Denny’s dead, Izzie’s quitting and leaving Seattle Grace… oh never mind. Wait, now she’s dying of cancer… emergency neurosurgery saves her. Hey, Alex got her fired and she’s living in a trailer park… whoops, she’s back. Throughout the show, and especially the current season, Izzie seems to find reason after reason to leave the hospital — and then come back after a few episodes of everyone angsting about her absence.

Previous rumors stated that Katherine Heigl was leaning towards her acting career and looking for a chance to leave her surgical role behind, however, Heigl has been cast as a season regular, which should mean her Grey’s career isn’t at its end yet.

So why the constant wave between staying and leaving the hospital? It’s not as if the recent episodes are lacking in drama, the thing is, Izzie just seems to have run out of plot lines. With Alex moved on and her surgical residency terminated, what does she have left to do? In previous seasons, her role was to be the cheery interlude between the darker personalities of Cristina and Meredith. But as of late, Meredith is married and her dark-and-twisty-ness is seemingly behind her.

In the most recent episode, Izzie’s last scene is packing her bags and fleeing the house once again. For good this time? I, for one, hope so because the never ending interjections of Izzie into the real plot lines central to the story are getting truly boring.

Thoughts?