the countless angry comments she received in the past weeks, she still doesn’t understand what has people so upset, and thinks this is just about shipping. Of course lots of people were angry that Alex left Jo for Izzie, but the outrage wouldn’t have been so big if it had been done in the slightest bit believable way. If there had been any build up or if Alex had called Jo two days after going to Kansas and had told her that he’s not coming back and that he’s very sorry but that he had to be a father to those children. Or if he had actually confided in her about finding out he has children and asked her to come with him to see them like a normal husband would. And nobody can tell me he would just lie and disappear when he always used to say that he hates lies and that if anything he is always brutally honest with people, even if it makes him look bad. But watching him ghost his wife for weeks, not reply to her calls, ignore that she was worrying sick about him and crying when she left him the voicemail. Alex, who went through the same exact thing with Izzie would have never acted that way. In his letters it sounded like he played house with Izzie and the kids for weeks before finally deciding to write those letters. Is that how Alex treats the people he loves? No, it’s not. And that’s why there was this outrage. Because dare I say 80% of the viewers knew him well enough to know that even if he had left Jo to try to be a family with Izzie, he wouldn’t have done it the way he did. That after loving her for years and never giving up on that love despite Paul, despite Jo’s depression, he could just easily leave her and everyone else in Seattle that were like a family to him. People who were there for him when Izzie wasn’t, to help him heal from the scars she inflicted. The fact that the writers made it look so easy for him to do all these things is what caused people to be beyond angry. You can make characters do one or two things that seem out of character, but to basically ignore every single character trait of Alex’s (except the fact that he would want to be there for his children, that one rings true) and erase his entire growth on the show for that “happy ending” is just too much character destruction at once. And the fact that I wrote a whole essay about it here should tell you that I’m not just writing this to disagree with the showrunner but because there are actually people who pay attention to these characters and don’t just accept every badly written ending the writers throw at them.
the real question is WHY?? … why the f did Justin just suddenly leave the show in this way?
was it just he suddenly woke up one day I said – that’s it I’m done I won’t even go back for one more day of filming … but fine I’ll help you and do a voiceover … if you want.
what was possibly the reason to leave the show like this ? after 15 years … this was his choice of how to leave knowing how many fans he has / had ??
I stopped watching the show regularly years ago but I still will occasionally watch
Sara think you expressing my thoughts about this fiasco ending for Alex so eloquently.
It does make me wonder what Justin said or did to Krista to cause her (and the other writers) to react the way they did to create the absolutely worse possible ending for Alex. I am also choosing a different (more satisfying ending). Alex deserved better and so did the fans.
Lastly, the only acceptable explanation IMHO for not killing off Alex and Izzy is that they plan to bring them back on the show in the final season.
If that wasn’t even a debate in the writers room, if not a single one of them thought it was bad or could even make another suggestion, they need to bring in new writers who can think outside of the herd. Stat.
Agreed 100%
I would’ve been less mad if Alex died. Alex had become a much better person. Now Alex looks like a complete and total prick. He didn’t have to be with Izzie. He could’ve moved Jo with him or anything. I rather Alex be dead. I would’ve been much happier if he was dead.
““It wasn’t fair to her to keep her married to a character who was off screen,” Vernoff says. “It would absolutely eliminate [the chance for her to play] so many colors that she is so good at playing.”” In other words, in true Grey’s fashion, they cannot envision any story path for a woman that isn’t defined by the opportunity to hook her up with various men, and Jo still being married to an off-screen Alex took that off the table. The idea that no writers balked at this decision at all is laughable. I said my piece in the episode discussion comments when he left and I’m not going to rehash it again (others have done so eloquently on this article anyway), but she fundamentally refuses to admit that doing this destroyed years’ worth of amazing character development. The ships are a tiny fraction of the reason why this was a poor, ludicrous decision. There were other avenues to take, she just didn’t want to take them.
I loved the episode and ending.I do wish they could have built up to it through the season but there was no choice since Justin left. Izzie was Alex’s soulmate.He never got over her.I think most OG fans who have watched from day 1 understand how epic their love story was and this was a nod to that and to fans who have been there since the beginning .I love that they played their wedding song through the montage to tie it all together.Just perfect. I hope we get to see Justin and Katherine back for the series finale.
Why is this always people’s go-to argument? “If you’ve been an OG viewer, you loved this ending”. Then why did I see so many OG Alex fans incredibly upset over what the writers did? People who have been watching for nearly 15 years mainly for Alex, saying this was character assassination and so ridiculous they want to pretend they never saw that mess? Maybe you interpreted Izzie as being his soulmate, I never did. I always felt like Izzie never loved Alex as much as she loved Denny. And she certainly was living her life happily with those kids for years and never bothered to call him and tell him about them. Whereas we actually got to watch Alex move on (you said he never moved on but he did. He wouldn’t have loved Jo the way he did if he was somehow still hung up on Izzie. Krista Vernoff herself wrote a scene at the beginning of the season that showed that Alex didn’t care about anything besides wanting to spend the rest of his life with Jo, and that was perfectly in character). We watched Alex heal from the abandonment issues Izzie was responsible for and grow as a person and doctor. We watched for years as he built himself a second family (the first being his mother and siblings) in Seattle only for the writers to make him abandon his wife and best friend. Everybody can feel differently about this ending and you have every right to love it, but being an OG viewer doesn’t mean you have to like what they did to Alex. If this was season 7, this ending might have been perfect, but it’s been 10 years and Alex changed so much since Izzie left. Which the writers completely ignored to make this ending happen.
I never said you had to agree with me.All I said was that there are a lot of us Alex and Izzie fans who watched from day 1 who are very happy with it. The ending of season 6 was not in character for Izzie but it was handled the way it was because of Shonda not liking Katherine and Katherine leaving.i wish there had been a chance for this to be an actual storyline hashed out over multiple episodes with Izzie/Katherine coming back to wrap it up .But with Justin leaving abruptly there was no chance.
I like Jo well enough but I never like a Jo and Alex pairing.I found them better as friends.We all like different things.Agree to disagree.
Alex and Izzie’s love/hate relationship for each other in the earlier seasons was truly entertaining to watch. I can understand his actions. I didn’t feel the connection with him and Jo. It felt like Writers forcing some love interest for Alex to get him out of the way. And Jo was portrayed as a demanding, whining Diva. Krista lost interest in Alex’s storylines toward the end and was seen on screen less and less. Maybe that’s why he left. Who knows? I’ m hoping they keep his connection with Meredith as they do with Christina. Always have been a fan of Merlex. Now those two had the sincerity and chemistry that Grey’s was once all about.
I think the writers were so upset by Justin’s suddem departure that putting him back with Izzie was like some form of revenge on the actor, because Alex never would have left Jo. Alex would have stepped up to being dad to Izzie’s kids, the way Jackson co-parents with April but Alex never, never ever would have left Jo.
Will Alex and Izzie make a return visit to Grey’s Anatomy?
Been watching regularly since season 2. It’s been going downhill the last couple years but this was the final nail in the coffin for me.