After 16 seasons, you would think Grey’s Anatomy would be past jaw-dropping twists. Not so. In Thursday’s episode, “Leave a Light On,” the mysteriously absent Alex Karev (played by original cast member Justin Chambers, who announced his exit from the long-running series this year) revealed where he's been for the past few episodes. In a letter to Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith, Alex explained that he left his wife Jo (Camilla Luddington) to get back together with ex Izzy (Katherine Heigl) and make a family with his five-year-old twins.
Fans were confused and frankly, pretty furious over Grey’s Anatomy’s bait-and-switch. Heigl left the series back in 2010, and the show made viewers root for Jo and Alex. Now, star Pompeo has words for Grey’s fans who are still reeling from the big reveal.
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On Instagram, Pompeo thanked Grey’s “most passionate loyal fans” for watching and reacting to the series, while also praising the writers for giving Alex was she believed to be a fitting ending.
“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,” she wrote, sharing a video of some of Mer and Alex's best moments from the series.
Um, okay. Tell that to Jo, though. And also, all these angry Grey’s fans, who want to remind Pompeo that Alex left Jo in the very same way Izzy left him.
It’s possible that Pompeo, a producer on the series as well as its star, is sending love to the writers to combat the fact that some fans are (pretty aggressively) coming for them on social media due to the controversial twist. Krista Vernoff, the showrunner, has received lots of negativity in the wake of the Alex/Izzy debacle, which is obviously not okay. Let's not blame anyone for Alex's poor life decisions.
To all the people attacking Krista Vernoff on Twitter. Please remember that the characters she writes are fictional. But she is real. She made a writing choice you don't agree with. You are threatening a real person.
— Sarah Watson (@SarahWatson42) March 6, 2020
Hope he's happy on that farm, though.