So Help Me Todd’s Skylar Astin Reflects On His ‘Sex Bear’ Days On Grey’s Anatomy, And There’s A Lot To Unpack Here
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It was a major bummer for fans of So Help Me Todd when it was announced the show was joining the list of 2024 TV cancellations. After wrapping the CBS dramedy’s second and final season, star Skylar Astin took a look back, not at Todd the private investigator, but rather another character of the same name whose run also came to an end too soon — Todd Eames on Grey’s Anatomy. Likely best remembered for the “sex bear” incident, Todd was briefly involved with Jo Wilson, and he recently dived deep into those cringey memories to explain how that storyline came about.
Skylar Astin recently reunited with Grey’s Anatomy’s Camilla Luddington, who plays Jo on the ABC medical drama, on her and Jessica Capshaw’s Call It What It Is podcast. Sparks flew immediately between Jo and Todd upon Astin’s Grey’s Anatomy debut on Season 18, but the romance was short-lived when the actor got the call to do So Help Me Todd. The Grey's team was tasked with writing him off after just four appearances. The actor said:
I was kind of cast off in a swift way. And I think you and I were both, like, playing ‘love,’ like pretty hard. And then there was one episode where it was like, ‘And now he’s clingy and now you’re repulsed by him, and now he’s gone.’
Giving Jo the ick is certainly one way to get rid of a love interest in quick fashion. Camilla Luddington agreed that they’d both been playing the long game, and she had been asking for a fun relationship for Jo after her abusive ex-husband Paul and then Alex Karev’s unexpectedly sudden exit.
For those who didn’t know or remember why Jo’s feelings for Todd changed so abruptly, Skylar Astin explained the sex bear of it all, saying:
So since they had to get me off — and I guess they did keep me around for maybe the future, who knows? — but I would always do, like, really sweet things, or my character obviously, where I would show up at Jo’s work, and I would bring her cookies and just be this sweet guy. I would help walk the stroller into the hospital, and then it just took it a little too far where he was just giving too many gifts. And apparently — we didn’t shoot this scene, but Jo references the fact that — when we finally do the deed, I sing in operatic fashion when I [orgasm].
As cringe as that fact may be, I still think it’s a pretty fitting character detail for the Pitch Perfect actor, and it’s a real crime that they never shot that scene. They did, however, film what happened next. The actor continued:
So now she’s talking to Chris Carmack’s character about, like, ‘I don’t know about this Todd guy,’ and then there I show up with, like, this humongous, oversized stuffie, and I’m just, like, ‘I got you a bear, because we had sex. It’s a sex bear.’ I sure did [say that out loud]. Yes, that was written and performed.
What a way to go out! It’s interesting that Skylar Astin added that the door might be left open for his return someday — should things not work out between Jo and Chris Carmack’s Link. As for how they could get around his unceremonious demise, Astin joked that the writers could always reverse it by saying he had meant “bare” as in naked. Camilla Luddington suggested they reveal that Link had sabotaged Todd’s relationship by telling him to buy the sex bear. One thing’s for sure — if they ever do reunite Jo and Todd, I’m going to need to hear that post-orgasm opera performance.
You can rewatch Skylar Astin’s stint on Grey’s Anatomy — or any of your other favorite Grey’s eras — by streaming the series on Netflix or Hulu, two of the best streaming services you can subscribe to. Grey’s Anatomy’s Season 21, meanwhile, will return to the 2024 TV schedule at 10 p.m. Thursday, September 26, on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.
