ABC Studio's hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy has been around for the longest time, having completed its 16th season this year. Over the years, most of the original cast have left the show, their characters having either moved away or died.
Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) was one of the few from the original cast to have been around until his rather abrupt exit during the latest season. Karev's character had evolved tremendously, having matured from the callous, self-centered 'evilspawn' of the earlier seasons into a reliable, brilliant surgeon who eventually became Meredith's 'person' following the departure of Cristina Yang. Let's find out some details about Karev that could easily have escaped notice.
Alex Was Added Digitally Into The Pilot
Not many people know this but Alex Karev was not even written into the script originally. His character was an afterthought, something of a toxic male in comparison to the softer, more empathetic approach of the only other male intern, George O'Malley.
The digitally incorporated Alex in the pilot episode is perfect though, blending in almost seamlessly and one wouldn't know that he wasn't part of the episode originally if they weren't told.
Alex Used To Be A Wrestler
There are always those little details that build a background from which every character's present context is derived. As for Alex, he was a wrestler before he became a doctor.
He had started wrestling while in high school, probably to be able to stand up against his father who was a drug addict and got through university on a wrestling scholarship. This little fact about Alex was revealed when a victim of a gunshot wound, who was himself a fan of wrestling. arrived at Seattle Grace Hospital from Alex's home state, Iowa.
Alex Had Done Time In Juvie
One of the primary background storylines for Alex was that his mom was schizophrenic and his father used to abuse drugs and alcohol. His was a dysfunctional family if ever there was one.
Young Alex had to look after his mother as well as his little brother and sister. At this time he stole food for his family and ended up being caught. He had to spend time in juvie for his transgression.
Alex Failed One Of His Licensing Exams
The surgical interns and residents at Seattle Grace are shown taking exams to get through their training years. One of the most memorable episodes in the entire series was the one where all the residents had to travel to San Francisco to take their board exams that would finally make them surgical attendings.
However, in the initial years, when Meredith Grey and her friends were still interns, Alex failed one of the exams that would have brought him a step closer to his medical license. Lexie Grey was a junior intern at the time, crushing on Alex, and kept his failure a secret from the others to keep him from being publicly humiliated.
Alex Wanted To Be In Plastics
When Alex first ed Seattle Grace as an intern, he had quite different plans regarding his choice of specialty than what he finally ended up doing.
When Alex was working under Addison Montgomery Shepherd, a world-class obstetrician and neo-natal surgeon, he was skeptical of her field of expertise at first, having been influenced by the general perception that pediatrics was not quite at par with certain other fields of surgery. But, destiny clearly had other plans for him.
Alex Loved Marshmallows In His Cereal
Once again, this is something that can easily escape notice but details such as these are what make an on-screen persona flesh and blood. Alex loved those little marshmallows that come mixed with cereals.
In season 5, when Derek was shown on the verge of depression after losing a patient and was hanging out day in and day out on Meredith's couch, he ate most of the cereal in the house, throwing away most of the marshmallows, something which irritated Alex no end.
Alex's Dad Had A Whole New Family
Alex's good-for-nothing dad was a drug addict and alcoholic and had mistreated Alex's schizophrenic mom, leading to young Alex having to look after his mother and siblings. To add insult to injury, he had also abandoned his family.
Years later, while Alex was a peds surgeon in Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, he happened to come across his father who was itted as a patient as a result of his drug abuse. After he was released, Alex traced him to the place where he had a gig as a guitarist and the two hit it off until it was revealed that his dad had gone and married a second time and had a new family, with a young son, whom he appeared to love very much.
Alex Had Many Relationships
One of the defining characteristics of Alex Karev for many years was that he was quite the womanizer, apart from being street-smart and insolent.
In fact, although Mark Sloan had the dazzling distinction of having hooked up with almost every woman who was ready to sleep with him, Alex wasn't too far behind. He had worked his way through nearly everyone, except Meredith and Cristina, from the nurses, his seniors, viz. Addison and Callie, to almost every female junior intern in the hospital starting with Lexie and of course, those in his own batch, like Izzie Stevens, and even patients.
Alex Was Meredith's Fiancé In An Alternate Universe
The season 8 episode, 'If/Then', takes the audience into an alternate reality, away from the complicated lives of the surgical interns, residents and attendings at Seattle Grace Hospital and into a happier world with slightly less confusion, until of course reality merges with imagination and things end up practically being the same as it always was.
In this alternate universe, Alex is actually Meredith's fiancé. The two are engaged, although Ellis Grey, who is alive and running the hospital, clearly disapproves of their relationship. However, Alex, in his inimitable manner, manages to mess things up by cheating on Meredith, thus connecting his alt uni character with his own confused reality.
Alex Was Saved Quite By Chance
The heartwrenching finale, 'Flight', of season 8 showed a bunch of doctors from Seattle Grace in a terrible plane crash that led to horrifying consequences as two of the engers, viz. Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan ended up losing their lives while the pilot lost the use of his legs and Arizona lost her leg.
The interesting thing was that Arizona was never meant to be on that flight in the first place. It was Alex who was meant to have traveled with the others to Boise to perform a surgery. But Arizona was enraged that he was planning to leave for the John Hopkins peds surgery fellowship, and took his place in the flight, which eventually led to her leg being amputated. So, really, Alex lucked out, since no one knows how he would have been affected in the crash, had he boarded the flight at all.
