'Grey's Anatomy' Season 17 Episode 6 Spoilers: Is Jo leaving the show? Here's why it is good for her
Jo Karev (Camilla Luddington) hasn't had it easy on 'Grey's Anatomy' (well then, who has?). Just after she recovered from numerous traumas that had shaped her childhood, her husband Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) upped and left, for his ex-wife Izzy (Katherine Heigl). This came as a shock to all fans because Alex had the most promising character development during the course of 16 years and this was the strangest way to end the character's time on the show. Considering how much Alex loved Jo and had moved on from Izzy, this was a sharp blow.
Nevertheless, Jo has been slowly piecing herself together after his departure, even if that means finding comfort sex in close friend and colleague Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams). While that's rather cringey to say the least, Jo realized her calling in the previous episode and might follow in the footsteps of her ex-husband and go into obstetrics and gynecology. This decision is an emotionally powerful one, as it shows that she might have at last been able to move on from the horrors of her past.
After the previous episode, fans began to worry whether Jo was leaving the show altogether, considering that for a long time many could not see her without Alex and that she had been relegated to the sidelines ever since he left. The only storyline offered to her recently, (apart from her crying over Alex), was a phoney one with Jackson. So, perhaps the oby-gyn profession might take her to new heights and off the show as well. Jo deserves better as she has been through a lot in her life and should not just be shunted around to different men, who all work at Grey-Sloane memorial.
Yet, going by Luddington's interviews, she might be staying on for a while.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Luddington opened up about how Alex's departure made Jo 'more empowered' and that she was rather glad that he left behind her letters, rather than have a 'sit-down conversation'. "I think the reality for a lot of people is that they don’t get that moment when they are speaking to their ex. So I think it’s real to show that sometimes you have to move on without having the sitdown conversation. She talked about being in therapy. I actually like that she’s able to work through it. It doesn’t depend on whether he picks up the phone, call her, and wants to discuss it. It’s a very empowering storyline for her," she said.