Grey's Anatomy's Alex Karev deserved a better legacy

Grey's Anatomy episode 'Leave a Light On' spoilers follow.

After weeks of watching the doctors of Grey-Sloan ponder where Alex Karev might be (and why he wasn't taking their calls or answering their texts), Grey's Anatomy fans finally learned why Evil Spawn wouldn't be coming home to his wife, BFF, community of friends and mentors, or the failing hospital he had vowed to save.

Coincidentally, the answer came almost two whole months after actor Justin Chambers announced he had already appeared on his final episode – so did the show do his character justice?

Turns out, Alex Karev has been living with Izzie Stevens on a farm in Kansas with their twin 5-year-olds. No, that's not something we pulled straight from Fanfiction.net.

Izzie Stevens – for fans who haven't stuck around for the medical drama's 16(!) seasons – is Karev's ex-wife, and one half of a will-they-won't-they couple that seemed endgame even as she battled cancer. They got married when her recovery was far from guaranteed, only for her to leave when she was fired after a hospital merger, and return briefly to apologise for peace-ing out when her soon-to-be former husband rejected her attempt at reconciliation.

ABC/Michael Desmond

It was a storyline that didn't quite make sense, and which was created to deal with the fact a disgruntled Katherine Heigl was leaving the show, allegedly not on good terms.

Still, that plot seemed smooth and inevitable compared to this week's episode, which explained the twist in a series of letters Alex wrote for Jo, Meredith, and Bailey.

On the one hand, Izzie's embryos – eggs Alex fertilised during her cancer treatment so she'd have the option to have biological children if her cancer treatment damaged her eggs – have been a kind of gun-in-the-first-act since they appeared way back in season five. The potential that Alex could have a kid he was unaware of was too great to pass up, but even as details of how that could happen logistically were explained in the letters, they made things more confusing in terms of his character arc.

Alex had signed the paperwork that said Izzie could do what she wanted with the embryos. Izzie was always portrayed as a character who wanted children, so there was a sense that the chances of him having kids somewhere in the world were pretty high.

grey's anatomy season 15 justin chambers as dr alex karev

ABC

The crux of the argument put forth by his letters (and the justification for how he could leave behind everyone, including his wife) is that his own unhappy childhood made him determined to be there for his kids.

The episode is maybe 30% letter reading, 70% flashbacks that show Karev's journey from cocky jerk to a responsible human being. While the clip show was meant to be a warm send-off as well as a fun reminder for fans of his greatest hits, it only served to make his sudden exit even more nonsensical.

A collection of clips focused on his relationship with Izzie, and was meant to paint a picture that the couple (who haven't seen each other for ten seasons) were always going to end up together. This in itself, it could be argued, was fine. Jo and Alex never had the kind of chemistry that would make it hard to believe he'd pick Izzie over her.

But Jo's letter from Alex saw him explain that he still loved her, and the only reason Izzie won the contest for his heart was the fact she has the added bonus of his kids. He said that leaving his wife with no explanation was the worst thing he had ever done. This kind of callousness does not gel with season 16's Dr Karev.

This is a character who has learned to own up to his mistakes, be there for the ones he loved and put others' needs above his own. Grey's Anatomy, nearly two decades in, is a show of ghosts. But for most beloved characters who exited, they are remembered and missed as people who had to move on (like Christina and Arizona) or were taken too soon (like George and Derek).

It will be hard for the doctors to reference him without now thinking of Karev as the guy who divorced his wife in a letter.

And that's a legacy Evil Spawn just didn't deserve.

Grey's Anatomy airs on Thursdays on ABC in the US. It airs on Sky Witness and NOW TV in the UK.

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