Grey’s Anatomy is renowned for not giving its characters romantic happily-ever-afters, especially when actors leaving the show are involved, but in the case of Jesse Williams’ exit, his character Jackson Avery might have had one of the least traumatic exits ever, one that avoided some of the show’s most common romance mistakes. Even though the ABC show focused a lot on its doctors’ romantic lives, more often than not, their relationships would end catastrophically, especially when that coincided with an actor leaving the show. That could be seen with almost any actor’s exit from the show, but more recently, in season 16. Chambers leaving Grey’s Anatomy resulted in Alex Karev unexpectedly moving to Kansas to live with Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and their kids, finding love but also incommensurately hurting Jo (Camilla Luddington) in the meantime.
Grey’s Anatomy‘s dislike of romantic happily-ever-afters could also be seen in Sarah Drew’s exit from the show in season 14, episode 24. Fans contested it for how fast April’s wedding with Matthew (Justin Bruening) happened and how her reconnection with him, whom she left at the altar for Jackson back in Grey’s Anatomy season 10, episode 12, happened off-screen. Viewers believed that, by making that April’s final storyline, it would have been unnecessarily cruel to those who still hoped for April and Jackson to get back together, as it would set the definitive end to any potential Japril reconciliation. Grey’s Anatomy fixed that with Williams’ departure from the show, which also offered Drew’s April a redo, giving her the chance to leave Seattle and the show in a coherent way.
After April and Jackson divorced in Grey’s Anatomy season 12, episode 11, advertised as “The Japril Movie,” they both strived to keep the relationship and co-parenting amicable. Although the divorce put an end to a romantic relationship among the most loved in Grey’s Anatomy, and despite Drew’s exit from the show meant April married Matthew, Japril fans kept believing not all hope was lost. The writers of Grey’s Anatomy season 17, episode 14, clearly tapped into that hope, as, although nothing romantic happened in it between April and Jackson, the episode’s whole atmosphere had been full of profound feelings and ultimately hopeful for what their future in Boston would bring – a far cry from the often traumatic aftermath of the end of a relationship within the show.
By retracing many crucial moments of the Japril relationship, Williams’ exit episode gave viewers the chance to acknowledge Jackson’s important steps that made him the character he was. Despite being standard practice for goodbye episodes, as it could be seen in Chambers’ Karev’s exit episode in relation to Meredith and everything they’d gone through, and also in Dempsey’s Derek’s goodbye episode – where his and Meredith’s relationship milestones were remembered – things seemed different for Jackson’s goodbye. While Alex and Derek’s goodbye episodes also coincided with two marriages ending, Jackson’s move to Boston with Harriet and April meant exactly the opposite. By confronting his father and realizing he didn’t want to move across the country to lead the Avery foundation without his family, Jackson opened the door to a new future for him and April, especially as she confessed that Matthew and her split after months of problems.
Framing Jackson’s calling to lead the foundation as running towards something rather than from something, as Jackson had often done throughout the years, not only provided closure but also made Williams’ exit episode one of the few Grey’s Anatomy‘s goodbyes not tinged by sadness. Although nothing remotely romantic happened between Jackson and April in Grey’s Anatomy season 17, episode 14, the promise of a fresh start together as a family could give them both the chance to fulfill their professional dreams while also letting their life desires be in sync for the first time. Williams’ exit episode fixed all the previous Japril-related mistakes by establishing once again how April and Jackson had always been the most important person in each other’s lives, and in doing so, it not only gave hope to a possible rekindling of their relationship in the future, but it also made the character exit not coincide with a relationship destroyed, a one of a kind event in Grey’s Anatomy.
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