Alex Karev says a shocking goodbye on 'Grey’s Anatomy'

Since Justin Chambers made his surprising and abrupt announcement in January that he was leaving Grey’s Anatomy after 16 seasons, it was only a matter of time before fans would learn how his beloved character Alex Karev would say goodbye to the world of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Alex made his exit on Thursday night and at the same time brought back one of the series’ most famous characters—Izzie Stephens.If your money was on Alex leaving Seattle to reunite with first-wife Izzie (Katherine Heigl), then you just won your Grey’s Anatomy Fantasy Drama League pot. Although Chambers did not appear on Thursday’s episode, the actor did provide a voice-over and read the letters his character wrote to his wife Jo (Camila Luddington), his person Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and his teachers, Miranda (Chandra Wilson) and Richard (James Pickens Jr). Side note—that’s very lovely and legible cursive handwriting for a doctor.

Grey Sloan Memorial memory lane

It felt fitting that Alex would kick it old-school with his goodbye and send letters rather than a phone call or email. Always marching to the beat of his own drum, Alex's letters took the viewers on a walk down memory lane, reliving his beginnings as an evil spawn to his growth into a kindhearted and successful pediatric surgeon. It was also a reminder of how many hairstyles all the doctors have worn over the past 15 years.

 

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Hi here I go again ... Thank YOU! You are truly the best most passionate most loyal fans anyone could ever ask for. Because of you we got to make great tv... because of you we got to make television history! I say often life is hard and thank God it is because like I tell my kids... it shows us what we are made ...of how strong we really are and let’s face it... without the lows there would be no dancing it out or celebrating this incredible experience we call life. Thanks to our national treasure @therealdebbieallen and the writers for giving Alex Karev the best send off. Thanks to @shondarhimes for creating the most amazing character. For me personally for Karev to go back to the beginning.... was the best possible storyline. It pays homage to those incredible first years and the incredible cast ...that created a foundation so strong that the show is still standing. So let’s not be sad. As our fearless leader DA always says let’s PULL UP and celebrate the actors the writers and the fantastic crew who make this show come to life every week. No matter what the challenge or how tired we all are in the end... you keep us going.....That is worth dancing it out over! So much love and gratitude to you all. Xo E

A post shared by Ellen Pompeo (@ellenpompeo) on Mar 6, 2020 at 8:28am PST

In his lengthy letters, Alex revealed that Izzie had used his sperm and her embryos to have twins, who are now five. After reaching out to Izzie under the guise of helping Meredith regain her medical licence, the itch of wondering what Izzie’s life was like now was finally scratched. Once Alex knew he was a father, there was no going back. It will always be painful to think of Jo getting caught in the crosshairs of the love triangle, but as Alex wrote in his letter, no one would understand better than Jo how important it was for him to be a great father and give his kids the childhood neither he nor Jo got to experience.In an ironic twist, Grey’s writers had to figure out how to write off Chambers' Alex without the actor returning to the screen, much like they did when Heigl requested to be released early from her contract way back in 2010.Creator Shonda Rhimes had initially considered killing Heigl’s Izzie off-screen, but felt that would destroy Alex instead of giving him closure. Similarly, showrunner Krista Vernoff said that the writers wanted to give Alex a send-off that wouldn’t inflict unnecessary suffering on Jo, who spent much of Season 15 and 16 dealing with the trauma of her childhood and eventually finding happiness once again by marrying Alex. Saying goodbye through letters wasn’t dancing it out to Tegan and Sara and delivering one of the greatest final lines in TV history, but it was better than dropping a phone and getting hit by a truck.As Meredith said at the close of the episode, there’s no good way to say goodbye, but Grey’s managed to do the seemingly impossible by allowing Alex to leave abruptly with an ending that let him retain most of the good guy cred he spent 16 seasons building. Grey’s Anatomy has weathered the exit of many main characters across nearly two decades and the latest gives Alex Karev closure and a happy ending, even if it still hurts to see him go.Watch new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy every Thursday at 9 pET on CTV and catch up online anytime at CTV.ca.[video_embed id='1912893']BEFORE YOU GO: Oprah takes a tumble onstage while talking about balance[/video_embed]