Justin Chambers’ exit from Grey’s Anatomy united most fans in the opinion it was a terrible way of ending a character arc that lasted 16 seasons, to the extent that some fans even suggested it was better if Alex Karev were killed off. Chambers’ Karev was one of the few characters who were there since Grey’s Anatomy pilot episode, along with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), and Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.). Karev was the only one apart from Meredith that stayed in Seattle from the original group of residents affectionately referred to by fans as MAGIC, each letter standing for the character’s name’s first letter. Although Cristina (Sandra Oh) had been Meredith’s “person” throughout the series, as Alex and Meredith were the last two still at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, they became each other’s “person,” getting closer and closer through the years.
Alex Karev had been a controversial character at the start of Grey’s Anatomy, sometimes outright hated by colleagues for his arrogance and his tendency to take the credit for other residents’ surgeries or medical successes. As the seasons went by, though, he matured a lot, even becoming Interim Chief of Surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. His personal life was smooth sailing as well, after a couple of rough patches when his wife Jo (Camilla Luddington) developed depression. Considering that his character development was radical and steady for 16 seasons, fans were understandably angry when Chambers’ exit from the show happened that abruptly, especially as, despite leaving Alex Karev alive, it also destroyed any possible improvement gained through the years.
In its now 18-year run, Grey’s Anatomy became famous for not shying away from letting characters go in the most excruciating ways. Meredith herself lost both her sister Lexie (Chyler Leigh) and husband Derek (Patrick Dempsey) in accidents that caused their deaths to let the actors leave the show. That was one of the reasons why some fans were afraid Alex would have died, but when his final episode in the show finally came, they were even more disappointed, leading to some fans even wanting Alex to be killed off rather than leaving in that way.
Karev’s relocation to Kansas to be with Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and their children shocked fans, as it was unexpected and particularly cruel for some characters. Indeed, actors’ exits had often shocked viewers, but more often than not for how saddening they were, not because they didn’t make sense. Alex was in a happy marriage with Jo, even happier after she started taking care of her mental health. Alex’s friendship with Meredith was also in a good place, especially after he had helped her keep her medical license during her medical commission hearing. It wouldn’t have made sense for him to abruptly leave to care for his mother and stop talking to anyone from Seattle.
Alex moving to Kansas unannounced not only didn’t make sense story-wise, but it was also extremely insensitive to Jo. In his letter to her and Meredith, he stated he loved both Jo and Izzie, but fans have commented how if that were really true, he’d never done what he did to someone who went through so much as Jo did. His sudden departure left her so distraught that even in Grey’s Anatomy season 18, Jo still did not fully recover from him abandoning her without notice.
Karev’s move to Kansas and Chambers’ goodbye to the show in season 16, episode 16, also felt incredibly distant, as viewers couldn’t see the current Alex in an actual scene in Grey’s Anatomy but only hear his words through the letters he left to those dear to him. His ending was simultaneously disrespectful to the character he became and profoundly disrupting to those he loved. No wonder fans would have preferred Alex killed off – they wanted him alive, but even death would have been more honorable than what the writers devised and put in motion in Grey’s Anatomy season 16.
