Grey’s Anatomy did Alex Karev and his fans dirty

Sooner or later, Grey’s Anatomy is going to have to explain what happened to Alex Karev. No matter what they do, fans won’t be happy.

Writing a character out is always tricky. It becomes even more so on a show like Grey’s Anatomy and when it comes to a character like Alex Karev. Alex is, after all, one of the few original characters left, and we’ve been on this journey with him 16 years.

And, of course, in many ways, it’s understandable to see a performer wanting to move on after so long. Justin Chambers has every right to want to pursue something different, like Katherine Heigl, Sandra Oh, Patrick Dempsey and others did before him. The only problem is we’re not even sure it was his decision.

To make matters worse, it doesn’t seem like the show actually knows how they’re going to deal with the mess they just got themselves in.

According to a report from TV Line, Chambers will not get a sendoff episode.

When Deadline broke the news that Chambers would be leaving the show, it was a shock to everyone. And yet, in many ways, it also wasn’t. Like I mentioned before, it has been 16 seasons. So, of course, fans started speculating about the kind of sendoff he would get. The Derek sendoff, at least. Maybe even the Cristina one.

Instead, we got Izzie 2.0, but worse.

Apparently, “Alex is in Iowa” taking care of his mother. We never saw him leave; we didn’t get a goodbye with his friend Meredith, much less his wife. He just went to Iowa, and that’s it. His replacement is already been chemistry-tested with Alex’s wife, and we should just forget about him.

Every once in a while, they might mention him, if we’re lucky.

Grey’s Anatomy has done this before. We were supposed to forget about Burke, and then we were supposed to forget about Izzie, and then though we were not supposed to forget about Cristina or Derek, in some ways, we were.

But Burke and Izzie got their closure, even if it was later. Cristina and Derek were written out the right way. So was George.

This? This isn’t the same. This is taking us on a journey for a decade and a half and then just turning around and saying: you know that person you invested in? He’s gone! But we’ve got a brand-new character for you to love. Keep up!

We don’t want to keep up, though. We don’t want to forget. We, as fans, deserve better. Alex Karev deserves better. And the other characters in this show, the ones whose lives he has touched and been part of for so long, deserve better.

Sometimes things happen behind-the-scenes, yes. But those things shouldn’t affect the viewing experience to this degree. And hey, if they’re bad enough that everyone’s willing to say to hell with coherency and character development, then the least we deserve is to know those reasons.

It has been 16 years, after all. Sixteen years of investment should earn us something, shouldn’t it?