Grey's Anatomy: Leave A Light On (16x16)

Okay so what the hell went down between Justin Chambers and the show-runners, that this had to go down this way? Wow.

Cons:

So yeah, I'm not happy about this. Izzie? Seriously? Listen, I can appreciate that they were backed into a corner because Chambers left so abruptly. Was that even his voice in the voice-over, or just a sound-alike? I'm not entirely sure. But come on. If you'll indulge me for a moment, here's how I would have re-worked this:

After being thoroughly ghosted, Jo receives a letter or voicemail from Alex explaining that he talked to Izzie, found out he has two five-year-old kids, and flew to Kansas to meet them. He intended to come back and talk to her about it, but he got swept up. He wants her to come to Kansas, to move there so they can be closer to Alex's kids. Jo is understandably furious that Alex just up and left without talking to her, and demands to know why Izzie and the kids can't move to Seattle, then? Why should they have to disrupt their lives/careers? But Alex is insistent. Izzie and the kids have a good set-up, he doesn't want to ask them to move. Jo, hurt and confused, decides that for the sake of her marriage, she at least has to go over there to talk to Alex in person. So Jo leaves, and for the next two or three episodes, she's gone while we follow other characters' stories. Then, abruptly, Jo comes back. She shows up on Meredith's doorstep and hands her a letter. Turns out, Alex isn't coming back.

We find out, partially through Alex's letters to Meredith, Bailey, and Richard, and partially through Jo explaining things to Link over drinks, what happened. Jo went there, and saw how happy Alex was with the kids. She wanted to imagine her life there with him, but she couldn't. She kept trying to talk to him about making a joint decision for their future, but it occurred to her pretty early on that Alex wasn't willing to compromise. He had already made his choice. He chose his kids. Jo realizes something else, too. Even if they can't see it, Alex and Izzie are already acting like a couple - seamlessly co-parenting and making compromises and accommodations for each other. Heartbroken, Jo realizes that it's not just the kids that Alex has fallen in love with. She decides to go back to Seattle. She hopes Alex will come back for her, will figure out a solution, but she knows in her heart of hearts that it's over.

Life moves on, and eventually we learn from Jo that she and Alex have been talking on the phone, and that Alex is sending over divorce papers. The future of Alex and Izzie's relationship is left uncertain - we know that Jo thought there was something between them, but maybe they just stay friends and parent their kids together without getting back together. Who knows.

And... curtain call. Justin Chambers can come back to play Alex in cameo roles in future, and while Jo and Meredith et. al have every right to be furious with him for taking off and lying to his wife about where he was, we no longer have this bullshit scenario where Alex cheated on his wife and instantly fell back into something with Izzie without even trying to make his relationship with Jo work while still having a relationship with his kids.

It wouldn't be the perfect solution, but by god would it be better than what we were given here.

If I can just break down a couple of the ways Alex's character has been assassinated by this decision? We already had Alex deal with the Izzie drama. There wasn't any unresolved tension there. He got his closure. He loved Jo. For the show to manufacture this idea that all along, Alex was looking for an excuse to get in touch with her, is such obvious bullshit. He straight-up told Jo he didn't need to call Izzie, didn't want to. We saw that in a flashback during this episode. And yet we're supposed to believe that's all bullshit? Come on.

Also, there's that heartbreaking scene at the end where Zola wants to show Uncle Alex her science project, and Meredith has to explain that basically the only remaining male authority figure in Zola's life, the man who wanted to have family breakfasts with Meredith and her kids every week, has up and left without saying goodbye, and with no intent to ever come back and visit. Alex's letter talks about how he has kids, and how he loves them so much, and how he hopes someday Meredith will come to meet them and they will call her Aunt Meredith. With absolutely no irony. Alex, you have Zola and Bailey and Ellis. And I know this show tends to forget about the kids a lot of the time, but still. Alex's whole thing is how he's this screw-up with a heart of gold, and one of the main ways of illustrating that is through showing his behavior around children. He abandoned Meredith's kids. He straight up abandoned them, and it sucks.

I liked a lot of the bits and pieces from some of the letters, to be honest, but Alex's letter to Jo was mostly just a slap in the face. He loves her, and tells her straight-up that if it was a matter of Jo vs. Izzie, he'd pick Jo. But because of the kids, he wants to stick with Izzie. And his rationale here is that he and Jo both know what it's like to grow up in these broken homes without stable parents. Bull. Shit. If they had gone with my scenario above, I could forgive this. Of course Alex wants to be around his kids that he just found out about. And I could even understand not wanting to move them to Seattle. But to just decide, right off the bat, that he has to abandon his marriage in order to make that work? That is not the Alex Karev I have watched grow and develop over sixteen seasons. All of his language, about how Jo is so great, how she deserves better, how Alex loves her... gross. And he has the audacity to thank her for "fixing" him and helping to make him a better person. Gross gross gross. This should have been different. This should have been this messy thing, where Jo and Alex try to make it work, but it falls apart gradually over time. They could have given us that, and not turned Alex into an utter dickhead.

And then there's the Izzie of it all. Say what you will about her character, about the way she left Alex... she's still supposed to be a human being. She was still a character that we followed for many years, that we saw through heartbreak and triumph. And her voice here is completely erased. She didn't contact Alex when she used frozen embryos to create his children. That's a little bit unforgivable all on its own. But she had her reasons, and then one day Alex calls her out of the blue, and suddenly she's like - yes, come move here and live with me and leave your wife and be a father? What does she think about all this? Does her opinion here hold no weight? This sucks and I hate it!

I feel like I could go on and on. But I do want to include a "pros" section here, and talk about some aspects of this that I didn't downright despise.

Pros:

I don't mind that they did the flash-back clip show thing. If Justin Chambers couldn't be here, it was the best they could do. And it was fun/infuriating to see Alex's character over the years, to see his romances with Izzie and Jo, to see his friendship with Mer, the mentorship and trust that grew up between him and Bailey, and him and Richard. It was a smart move to narrow the focus on just the characters that matter in the long-run to him. The episode wasn't cluttered with Maggie, Amelia, Owen, Teddy, etc. and their nonsense, or any of the other secondary characters. Their stories will have room elsewhere. This was for Alex, and I did appreciate that.

Here's something I will say: I don't hate the outcome of this ending for Alex. The thought of him being there for his kids is absolutely beautiful. I actually started crying a few times during the letters, especially the one to Meredith. He's describing how when he first met his kids, they pulled him immediately into their room and wanted to show them all their toys. And he's so awed and honored that he gets to provide stability and comfort to these two people, when he himself grew up without that. So did Izzie. So did Jo. The episode did a good job of acknowledging that, and of setting up why the idea of Alex having a stable life with a good career and kids to dote on, is the proper ending for his character. The endgame is on point. The path to get there is where I have serious, serious issues (see above).

I also liked how they managed to tie Alex's ending in to the existing story-lines with both Richard and Miranda. We'll doubtless see Jo (and possibly Meredith) dealing with this in a more direct way as the weeks go by. But for the two people who mentored Alex, who raised him, we see how much he affected them, and how much they truly cared for him. For Richard, there's a sense of betrayal. At a meeting, he talks about how much being a surgeon and being a teacher has meant to him. And he can't understand Alex giving up everything he's worked for, all for the sake of a woman and his kids. But on the flip side? He didn't get to know Maggie growing up, and he can't honestly begrudge him his decision. I liked the complexity of his reaction here, how he can understand, and still be angry.

Bailey, meanwhile, thinks about all of the struggles Alex went through, and how much dumb luck was involved in him turning in to the person he is today. He was a smart, capable young man who could easily have been lost to the world, wandering and aimless. Even though he ended up happy and successful, it isn't right that he had to work so hard to achieve that, without support. She wants to offer stability to Joey. Ben is in agreement - I like that Bailey's decision to take Joey in didn't start a whole avalanche of drama between the two of them. They've been through enough. I also really appreciated them talking about their communication issues. Both of them have the problem of hiding big, important things from one another. Bailey's heart-attack, Ben's career change, and now Bailey's decision to adopt Joey. But they are both all in, ready for whatever craziness comes their way. And now Joey is a part of their family, which I quite enjoy!

So that's... that. Jo deserves so much better. And Alex deserves so much better. Hell, Izzie deserves better. Without Justin Chambers, there was no satisfying way to end this character's run on the show. Even with him, it would have been difficult to pull this off. But this final result? Ugh. It does such a disservice to one of the most brilliantly developed characters on this show's entire long run. I'm pretty sad about it, to be honest.

4/10