S16.E16: Leave a Light On

[fakesnakesablaze]

I'm not really a Jo fan, but I do think Jo is very important to the ending Alex because her relationship with Alex is a huge part of how Alex has grown and matured over the years (even if he can still be problematic).

Jo was set up to be the girl Alex deserved after being treated like crap with Izzie, and their relationship has been a way to show just how loyal Alex can be in a loving partnership. Did Izzex have stronger chemistry? Sure. Was Izzie's character built during a time when Grey's was really good? Yes. But even if you were okay with Alex throwing away years of loyalty to a person he loved, Alex going off with Izzie doesn't mean that the viewers actually get to experience any of the things that made Izzex appealing in the first place.

And for a character exit, the legacy Alex leaves behind is 10000 times more important than Alex's individual happiness. Meredith and Jo are the characters we'll continue to get week after week, so Jo being absolutely screwed over by Alex is going to matter a lot even if you don't like Jo. Meredith not having her person and maybe also being mad at him will also matter going forward. I'm guessing most characters won't really vilify Alex, but it's going to be hard to not think negatively of him after abandoning Jo in such a shitty way.

I think they should have left the door open for Jo and Alex to continue and have both of them decide that it wouldn't work out. Or (and I know this is super crazy but...) actually start working on giving some of these characters satisfying conclusions before they need to up and leave. I was saying years ago that I wanted Jo and Alex to leave the show together to pursue a family and a career together, because I just wanted Alex to have a happy life. It would have been nice, and as much as I'd like Grey's to hang onto cast who want to be there (*cough* Sarah and Jessica) the show could stand to keep people more invested if they felt like their faves might get a quality send off and not one that feels rushed and out of character.

Edited March 7, 2020 by fakesnakesablaze

[TVbitch]

Come on, Alex handwrote three 8-page letters! There were not even cross outs on them! His hand must still be cramping!!

I stopped watching years ago but popped in for Derek's death and now to see how they ended Karev. The episode was grueling to get through, and the new perfect children gave me the creeps. Really? He meets them, they show him their rooms and ask if they can call him dad. ?!

[Featherhat]

I mean I know this was done to give the character closure and some weird version of a "perfect" family life without actually featuring him in any new material, but no way do I believe that anyone could process their ex having their kids without telling them, decide to move their life across the country, get back into a relationship with said person in a few ...whatever units of time without some major explosions, especially from someone like Alex. Especially when he already has a wife he loved very much and was doing everything in secret from her and his oldest friends. Seems like he might be saving that up for further down the road, because it is not an easy situation emotionally.

He may have legally signed them over to Izzie because they were her only chance at having biological children but that's different to finding out you have two five year olds. Morally speaking that's pretty reprehensible all around from her. Alex even had this storyline in S3 I think, when the woman didn't want to tell her ex she was pregnant. He argued that the guy might be an asshole but that didn't mean the mother had to be one by not even telling him he was going to be a father. At least leave it more up in the air, they could even say "they're back together" later on in the season after it was left open for Jo to decide long distance wouldn't work and she didn't want to leave Seattle. 

Maybe they want those in the audience not back on the A/I train to find them both awful and wash their hands of them whilst those that are, are supposed to ignore all the other less than ideal stuff about it? Because look perfect fic twins and rural idyll.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Featherhat

[apinknightmare]

51 minutes ago, Rose-1 said:

That’s why I said wishy washy explanation - they might have thought that was good enough, and maybe in some places it could be, legally - I can’t comment because I don’t know the law. But ethically ?? Morally ?? 

and I think a lot of people’s issue (definitely mine) is that even if she DID have the right to use them, Given the circumstances and the passage of time, and who alex has grown to be, they expect us to believe that not only has he got zero anger whatsoever about how she went about that - he’s processed all of that, rebuilt an entire relationship with her whilst cheating on his wife and fallen in love with her again in the space of a few..whatever it was on the show. 7 years ago - maybe. But where he was mentally and emotionally in his relationship with Jo, having just married her a second time - After all they’ve been through -  it completely defies Belief. 

Yeah, I read spoilers for Alex's exit and had to tune in and see for myself because it sounded so insane I thought it had to be trolling, but no! Everything was so whirlwind and nutbars that if I were one of those people who had gotten a letter I would've questioned Alex's mental state - cheating on his wife, moving forward with an instant family...it would've made more sense for him to ease into figuring out his place in the kids' lives and dealing with things with Izzie, although I know there were outside factors that made this impossible. 

I don't care about Izzie and Alex or Alex and Jo so maybe my feelings would be different if I were invested in one or the other but I just can't see how this is a happy ending for him? He told Jo in his letter that if it were between Jo and Izzie that he would choose Jo but he wanted to stay with Izzie because she had the kids. I would write that off as him just trying to make her feel better about what he was doing, but he alluded to the same thing in his letter to Mer. It just seems like one of those things that seems right in the moment but might lead to resentment later in life, but...I guess he would deserve it for being an asshole. 

[RebeccatheWriter]

3 hours ago, marceline said:

Goodness that was...unfortunate. I'm just going to chalk this up to everyone being in a no-win situation and trying to get past it.

Alex setting up house with Izzy after everything he and Jo went through? Ick.

Izzy having Alex's kids without ever telling him? So. Much. Ick. (Hey, Izzy you're a cancer survivor. You more than most should understand making sure your kids are cared for in case something happens to you.)

 

Good point. She had melanoma and her daughter she placed for adoption had leukemia. She had no concerns about genetic predisposition? My mother is currently undergoing her second bout with cancer (lung and now breast). The two are unrelated, but it is a fear she had between the two that this would come back. I don't doubt that she's going to fear it coming back a third time.

[Haute Messe]

8 hours ago, ams1001 said:

And props to the post office for actually getting all the letters to their destinations on the same day. 😉

With the wonky timeline, I was wondering if they all were arranged to be delivered on April 1st.  April Fools, everybody!!

Seriously though, I hated how this made Alex look like such a horrible dick.

[chitowngirl]

25 minutes ago, lizajane said:

With the wonky timeline, I was wondering if they all were arranged to be delivered on April 1st.  April Fools, everybody!!

Seriously though, I hated how this made Alex look like such a horrible dick.

And they all had their mail first thing in the morning! Well, we don’t know when Jo’s was delivered because Linc brought a bunch of mail to her. I don’t get my mail until early afternoon. 

[PWHCHCH]

For me, the flashbacks only made me realize how much I miss and love the old look/ aesthetic of GSM. It actually felt like a big sprawling hospital rather than just a few  redressed sets like we get now 

Edited March 7, 2020 by GSManiac

[StaceyNotStacie]

I felt different things with the different letters. When Meredith was reading her letter, I was just taking it in. The talking about the kids got to me and I enjoyed the flashbacks.

I really didn’t feel anything with the Jo letter and clips. Outside of her getting Alex’s hospital shares, it didn’t interest me at all.  Since they showed Bailey telling Ben about what happened, I hope we get a scene with Ben and Jo since they were pretty tight as interns   

Bailey’s letter really got to me.  That letter felt more heartfelt than the others. In some ways, Bailey was probably the mother figure he never had, looking out for him when others had given up in the past. 

[mishap]

 The 'farm' scenes were too much for me.   Just too corny.  That idyllic farm setting with the cherubic children feeding the chickens and creating with glitter and paint, while mom makes muffins.    Barf.

A lot  of the episode was ridiculous but at least they buttoned things up with him.  So stupid though.   Really.   

[Anela]

11 hours ago, Evie said:

I think Alex not answering her calls/texts for weeks? months? (Seriously, what is the timeline on this show? It seems like weeks have passed in Seattle and months in Kansas. I've been to Kansas. They have winter too but there was just a blizzard in Seattle and yet it was summer on the farm heh) and then explaining himself in a letter would be more than enough grounds for divorce, but I get your point. I think they could have made it work if they had cut some flashbacks and let Jo voice her feelings, but I'm sure they wanted Jo to be the victim so they could more easily move her on.

One of the farm scenes had "Izzie" watching as the twins happily ran to a man on a tractor wearing a cowboy hat. I assume that was supposed to be Alex. ALEX KAREV. TRACTOR. COWBOY HAT. WTF, people????

I didn't think of that. I'm in the Midwest, too, and we had more snow today. The farm looked like it was filmed in July. 

I also wondered how Izzy was a successful surgeon, single mother, and ran a farm (unless she could afford to hire help for that). It would have made a bit more sense if she had the kids, and was sick again, so he stayed to help. 

They seem to be setting Jo up as another Meredith. She's been told more than once, that she handles everything that happens to her, no matter how bad. She told someone that herself, as well. 

I thought that Meredith would take a picture of Zola's project, and text it to him. He wants no contact whatsoever? That's crappy. 

[Anela]

1 hour ago, RebeccatheWriter said:

Good point. She had melanoma and her daughter she placed for adoption had leukemia. She had no concerns about genetic predisposition? My mother is currently undergoing her second bout with cancer (lung and now breast). The two are unrelated, but it is a fear she had between the two that this would come back. I don't doubt that she's going to fear it coming back a third time.

My aunt is dealing with the same thing: she survived breast cancer, and it came back in her brain. That's why I thought it would have been more believable for Izzy to be sick again, and that he stayed to look after and get to know his kids, as she fought it. 

[transitfan]

11 hours ago, RedbirdNelly said:

well then nevermind. . except Isobel is Spanish equivalent for Elizabeth. .. so although I was wrong, I think that is the connection on the names. She picked a girl name that was tied to Alex's and a boy's that was linked to hers.  

I

Yep, a la Will Smith/Jada Pinkett Smith

 

Boy: Jayden (Jada)

Girl: Willow (Will)

[transitfan]

1 hour ago, chitowngirl said:

And they all had their mail first thing in the morning! Well, we don’t know when Jo’s was delivered because Linc brought a bunch of mail to her. I don’t get my mail until early afternoon. 

In fairness, it could be that they all live relatively close to their respective post offices.  When I lived in Brooklyn, the post office was like a block and a half away.  We regularly got our mail around 8:00-8:30 AM.  My grandmother lived a few miles from her post office and her mail generally arrived late morning (this was back in the 70s when I think the letter carriers mostly walked their beats).

 

 

[ParadoxLost]

I watched this episode again.  

I'm still fine with Alex ending up with Izzie and the kids. I just don't want him dead. The show wouldn't respect the memory of a dead Karev anymore than they did a live one.  They are going to want to move on with Jo and new love interest and I'd rather Alex be off with a HEA than 6 feet under and dissecting Jo's grief and the speed with which she moves on and if they are respecting Alex's memory ad nauseam (because I would). They already positioned Linc as Jo's new love interest for cripes' sake.  So I'm accepting the ending that I would have wanted back before the show was a shadow of itself.

But this episode was terrible.

How is it possible that Alex was on this show for 16 years and the retrospective finale was this repetitive?  It was really overkill to spend that much time on Alex and Izzie's history.  Did they really need a wrap up montage to repeat the Alex and Izzie flashbacks from earlier in the episode? At that point they had wrapped up the letters, couldn't they have just slammed in some "best of" moments for Alex.

Did they not develop any other relationships for him outside of Jo with anyone still around or did they just decide to focus on the OGs?  

And speaking of Jo.  That was actually the worse part.  That letter was cruel.  I think it points more to the writing sucking than anything else.  Its like they got focused in on hammering home the ending they chose for Alex for the viewers sake. 

They totally missed that the letter Alex might write to Meredith, who knew Alex and Izzy and was around for their whole relationship, would be significantly different than the letter he wrote to his wife that he is divorcing out of the blue.  Not lies or false hope, but lay off giving Jo as many details on how he's feeling about Izzy as he gives Meredith.  

Edited March 7, 2020 by ParadoxLost

[statsgirl]

I can understand Alex wanting to move to Kansas to be near his children especially while they are so young. But Izzie having his children and not telling him that she did until he contacted her would be an absolute deal-breaker for me in terms of a relationship if I were Alex.

All this time that he's been down there and sharing Izzie's bed -- that's adultery my friend.

2 hours ago, apinknightmare said:

I don't care about Izzie and Alex or Alex and Jo so maybe my feelings would be different if I were invested in one or the other but I just can't see how this is a happy ending for him? He told Jo in his letter that if it were between Jo and Izzie that he would choose Jo but he wanted to stay with Izzie because she had the kids. I would write that off as him just trying to make her feel better about what he was doing, but he alluded to the same thing in his letter to Mer.

I didn't quite understand this part and how it resonated with Richard. Is Alex saying that he loves both women but he's dumping his wife because Izzie had his kids?  Was Richard thinking that he would have left Adele if he knew that Ellis was pregnant with his child? (Honestly, Ellis was a woman who never should have had kids and the best thing she did for Maggie was let her be adopted by a good mother.)

Is the takeaway supposed to be that if you love two women, the one who has your child will win? How 1950s of the show.

[ForeverAlone]

I knew what was going to happen before I watched this episode (in fact that is why I chose to watch it, after missing many of the last few episodes, because I was struggling to maintain my interest in the show). I can see that what Alex did was a bit out of character for who he became, but I didn't hate how it all turned out. I preferred that to the way they wrote out George and Derek and Mark and Lexie. It didn't feel THAT false to me. Plus I liked seeing all the clips from the first several seasons, when the writing and characterization of the show was much better than it has become. 

I was never a hardcore Alex/Izzy shipper, but I also wasn't a Jolex shipper. So I can't say that I am devastated that they broke up. I am curious how Jo will deal with this all, but I just hope she doesn't devolve into another major depressive episode. Of course I REALLY hope that the writers don't use this turn as an excuse to pair up Linc and Jo. I really do like Linc and Amelia together, and I really, really hope Owen isn't the father of Amelia's baby. So I will likely scream bloody murder if the show goes down that road.

[ParadoxLost]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

I can understand Alex wanting to move to Kansas to be near his children especially while they are so young. But Izzie having his children and not telling him that she did until he contacted her would be an absolute deal-breaker for me in terms of a relationship if I were Alex.

I think that Izzy was dead until they had to figure out a way to write JC off. That speech about how he pictured her and not calling because he wanted it to stay that way...I always took that as he believed the cancer came back and she died and didn't want confirmation of that.  And if JC's departure had been more normal, this ending wouldn't have happened.  

So I'm giving it a pass that Izzy not telling him isn't causing a problem.  Because the thing is, if it did cause a problem then the show can't make the clean break they want.  If Alex dies, Jo can't end up in some Linc couple or triangle as fast as they want.  Once shows start going this blatant in their agendas, I stop worrying the details of the characterization problems.  At least with some shows.  This happens to be one of those shows for me.  Other shows for me, this would make me enormously frustrated.

Quote

I didn't quite understand this part and how it resonated with Richard. 

I think that Richard is deeply unhappy and has come to see Alex as a symbol of what he dedicated his life to.... teaching Doctors.  Because Alex had a longer way to go, from barely staying in the program, than Cristina or Mer (and most likely Bailey) and needed more mentoring.  So Richard took Karev's success as more of a reflection of his accomplishments.

Then Karev up and decides to make decisions that are basically the opposite of everything Richard chose.  And Richard now has none of the women he loved in his life.  And he didn't know his daughter as a result.  And his career is not going well. And Karev isn't going to stay and carry on his legacy. He's not the one to pass down the motto.  Maybe no one will.  And Alex didn't actually value the relationship to say goodbye in person.  He just sent a letter. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by ParadoxLost

[cycworker]

I have multiple, contradictory thoughts about it all.

I absolutely get that Alex can’t abandon his kids. It’s 100% in keeping with his growth. The problem for me is his supposed love for Izzie. If he was staying despite the fact that he admits to everyone that he does NOT love Izzie, it makes sense to me.

The really bad, unnecessary part is that Alex sought her out, supposedly to help Meredith. There is not a darn thing Izzie, after all this time, could say that would have helped Mer. So really, he just wanted an excuse to look her up… THAT is the part that doesn’t work.

If they had written it that Izzie contacted HIM, because she thought her cancer was back, and she swore him to secrecy, THAT would’ve made sense. If it turned out that Izzie’s cancer was back, and at that point he realized he had to stay with her for the kids, to help her either get through it again, or to die with dignity, that would also make sense. To be noble, he still can send Jo divorce papers, so that Jo is free to be paired with someone else. 

That said – Izzie was always his kryptonite. She acted like she was too good for him. Or at least he thought she was too good for him. So seeing her again, even in my scenario – I could see him deciding to stay even if they realized Izzie wasn’t going to die.

The concept was actually right. The execution was wrong.

I do understand why the didn’t want to kill him off. If they go that route, you’ve got the problem that the Jo/Alex fans don’t want her to date, because she’s mourning. Now she can be angry and it’s ok to move on from him.

Also - I do NOT want Linc & Jo to become a couple. It isn't just because I love him with Amelia (although I do). The thing for me is that now, with Alex gone, we've lost a great male/female friendship. I know we still have Bailey & Richard, but it's different, because they didn't start out as peers. I love the relationship - don't get me wrong. The dynamic just isn't the same, though. 

[Mrs. DuRona]

I kept waiting for the big reveal that he actually committed suicide and this was his way of "softening the blow" by painting a picture of him being happy with twins and Izzy.  When the first letter said "I'm with Izzy", my mind immediately went to: Izzy's cancer came back, she died, and he is dead (with her).  Guess I'm just sick that way, haha.

I only just got into this show a few years ago after binge watching on Netflix, but even I felt seriously let-down by this ending.  I didn't even realize it until my husband came home from work yesterday and I just word vomited how mad I was, lol.  

Justin Chambers' personal life is just that.  If he ever wants to share what's going on, he can.  He does not owe anyone but his boss, agent & manager anything.  

[Chas411]

The massive info dump with the letters reminded me of Arizona info dumping April’s reunion with that paramedic she left at the altar for Jackson.

I hated the ending but I get that the writers hands were tied and there wasn’t a whole lot they could do that wouldn’t have people asking questions etc. I hated that ending for Jolex as they were one of the reasons I started watching again after I stopped in season three. I really wish the show would just end at this point as it’s painfully clear nobody is going to get a satisfying ending outside of The Sun. 

I’m here for Jo and Linc though. 

[sadie]

It would have been a lovely happy ending for Alex except for the whole HE HAS A WIFE! So all these years where we thought Alex was growing as a person we basically got “well oops bad on me, I guess I’m still an evil selfish guy so I’m just gonna cheat on my wife and leave her with only a shitty letter”.  It just makes no sense. I’ve seen 10 other better ideas in this forum on how they could have written him out better so it just pisses me off the way they did this. I guess I’ll just pretend Alex was SINGLE, found Izzy again and then sailed off to the farm. 

[pally]

15 hours ago, statsgirl said:

I will say this about the episode -- it got people talking. Already on page 4 less than a day after airing.

Well Ellen Pompeo really seems to be enjoying this season. I can't say agree though.

Would a city of 87K have need of an oncological surgeon?  Where I live, a city of 400,000 will have a cancer treatment centre but for surgery you'd have to go into the big city.

I guess that's why Izzy has time to run the farm, there's so little surgery for her

I

Baldwin City is less than an hour away from Kansas City.  A far easier drive than commuting from the Seattle suburbs to downtown.

[thewhiteowl]

I'm happy about this. I love that Alex and Izzy ended up together. I liked Alex with Jo but it always felt a bit forced to me. Alex had issues, Jo has major issues and sure they may have loved each other but they didn't really communicate very meaningfully. She communicates so much better with Linc. While I liked Amelia when she was with Linc, she's treated him shitty and doesn't deserve him. Although I hope her baby is not Owen's, he has enough kids now to satisfy his hormones. 

I don't care that Izzy didn't tell Alex about the kids. He gave the embryos up, she used them and thinking he moved on didn't obligate him in any way. So I'm good with that. Izzy probably couldn't have helped Meredith in any way so I can figure that Alex contacted her because he wanted to. He always loved her.

Jo will be fine, Linc gets her in a way Alex never did so if they pair up I'm ok with it.

[Gloriosa]

I guessed Alex was somewhere out there with Izzy.  I'm sorry to lose Justin Chambers from the show, but I think they did as well as they could with the situation.  Poor Jo, though.  But this is fiction and I long ago stopped expecting it to make sense.

[taanja]

16 hours ago, Rose-1 said:

That’s why I said wishy washy explanation - they might have thought that was good enough, and maybe in some places it could be, legally - I can’t comment because I don’t know the law. But ethically ?? Morally ?? 

and I think a lot of people’s issue (definitely mine) is that even if she DID have the right to use them, Given the circumstances and the passage of time, and who alex has grown to be, they expect us to believe that not only has he got zero anger whatsoever about how she went about that - he’s processed all of that, rebuilt an entire relationship with her whilst cheating on his wife and fallen in love with her again in the space of a few..whatever it was on the show. 7 years ago - maybe. But where he was mentally and emotionally in his relationship with Jo, having just married her a second time - After all they’ve been through -  it completely defies Belief. 

 

I have no ethical or moral issues with Izzy using her own embryos -- Alex signed away all rights -- they were hers to use or not. and she did.

Deep down Alex didn't really change.  I contend that none of them have really changed. 

I always felt the show did a good job of showing us that while Alex loved Jo (enough to marry her) and like he said -- at the time he meant it -- that he was never IN LOVE with Jo -- if that makes sense? 

Plus the letter to Mere made it sound like the moment he laid eyes on his children -- he fell deeply madly in love with them -- enough to give up everything for them. Knowing way too many dead-beat dads -- I was OK with this as well.

Sorry that Jo is the one who gets dumped. There was no way to write this without someone getting hurt. I am OK with that character being Jo.

The actor is gone -- that is a fact -- and the writers had to do something to explain the characters departure. Personally, I liked their choice of giving Alex a happily ever after scenario. 

 

 

[Fireball]

On 3/6/2020 at 8:10 AM, AriAu said:

Grey's has always been more than a little soapy, but this was just to too much. First time I heard him say "Izzy" (i.e.. 10 minutes in) I realized I'm out...dun done...and was going to turn off the dvr and erase the episode BUT

As soon as Alex said he was with Izzy I turned off the tv. I came here to see exactly what else happened, and...… What a crappy way to write the character out.  There were so many other ways to go that didn't make Alex look like an asshole. 

I had been watching off and on this season, but I'm done now. I have no interest in watching Jo find love again. I never liked the character and would have preferred her riding off into the sunset with Alex. Or leaving Alex married to Jo, but just offscreen and focusing on Jo career. 

[Veronica]

I stopped watching a long time ago but watched to see what they would do to explain Alex being gone.  I kinda thought it might have something to do with Izzy but I haven’t really kept up with the show to know much about Alex’s character growth. 

If it makes you feel better just go with Alex was actually kidnapped and the letters were his secret code way of letting his friends and family know, but they’re all too stupid to realize. 
 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Veronica

[shantown]

9 hours ago, cycworker said:

I do NOT want Linc & Jo to become a couple. It isn't just because I love him with Amelia (although I do). The thing for me is that now, with Alex gone, we've lost a great male/female friendship.. 

I've always favored the friendships on this show over any of the romantic relationships - MAGIC, Burke/O'Malley, Mer/Christina, etc. It gave a great base for them to do more fun stuff - camping trips or baseball games or dance parties or ANYTHING outside of hospital walls. IMO, now more than ever they need a close friendship at the core that will withstand all the breakups and hookups and romantic drama. I hope Jo and Linc can be that. 

[iMonrey]

One of the reasons this felt so tone deaf was the constant footage of two cute little kids romping around Sunnybrook Farm. I gather we were meant to feel all warm and fuzzy about it. But that doesn't really make up for Alex being so cold as to just ditch his wife and break up with her via post mail. Cute little kids do not trump asshole behavior. The show seemed to bank on ovaries bursting with delight at the sight of the tots. 

[Marley]

Are you fucking kidding me. This show continues to wreck everything. Alex peaces out and writes letters? What? First nobody writes letters. Second what a pussy move. 

Oh a 2 person household is the only thing that matters? Lmao even if the dad is only there for the kids. What a healthy way to grow up.

I hate this show now more than I did when Derek died I wanna scream.

I hate Alex so much now. And I hate this show I can’t say that enough I don’t even know why I’m watching anymore.

This is the type of episode that ruins previous episodes. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Marley

[mishap]

Well I did not care for the perfectness of the life Izzie had set up for her kids and that Alex could just walk in to it that easily.  It was all too corny for my tastes.  And some have said, that maybe there is a darker side, like maybe he was kidnapped or murdered because I also thought, the way it was shot, it seemed too perfect.  

But the flashbacks made me realize how much I have forgotten about this show, so a re-watch is happening.    I know  it's going to take awhile.  I watched all of ER when it was released on Hulu and  loved every minute of it.  But it's so different to binge these shows that are network tv as opposed to an original netflix, or hulu , series , which have only 8 or 10 episodes a season, usually.  But I can do it!    lol  

[proserpina65]

I haven't watched GA in a couple of seasons but had to come back for this episode.  While I definitely didn't like that way they did it, it was an ending which made sense.  There's no way that someone with the kind of childhood Alex had would ever have walked away from his children, even ones he didn't know existed before.  If it had been between Jo and just Izzy, he'd have stayed with Jo, but Jo versus Izzy & their children?  No contest.

So I'm mostly satisfied with Alex's exit, and now never need to watch the show again.

[proserpina65]

On 3/5/2020 at 10:17 PM, funnygirl said:

I care about Alex, not Jo. And old Grey's will always trump new Grey's for me in every single way. The flashbacks in this episode, alone, were the best thing I've seen out of the show in the last two seasons. YMMV

Same with me.  I never really bought their relationship, so him leaving her didn't bother me.  I do think Alex would've told Jo face to face, though.

[MoldySpiceGirl]

On 3/6/2020 at 4:59 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Even for a boyfriend/girlfriend, that's a shitty way to break up with someone. But YOUR SPOUSE deserves better than that. If you are going to end your marriage then the very least you could do is tell them in person.

Warning: Sob Story Forthcoming.

My first husband left me for a girl on the internet, whom, incidentally, I introduced him to.  Moreover, he said nothing.  No letter, no call, no email.  He went to see a sick grandfather, and just never came home. I had to find out he wasn't dead from her blog about their new and perfect relationship.

I know.

Soooo....I'm thinking the letters weren't all that horrible, big-picture.  At least there was some closure this way.  I think it's far-fetched that there was no warning and that he's just going to play Family with Izzy, but it's not really out of the realm of possibility.

Might just be that I'm jaded, though.  😄

[ShawnaLanne]

I've been watching Grey's since the beginning, and have been through some trifling shit with them, ghost sex, multiple airplane crashes, floods, snowstorms, people being run down by buses, a drowning that brought Mer back to life, but this is crap.

I just started not hating Jo, and then they do this to her? For Izzie? At the end of her storyline I wish she'd been killed of in a porta potty accident. This sucks.

[maasa]

I finally watched and hated it. I was someone who liked Izzie and was a major Alex and Izzie fan. Had Alex left a year after Izzie and had a similar send off I probably would have liked it. Now all these years have passed. Alex has grown so much and I believed he found love with Jo. As many other people have already said I definitely think Alex would want a relationship with his children once he found out they existed. I don't buy that he would take off on Jo, lie to her for weeks (months?) by not telling her where he was, ignore her then just ditch her via a letter. He married her twice, the last time just a few months prior. Facetime, Skype, etc. exist. There is no excuse for Jo to get the same goodbye as Webber, Bailey & Meredith. At the bare minimum he could have had a face to face over the internet with his wife. We wouldn't have needed to see him, we could have seen Jo with the phone/tablet in front of her while she and Alex spoke. It would have required no more of Justin, still just voice work.

I'm out. People above have said that only The Sun will get a decent ending & I agree.

Edited March 8, 2020 by maasa

[lorbeer]

9 hours ago, maasa said:

I'm out. People above have said that only The Sun will get a decent ending & I agree.

If Pompeo really believe in what she wrote about this being the best send off for Alex, The Sun's ending might note be that decent. 😉

[Shellie]

11 hours ago, maasa said:

I don't buy that he would take off on Jo, lie to her for weeks (months?) by not telling her where he was, ignore her then just ditch her via a letter. He married her twice, the last time just a few months prior. Facetime, Skype, etc. exist. There is no excuse for Jo to get the same goodbye as Webber, Bailey & Meredith. At the bare minimum he could have had a face to face over the internet with his wife. We wouldn't have needed to see him, we could have seen Jo with the phone/tablet in front of her while she and Alex spoke. It would have required no more of Justin, still just voice work.

I had said earlier that I am pretty much on board with the way Alex's story wrapped up. I can believe he never really stopped loving Izzy and that he decided he wanted a life with her and the kids.  After reading everyone's comments, though, I will say that I totally agree the writers should have had him tell Jo a different way.  Not by letter or email.  He should have told her in person or at the absolute minimum, by phone. 

We would not have needed to see him.  She could have returned from meeting with him and looked devastated, just as she did when reading the letter. 

Would Alex really have been that much of a coward?  Or is it that he would have felt too torn by his two lives if he came back to talk with Jo?  Sending a letter with divorce papers, when just a few months before, everything was happy, that's harsh. 

[moonorchid]

1 minute ago, Shellie said:

I had said earlier that I am pretty much on board with the way Alex's story wrapped up. I can believe he never really stopped loving Izzy and that he decided he wanted a life with her and the kids.  After reading everyone's comments, though, I will say that I totally agree the writers should have had him tell Jo a different way.  Not by letter or email.  He should have told her in person or at the absolute minimum, by phone. 

We would not have needed to see him.  She could have returned from meeting with him and looked devastated, just as she did when reading the letter. 

Would Alex really have been that much of a coward?  Or is it that he would have felt too torn by his two lives if he came back to talk with Jo?  Sending a letter with divorce papers, when just a few months before, everything was happy, that's harsh. 

Also, I can’t get over him telling her: “you made me a better husband for izzie”...

like it kind of sounds nice but honestly it’s horrible. 
 

that’s my biggest gripe. I can accept the izzie ending. I’m not even mad. But he ghosted his wife, cheated on her, then broke up with her and divorced her in a letter right AFTER she just got out of a mental hospital, gave him an “out”, and he remarried her ass. He was too cowardly to face her and didn’t respect her enough to do so.

the nostalgia this episode was cranked up to dull that fact.

[tapplum]

While it was undoubtedly very badly executed (which, no surprise - Grey's hasn't been a well-written show in many years), I'm actually kind of positively surprised by Alex's ending, as I always figured there was too much bad blood with KH for the show to include Izzie this way. Partly I suppose because I've never cared one single bit for Jo or the Jolex relationship. To me, April and Jackson are still the "new" characters that I'm on the fence about accepting - anyone who arrived after them is just scenery to me, and anyway I never for one second got the impression that Jo was anything more to Alex than the person he was with because he couldn't be with Izzie. I see a lot of people talking about how Alex has grown beyond this kind of behavior since Izzie left, and I'm not sure I agree? To quote another medical show, people don't change. In the end, Alex is who Alex is - sure he's been through stuff, sure he's mellowed somewhat, but the core of him is still the same. It rings true for me that Izzie would still be the one, and that he'd burn bridges in a shitty way rather than risking facing everyone if that's what he felt it took to be with her. Would I have preferred that the storyline was handled in a less ridiculous way, with build-up and common sense and some good writing, including Alex saying goodbye to people in person? Yes obviously, but I stopped expecting that kind of writing from Grey's around season 10...

[Veronica]

16 hours ago, MoldySpiceGirl said:

Warning: Sob Story Forthcoming.

My first husband left me for a girl on the internet, whom, incidentally, I introduced him to.  Moreover, he said nothing.  No letter, no call, no email.  He went to see a sick grandfather, and just never came home. I had to find out he wasn't dead from her blog about their new and perfect relationship.

I know.

Soooo....I'm thinking the letters weren't all that horrible, big-picture.  At least there was some closure this way.  I think it's far-fetched that there was no warning and that he's just going to play Family with Izzy, but it's not really out of the realm of possibility.

Might just be that I'm jaded, though.  😄

Damn. Now I want to read her blog so I can comment on it! 

[dvr devotee]

On 3/6/2020 at 7:36 PM, GSManiac said:

For me, the flashbacks only made me realize how much I miss and love the old look/ aesthetic of GSM. It actually felt like a big sprawling hospital rather than just a few  redressed sets like we get now 

This made me think, unless I've missed it, we haven't had any scenes in that huge glass catwalk in awhile. (This photo, from S13E6, shamelessly yoinked from Reddit and u/skeithxyz.)

[Imaswan]

I liked that he ended up with Izzie because I always believed they were meant to be. I never liked Jo or Jolex so I’m fine with Alex’s exit. What I have a problem with is why Jolex got married again this season? Why did the writers have Alex reassure Jo that he would never leave her? They must have had some inclination that Justin might leave this season and I’m sure he mentioned to them he was thinking of leaving, so bother having Jolex get remarried? 

[Jillybean]

I'm pretty sure the Sun would've been fine without a testimonial from someone she hasn't seen or worked with since she was a resident 10 years ago. That alone made the entire premise ludicrous. 

I stopped watching after they killed Derek. Then I kept hearing about how the show had this incredible rebirth and was better than ever,  so I caught up on a couple of seasons of back episodes and resumed watching. I think I'm done again. Not because this episode was upsetting, but because I just don't care about any of the characters except Linc, and they're screwing things up for him. Put the show out of its misery already. It's a shadow of its former self.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Jillybean

[Deanie87]

I am so late to the "party" but honestly the best part of this episode is seeing so many familiar names from TWoP and PTV.  "Hi everybody!!"/Dr. Nick.

I'm sorry that we had to meet again under such bullshit circumstances.  I am so much sadder about the end of an era of my life (seriously, I started watching and commenting with some of you all through marriage, kids, deaths, etc.) than I am about this sad snuffing out of a character that meant a lot to me. This character has been in my life longer than my kid!

What can possibly be said after years of complaining about the treatment of Alex Karev on this show? Honestly 10 years ago, I would have been begging for an Alex/Izzie ending. But this was laughable. I realize that they have apparently been caught off guard but there were so many better ways to do this.  Even if he still left Jo and wound up with Izzie there would have been better ways than Alex doing to Jo what Izzie did to him.  If I had been given a taste of the legendary JC/KH chemistry, I would have been at least a little curious to see if they still had it and they possibly could have sold it to me, but we didn't even get that.

I liked Jolex, but A/I was my first ever real, true all-encompassing OTP.  I lived through the Evil Spawn stage, the Gizzie stage, the Ava stage, the GHOST FUCKING DENNY stage, the '"eh will we put him with April?" stage, the Pixie Haircut girl stage, the "why does he have nothing to do? stage parts 1-3, the godawful "he's no Derek but at least he'll idolize Meredith" Merlex stage, and finally the "Jo is perfect for him/wait why is she so whiny/Jo could do better than Alex/FINALLY he is happy and healthy" stage.  And then...this embarrassment. 

In the end, I am SO grateful for Krista/Shonda/ABC/whoever else, because they have so completely ruined a show that I used to love, not to mention my all time favorite TV character to the point that I haven't watched a second of this season, and  I don't even really care about this, which would have completely SHOCKED me even 2 years ago. They should have ended the show YEARS ago and the longer they go on, the more they tarnish the legacy of the show. May they always be a cautionary tale.

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Deanie87

[Elbow]

On 3/5/2020 at 11:08 PM, Norma Desmond said:

Omfg what did they do. Does Krista hate the show?

 

 

That may be the secret right there: she’s not incompetent; she’s unworking her job out of spite because she loathes this show.

[Dancing Queen]

So, once Owen finally achieved fatherhood, he must have passed the Gotta Have Kids torch to Alex . . . who threw away his current marriage rather than become one of millions of dads who co-parent with the ex-wife . . . and thinks that he and Izzie, who have both abandoned a spouse, can live together forever and provide a stable household for two children?

Um, no.

[readster]

5 minutes ago, Dancing Queen said:

So, once Owen finally achieved fatherhood, he must have passed the Gotta Have Kids torch to Alex . . . who threw away his current marriage rather than become one of millions of dads who co-parent with the ex-wife . . . and thinks that he and Izzie, who have both abandoned a spouse, can live together forever and provide a stable household for two children?

Um, no.

Or even more they CAN'T STOP giving Owen kids. Even if they go: "Well, it really is Linc's baby" with Amelia. They have already put an end to things with Teddy going back towards "I'll fight for her" dumbass. 

[statsgirl]

I can't figure out what the title is supposed to refer to. Leaving a light on implies that someone will be returning. I doubt that Alex will ever come back to SGMH. His exchange with Izzie when she left didn't suggest that he was leaving any light on for her to return, and she didn't contact him to tell him that she was having his children either.

If it's true that they created the whole Pac Med affair so that JC didn't have to work with the GA regulars then it was serendipity because that was the best storyline the show has done in two seasons. It's too bad it's over.

On 3/7/2020 at 12:56 PM, iMonrey said:

One of the reasons this felt so tone deaf was the constant footage of two cute little kids romping around Sunnybrook Farm. I gather we were meant to feel all warm and fuzzy about it. But that doesn't really make up for Alex being so cold as to just ditch his wife and break up with her via post mail. Cute little kids do not trump asshole behavior. The show seemed to bank on ovaries bursting with delight at the sight of the tots. 

This is the best explanation I've read. It still makes no sense that Alex ghosted his wife and then broke up with her by letter instead of asking Jo to come down to Kansas and talk thing over with her. It makes even less sense that a single parent of two pre-schoolers lives on a farm more than an hour's drive from the nearest hospital where she could work, meaning that she would spend 10+ hours a week commuting in addition to her surgeon's work to support her family, while still finding time to take care of the kids, farm, and decorate in cutesy fashion.

But hey, sunshine and horses and Alex in a cowboy hat riding a tractor with kids dancing around.