User Reviews

I understand that Justin Chambers departure from the show after 16 seasons was sudden and awkward but I'm still stunned that this was the exit story they chose for Karev. He dumps his mentally fragile wife to go live on a farm in Kansas with his ex-wife who dumped him 10 years ago because he suddenly learns that she gave birth to his kids via frozen embryos without telling him? I get the writers had to scramble to come up with an explanation but this is so lame it's almost an insult to long time fans of the show. Grey's just jumped the shark big time with this nonsense.

I'm very surprised there haven't been more comparisons to the ending of GoT to this episode. It's where part of my heart went as I tried to wrap my brain around what I was seeing.

Alright - here is my 2 cents.

I agree with almost every review on here - the good and bad ones.

Izzie/Alex were one of my favorite couples and I was devastated when Heigl left the show and we didn't really know what happened to her. I can actually BELIEVE Alex going back to Izzie but ONLY with proper plot development - not a slap in the face like this.

It's exactly like the ending of GoT and the character assassination of Dany - after ten years of emotional investment - I will never get over that ending. I actually could believe the GoT ending with Dany going crazy - IF they had given several more seasons to properly explain the character getting to that point - it would've been a really fine ending.

Alex and Izzie getting back together? I would 100% cheer and feel joy and shout from the rooftops - what a beautiful and sweet send off. But NOT like this. This was character assassination of Alex Karev - and it was so damn unnecessary. Like others have mentioned - this could've been done any other way. But if they wanted THIS ending for him - which I actually love and approve of because I adore Izzie and miss her and I'm so thankful her storyline is FINALLY shored up... - they needed to give at least another season of him getting to this point. They needed to make this believable.

Because even though Alex loved Izzie - he was not that same man anymore. He loved Jo and I believed it with every fiber of my being. I loved him and Jo because she TRULY made him a better man - and she actually reminded me a little bit of Izzie (a saner Izzie). So this made no sense. It wasn't done properly.

If I were to give Alex an ending? Of course I would want this... but damn... writers.... you can't do it like This. This was so damn wrong.

I'm trying to be thankful Alex and Izzie got a Happy ending - but ... this wasn't the right way. It just wasn't.

I gave it a 5. The writers did what they could considering Justin Chambers kinda left suddenly. Taking that into consideration, this was a decent send off, more preferable than just killing him off. Yes, the character development was tossed out the window and Jo for sure got the shaft, however I would like to see where they take her character now.

This episode absolutely ruined a character that has had one of the greatest character arcs and growth. The writing was lazy. The majority of season 16 has revolved around having kids and it has been beat to death. The man that Alex has grown into would never leave his wife. He said goodbye to Izzie a long time ago and him all of a sudden being in love with her makes no sense. Alex Karev deserves so much better than this cop out that they gave him. This episode erases everything that he has learned in the last 15 years. It erases everything he's been through and fought through and for. He started out as one of the worst characters and men in general and became one of the best. And it seems that the writers forgot who they made him.

In some stroke of pure idiocy, they have managed to completely undo 16 seasons worth of maturation and growth with one episode. Season 3 Alex would definitely have left everything for Izzie, but this Alex? No way. He married Jo, he had an out when she went to inpatient psychiatric treatment, and he said that he would never leave her.

As shown in the flashback from his and Izzie's wedding, even then, marriage was something Alex took seriously. He said that being married meant that he had someone else to think about when he made decisions, yet what does he say in this episode? That this wasn't about Jo, or Meredith (and that entire clan,) or Bailey, or Webber. No, this was all about himself.

That doesn't line up at all with what we saw. Even in early seasons, he was willing to risk his medical career (albeit, for Izzie) and in this season he tracked down and called lord knows how many people to vouch for Meredith. He had a bullet removed from his side so that Bailey wouldn't have to remember the shooting every day. He didn't have to undergo that surgery, but he did, for her sake. Plus, him not taking the out when Jo said he could leave doesn't just imply that he was in the relationship for the long haul, it shows that he doesn't care that she has some traumatic events in her past, but he's aware of them. When he was offered the chief position at pac north, he brought Webber with him because he valued his experience and trusted him.

None of this makes sense, and it all feels like a massive betrayal to the characters involved and to the fans. If they wanted this episode to be as fan servicey as it seemed like they wanted it to be, they should have just killed him and made it into an O'Malley situation where Jo received such late notice because they couldn't identify him until later. It would have been more impactful to see his relationships with all of the characters, to see how everyone reacted to the news.

In my mind, he died before this episode and this entire thing with him leaving Jo for Izzie never happened.

This feels like the writers just wanted to find an unexpected end to Alex's story and didn't care whether it was believable or not. They chose shock value over years and years of character development. It made no sense for Alex to go back to Izzie like this. He wrote that if it had been between Jo and Izzie, he would have picked Jo, but because of the kids, he picked Izzie - then why didn't he at least ask Jo to move to Kansas with him, so that he could be with her and be close to his kids?! Instead, he just jumped right back into bed with Izzie! Not only was this an insult to Alex and to the viewers who have watched him grow for 16 seasons, but this episode was also incredibly boring. Almost an entire episode of people sitting around, reading letters or talking about said letters, while two little kids run around? The walk down memory lane with the scenes form previous seasons was nice; everything else was... not.

Perhaps the worst episode of the series. Alex Karev, in voice over, telling his wife Jo that a woman he hasn't seen in ten years, and their in vitro kids, are more important than her. This just may be the "jump the shark" episode of this series.

Ok. Let's try and think about how you would write out a character that's been on the show for 16 years and then abruptly decides to leave?? They reached into their vault of 16+ seasons of content that they'd spent years building up and used some of that built in universe to create an ending for him that was not great. Letting him go run off with Izzy absolutely throws years of character development down the drain, especially after Karev literally said he made up a life for her so he could stop wondering about it. They had set it up that he was going to be happy with Jo for the rest of his life, so to just have him leave her after getting her to change her last name from Wilson to Karev is also frustrating. Also, the footage of two kids running around on a farm in Kansas?!?! Not necessary, especially if it didn't contain any footage of Karev and Izzy together. But now, we can stop wondering what happened to him and stop with the dumb texting convos between the characters asking where he is. His reasoning for leaving Jo sort of made sense.... especially if you're going to throw in that he has kids and given Karev's background with his own parents it makes sense he would want to be in their lives. Even if the episode felt not great, that's part of what makes Grey's Anatomy so great. It's been on for so long that it has survived every time we've given them the chance to. We thought it wouldn't be the same without Cristina, Derek, George, Callie, you name it. But it's kept going because that's what this show is really about - making it through life's up and downs and continuing forward. Just because they didn't write out a character well doesn't mean it's time to end the show. No, I don't think the way they wrote out Alex was good. But it provided closure, allows the actress who plays Jo to stay in the show as she has become a central character, and most importantly now we can stop wasting episodes wondering where he is and we can all finally move on to the next outrageous thing we can't believe Greys will throw at us.

Not only was it out of character for Alex, kinda unbelievable, and just plain sloppy, but this ruins the show, past episodes and future episodes. It also ruins Alex as a character, at least for me. It turned him into a coward. And hasn't Jo been through enough? She just got out of really deep depression and this isn't going to help. Alex loved Jo much more than Izzie. Izzie was ok for Alex when he was young and the only reason they really lasted so long in the first place is because Izzie got sick. Jo actually improved Alex as a person. I get wanting to be with his kids, but I don't believe he would leave Jo for Izzie. Because Justin left, they had 2 options; kill Alex or Izzie had his kid(s). I honestly would have preferred that he died. I love Grey's but this was AWFUL.

If you've watched the show from the beginning as I have, you have undoubtedly built up some trust in the writing team. So when a show is aired that is subpar, you should be able to draw from that reservoir of trust and deduce that this is not what the writer would have wanted to air. It seems that many if not most doing the review of this episode have forgotten what brought them to this 16th season. That is sad.

But not as sad as this effort ended up being. I have to say that I just don't get it. Clearly, it was Justin Chambers who did the voice over on the show. And clearly, with that length of voice-over, it took some time to perform. So why not just do the acting instead of just the voice over? One or two things have had to occur; time constraints or money constraints. I am hoping that it was the former and not the latter although I doubt that I can believe that the 2-3 days of voice overs are a lot less than the time it takes to act out scenes. So that leaves money. I do not know enough about the SAG pay scales to say for certain but V/O must pay a lot less than acting on screen. So that would explain the absence of our beloved Dr. Alex Karev from the screen. I do know from various podcasts that the "look back" or "recap" episodes you see from time to time that are laced with previously aired footage are done to give the network a new episode at a minimum of expense. So that fits. We can ask why but we can't know what bad blood there may be between the actor and the show runners. We can ask why not have him on the screen for a proper send off but we can't know what the time or money constraints might have been. The only thing that fits is settling the "what happened to Alex" question in the quickest, most economical way possible. Too bad. The show still has legs and I think if circumstances had been different, they could have put this in the season ender instead of the middle of the Winter. It makes me anticipate warmly what the runners have in store for us going forward this season though. I can't wait!!!

Now, as for the show itself. It failed in my view as well. I would have had Richard's letter first, Chief Bailey's second, Jo's third and Mere's fourth with a slow reveal of details building up to a "wow" moment instead of, literally and sadly, putting out the entire "I'm with Izzy in Kansas" in the first act. Again, I will defer to Ms. Rhimes as the trusted steward of the Grey's Ship and happy sail on her vessel until the end. But that is how I would have done it if I couldn't get Justin Chambers to stand in front of a camera.

On the plus side, the events of the show do open the door for some interesting scenarios. Jo and Link are now a thing. I can see Jo taking over like Dr. Chase did on the show House. Having the shares in her back pocket could facilitate that. Richard's deterioration may be the catalyst for a series finale that features the likes of Robbins, Torres, Stevens, Kempner, Montgomery...It is noteworthy that SR hasn't killed off a doctor in a while...maybe she is anticipating such a reunion and didn't want to kill off Karev. Sadly, we wouldn't be able to have Lexie, Mark, Derek or George at such a reunion. Perhaps I'm just dreaming about such an episode but at least the door is open thanks to what SR did.

I would have done it a bit differently but I'm not as totally appalled by what happened as some seem to be.

I hope that Justin Chambers, the actor who plays Karev, is fine, because this episode is like one which is done usually when an actor dies suddenly and the writers don't know how to explain the character disappearance. I think he has done something to upset Shonda or some other boss, so they kicked him out like this - a lot of flash-backs, and a coward's exit, like a dishonorable discharge in the army. I'm not saying is not realistic for a man to leave his wife, but the Alex we knew was better than that. He would be a man who would come and look his wife in the eyes, to tell her that he's leaving. A coward, he was not....

Trying to justify this with that twist was an insult. Unless you were hoping Justin Chambers decides he wants to come back, you cheapened every development he made. If this is what you feel would satisfy your viewers, maybe it shouldn't have been renewed for multiple seasons. I think it's time to move on.

This was terrible. They did Alex so dirty. 16 years of some of the best character development I've ever seen just completely nullified by a plot that was completely lazy. Not to mention Jo who is probably never going to trust another man. None of this plot made any sense for who Alex Karev has become. Would this plot have worked ten years ago? Probably. But Alex leaving his wife and everything for a character that has barely even been referenced in ten years is stupidity. I was down for there to be 25 seasons of Grey's Anatomy but if you guys are THIS tired, just wrap it up.

I really don't understand all of the hate for this episode. It closes out the 'Alex' arc, frat boy brat, to scrappy young surgeon, hard nosed but caring ped's surgeon, to the chief surgeon. He outgrew the single life, got married to Izzy who promptly walked out on him, After returning to his wild ways for a while, he met and settled down with Jo. The only thing missing in his life and for his whole life, was a loving family. The four letters he wrote explained exactly what each person meant to him and how they helped him grow as a person and a surgeon. There was no malice to Jo, and Alex even mentioned is cowardice in not doing this face to face. But he did give his reasons and left her most everything he had. This had everything to do with the kids and it was not a choice of Izzy or Jo.

I really don't think there was a better way for him to leave except if they had Izzy come back for the shots at the farm. Alex is alive and well. This closed out his story and also Izzy's, just as Yang's leaving brought closure to Burke's story. They didn't have him get hit by a car, which was a terrible way for Derek to go out. Many characters have left the show over the years and this was one of the better exits.

I actually had told my daughter he was going back to Izzy before we saw the episode and it was probably the first time I ever got it right. Plus this leaves the door open for an Alex and Izzy sighting whenever the show is winding down.

First off, this episode hit all the feels. I ugly cried the entire time, except for the first reveal of this new path that Alex took. I am happy that they paid homage to the last remaining original cast members, and I feel they did that as respectfully as they could. Jo's situation was a lot messier. They tried to justify Alex's decision with Richard's experience with Ellis and Adele. Then they refocused on the kids. I am truly unsure how you close that storyline neatly outside of Alex dying. If Chambers did all of that voice over, then don't you think they could have at least done a phone call to Jo to go with the letter? Of all things I never believed that Alex would act with such cowardice based on the life that he survived. It wasn't a terrible episode, but I was a bit disappointed with the lack of dignity given to Jo.

This is utter trash. The writers have no respect for the audience and the characters. Alex leaves his entire life behind to be with Izzie who has his children? This is the dumbest ending of a great character. Alex was in love with Jo and was over Izzie and now he goes back and doesn't say goodbye to anyone? This show has sucked for years and now I'm officially done. Poor Justin Chambers has to endure this asinine script.

I genuinely don't understand the hate. This was a wonderful way to say goodbye to one of our favourite characters!!! It all made sense- Alex never fully recovered from Izzy, has to make contact with Izzy & finds out about the kids etc!! They're together again. And it sets up Jo to eventually also have her happy ending. I cried and laughed all through the episode. Well done to the writers!!

I am no particular Alex Karev fan, but this character deserves a much better ending. It seemed as if there was some trouble between Justin Chambers and some other people, I can see no other explanation for this abrupt, weird and illogic ending. It was the most boring episode in 16 years! The episode seemed as if the writers had to find any quick explanation for a sudden disappearance of the actor. Reminds me of Bobby Ewing dying and then returning by dreaming his death - the writers did an absolutely AWFUL job - not only by the way they removed the character, but even more by removing him in such an illogic way, explaining far-fetched plot twists in a boring, absurd and completely implausible waste of time. Hated this episode, not because Alex Karen was removed, but HOW he was removed. Shame, shame, shame.