falling slowly

It's always bothered me how mean he was to George. other then this the character is awesome

jokarev

Already posted this in the Jolex thread but I thought we should also have the list here. Here are the most important things Justin really wanted to see for Alex in s11 (he said these things in several interviews in the summer):

1. For the writers to show more of Alex and Jo's relationship and a more domesticated Alex
2. For Jo and Alex to settle down and have a family
3. For Alex to have a success in his career for once. I think he meant it in Private Practice but also with the board thing.

Great how many of these things really happened, huh? I bet he is really happy with the material he's been getting this season. *sarcasm*

begonia

It really saddens me to see that Alex is this season only Mer's person. I love he is Mer's person, but he should be so much more than that. I was so hopeful at the beginning of this season that as Mer's person, Alex would finally get more focus in the show, like Cristina had. While it is true that maybe Alex doesn't have the surgical greatness Cristina has, he is a great surgeon and it saddens me that they didn't explore that. I need kick-ass surgeon Alex as air (fictional air, that's is).

Even the board seat SL that they started showed up as extremely weird to me: Alex owns the exact same amount of shares like the other members of the board, but he is not a board member because of the Harper Avery foundation rule. Ok. Let's go with that. In this case the board members should to somehow inform/discuss/be approved/etc... by the owners - the dynamic between board members and owners is so much more complex, why did they even got into that SL if they didn't want to address all the complexities? They kind of showed that getting the board seat is the most important thing, and being a co-owner means nothing.
At least we can live with the hope that this whole board seat SL could be readdressed anytime, even off-screen, even after the show ends.

I really wish I'd know what the writer's problem is with Alex's character, because he is a great character, he seems to have a lot of fans, Justin's acting is amazing, and now in season 11 they had the support to focus more on him. One reason could be that Alex is a male character in a feminist show and Shonda loves and is interested to develop female characters(not all the female characters, but when she does is female characters). I like Grey's is a feminist show, but making the male characters just support system of the female characters doesn't seem right to me. Not sure what other reasons could be.

yarens

What makes me personally more sad is that Alex's character changed all of a sudden. I watch his scenes and except of the fact that Justin plays this character there is like one million things completely different from the Alex last year. This is really my biggest issue. And other Alex fans I've been seeing feel absolutely the same way. Now I would understand this if something tragic had happened to him or if between season 10 and season 11 several months had passed. But it didn't. The tragic thing that happened to him was him losing the board seat but even though Mer, Callie and Arizona didn't vote for him he only grew closer with them. So really, that wasn't a factor at all.

And I could write a long list of things that bug me about the writing for him but one of his biggest fans did that on tumblr already and I think this sums up pretty much all the things I hate about this season.

close enough to start a war

I urge everyone who thinks that he isn't ooc this season to read it. It's quite long because she wrote something about almost every episode but there were things almost every episode that were horrible. I don't know what suddenly happened with the writers but I don't like their writing for Alex at all anymore. He solely exists on the show to make other females feel good about themselves. And while he used to do that stuff in the earlier seasons too it happened once in a while and wasn't his main job, so it was charming. Now it's annoying as hell because he doesn't get to do anything else anymore. And well, I wish he'd also put more effort into making his girlfriend feel better sometimes. Sometimes Jo needs that too but it seems that she only comes second to him these days.

By the way, fun fact, I think about 10 diehard Alex fans have said that they're done with the show after having to watch his ooc behaviour in the last episode. I think the number speaks for itself considering that we don't have too many diehard Alex fans (he has become quite popular but there aren't still too many people who call him their favorite). And I'm close to not being able to watch it anymore either because I cringe at half of his scenes...

xsweetgirlx91

Ditto. In addition to the fact that Alex gets absolutely no focus as a surgeon or on his relationship he is so ooc I want to cry. Especially in the last episode. I can't blame the other Alex fans for not wanting to go through this torture anymore. I wish I could stop watching too. I always said I'd keep watching as long as he's on the show but I can barely recognize my favorite character anymore. And I agree with most parts about that post even though some things that were pointed out didn't bother me that much.

Maité

I don't think he's been OOC. He's been "betrayed" like that (like for the board seat) a lot of times and he has never not let it go. I think it's mostly because the writers don't want to deal with it, but it has happened before. At least he's the head of Peds now (I think so so that has never been specified) so he has that.

What bothers me the most is that he has has NO storyline whatsoever this season and we're nearing the end of the season. I used to think we just had to wait since there are so many characters so I really hope he gets something in the last couple of episodes otherwise this season was totally pointless for his character. I hope at least Justin enjoyed having less hours to work.

xsweetgirlx91

I find him incredibly ooc. As a Jolex fan of course mostly I'm annoyed with the way he's to Jo all of a sudden. His friends ignore her or Mer calls her a hoodlum or is cold to her (can someone please just explain to me why? I just want to know. Because to me it's happened out of nowhere and I can't find a reason as to why Mer would have such a big problem with Jo all of a sudden) and no reaction. Last season Alex wouldn't have just let that go and would've been the more protective kind of boyfriend. He would have never not checked up on Jo during her solo surgery or at least afterwards. Didn't he just care or didn't they want to show us anything about him acknowledging something so important for her career when he's been her biggest supporter? Last season he was also not afraid to call the board out on the hypocracy and everyone in the fandom praised him for it. He would also be there for Mer, no question, but he wouldn't let her treat him the way she's been treating him more often than not this season. I feel like he thinks that being her person means he has to just be there for her unconditionally, even when she compares him to Cristina and tells him that he sucks at his new job as her new person. And the way he talked to Maggie in the last episode... Oh my. Alex Karev doesn't just randomly tell women he's not even that close with that their lisp is sexy. Especially not women like Maggie who are the type of women that annoy him usually. That was just too much. The way he spoke to her was too much and just so unlike him. I didn't even think that anything romantic could be interpreted between them in that scene (unlike others apparently) and I still cringed so hard. So me cringing wasn't because I ship Alex with Jo but because he sounded so not like Alex in that scene. And I'm really not the only one, I've seen so many people say the same. If he had said that to Mer who he's been friends with for years, no problem. If he had said something like that to Jo who is his girlfriend, no problem either. Hell idk even Callie. But he still barely knows Maggie and he wouldn't try so hard to make her feel better, really not. He also wouldn't immediately have said that he likes Maggie back in one of the lunch scenes. I've never seen him say that about anyone before. These are probably tiny things for people who don't pay that much attention to him but since I'm someone who pays attention to him more than to any other character I just realize these things and I just can't wrap my head around it. And these are also things that bother me immensely because it feels like he's losing all edge to his character. And the fact that he does almost nothing else except listen to every women's problems on the show makes it worse. It's driving me crazy. I want others to be there for him too and the fact that last season nobody was there for him and this season after the board decision nobody was there for him either but he's being there for everyone annoys me. I miss his grumpy Evil Spawn side, his snarky and sarcastic comments (there are some every now and then but I think they are rare). And God I think I mostly miss emotional moments for him where he just has an outburst. That part isn't included in my ooc list but it's just something I miss so much. He's been portrayed as nothing but the good friend this season and that shouldn't be his only material because to me at least that got a bit boring over the years. Or rather, over the years he was a good friend and we just saw it every once in a while which was a good dosis. Now having to watch it every single episode and nothing else is too much for me. I want other other things for him too. I want to see more of his relationship because I want to see him settle down and I also want to see more of him as a kickass surgeon. Whenever he operates someone else is the lead surgeon and he's just assisting. He's done nothing special ever since he's become an attending and I hate it. He's kinda used as a prop this season, making others feel good about themselves while he himself has nothing going on.

Sorry for the long rant, of course people can disagree but these things are driving me nuts this season.

posterity

You should actually create spaced paragraphs. It makes it easier to read than a single block.

I agree that he is not OOC. Alex is always someone who in the end will begrudingly help someone out when they need it, even if he protests in the beginning. I think people found it OOC because it was Maggie and she is a new character so we don't quite understand the motivation behind their friendship.

I also think the reason why his friendship with the girls looks out of place is because he has no storyline of his own. His airtime is solely as their support system so it looks strange. I don't know if the reason why he has no storyline is because they figured he got his happy ending. I have no clue.

WalaBridget

Well the drama can always out of his relationship that is the issue.

maryy89

I agree with xsweetgirlx91. Especially on the not being the best boyfriend part. It feels so weird. Someone like him who admires Jo so much for having come so far should at least be shown wishing her luck or speaking to her after her solo surgery. The only thing he did in that episode was help Arizona out and drink beer with his new squad. And he should have at least once asked Mer if she has a problem with Jo since her behaviour towards her changed all of a sudden and I mean, as a boyfriend, doesn't he care at all that his person all of a sudden seems to have a problem with the girl he wants to marry? He can act all he wants like that won't be an issue, at some point it will. And I'm like 110% sure the old Alex would have at least asked Mer what her deal is.

It's true, we don't know all too much about his "friendship" with Maggie but Maggie said it herself that she doesn't know him all that well compared to the others. I don't see them being so close yet that he should/would tell her these things, and to me it strikes also as a bit inappropriate because he has a girlfriend after all. It's not his business to tell Maggie that she's sexy. I found that really cringe-worthy myself.

And I think we notice these things so much because like you all said, he doesn't have anything else to do. All we can talk about are his friendship scenes and most of the time I don't find him to be very Alex in those scenes. I'm not saying he's ooc all the time but quite often he is. Maybe it's also because now he's being shown hanging out with people he never used to hang out with. Maybe he's a different Alex among those people but I also definitely think he's different to Meredith now. This being her person thing changed his personality way too much in my opinion. I never thought it would affect him as much as it does now.

Oh I agree on the helping others out in the end begrudgingly part. He always does that. Just the matter in which he did it was a bit over the top this time.

Almost every Alex fan I know finds him ooc this season, even people who don't see him as their favorite character but really like him. So xsweetgirlx91, yarens and I are definitely not the only ones.

xsweetgirlx91

Sorry, I'm on my phone and I just typed and typed and didn't realize that it was all one long block. I'll put spaces in the paragraphs the next time.

I agree on the begrudingly helping others out in the end part too and it was not what I criticized. I more meant the way he chose to boost her confidence, his choice of words. I've talked about this to people who aren't huge Alex fans and almost everyone found that speech too much. Especially since it was for someone he doesn't know very well yet. And yeah, I really don't think someone who's in a serious relationship should say that kind of stuff. Imagine Jackson or Owen or Derek doing that. That's what I liked when Cristina showed him the picture of a woman she found on the internet for Owen last season. He didn't even comment on it saying "yeah she's hot" or something like that, single Alex would've.

But like I said, I understand if people disagree. Maybe others don't realize things I realize or don't find things ooc I find ooc. I mean Cristina was one of my favorite characters but sometimes I didn't notice everything people found ooc about her because I focus on Alex more.

posterity

Oh no worries then. I didn't realize you were on your phone.

Yeah I do think it was off that he said Maggie's lisp was sexy. While not a Jolex fan I did realize that was not going to go well for their shippers and I found it unfair. I think it was careless on the writer's part but if Jackson had said that to Maggie, I'd have been pissed.

I do think it was trivial and it was him being a friend but given that he has not been spending time with Jo, I realized it would come off poorly. Like that would be something he could say to Jo if she had a bad day or if she was feeling down about herself.

darkxtwisty

Yeah, if Derek had told April she was sexy back in season 6, I can imagine the uproar that would have come from the MerDer fandom. You don't see Alex telling Meredith she's sexy, I mean.

So many of the characters felt ooc in 11x19 imo, looking back. Callie gave up without a fight against Owen/Amelia. When does Callie ever give up without a fight? Meredith was reallllly clingy with Derek, clingier than we've ever seen her. And Alex calling Maggie sexy was just weird.

This is the same writer who wrote Man on the Moon, which received pretty bad reception from the general audience. They also wrote 11x11, the episode Japril's baby died and I felt Meredith was terribly ooc throughout the episode. According to IMDb the only other episode they wrote was way back in season 2. Elizabeth Klaviter - IMDb

Seems like she's been involved on and off with the series, so maybe she just doesn't understand the characters very well?

xsweetgirlx91

Yeah I mean since we can be sure that Alex doesn't have feelings for Maggie (honestly I feel like if they ever went there with them it would have to come from her since he's in a happy relationship and so far I haven't seen any signs that would tell me that Maggie is his magical soulmate and that they have an insane connection or something like that) and they just used him to give her a confidence boost his comments went just too far. I've seen quite a few people who are very angry with him for saying something like that to someone who is not his longterm girlfriend. And I found it extremely disturbing too because I absolutely can't see a committed Alex say these things either. Maybe if he was in a relationship he didn't care much about like with Lexie in s4/6 but not Jo.

I've seen a few episodes with writers where I hope that they will never write an episode again. I also kinda wish they would make one writer write the Jolex scenes only, another one MerDer, another one Japril etct. Maybe we'd have more consistency then. But I guess that system wouldn't work. I guess it must be hard for them, especially new writers, to have all characters perfectly in character but they need to try harder because the quality of the show is suffering this way and the fans are upset.

jokarev

Agreed. And here is an ask that describes again why the Alex in the last episode was out of character as hell. He's been acting ooc for this entire season if you ask me.

circa regna tonat