Michael Suarez
In September 2001, several iconic shows of the aughts premiered, including one comedy that, despite acclaim and consistent solid writing, rarely found itself at the Emmys over its 9-season run. Scrubs is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, and revisiting several episodes recently led me to the opinion that the series, in total, is one of the best TV comedies of all time.
The show is mostly told through the point of view of its main protagonist J.D. Dorian, who speaks in voiceover and gives audiences a look into his mind with a steady stream of daydreams throughout the show’s run. Still, there are a few episodes told from the other characters’ points of view, and those work as well. This is because Scrubs knows that the best kind of television isn’t beholden strictly to story or plot. It’s about the characters.
And I pretty much love every main character on the show. Zach Braff is affable enough as J.D., with just the right amount of near-annoying energy. Plus, I’m a sucker for characters that daydream, especially if the daydreams are out there, and there are so many times when the fantasy sequences on Scrubs were out there. Take, for example, Floating-Head Doctor, which is exactly as it sounds. J.D.’s body and disembodied head get into shenanigans.
Donald Faison’s Turk and Sarah Chalke’s Elliot are both excellent, the former as J.D.’s bromantic partner on the show and the latter as the other half of J.D.’s romantic arc in the series, respectively. As are Judy Reyes as Carla, Neil Flynn as the Janitor, and Ken Jenkins as Kelso. However, for me, the stand-out has always been John C. McGinley as Dr. Cox, who gives such committed and consistent performances throughout the show that range from the comedic to the dramatic that I truly believe he was snubbed by the Emmys every season the show was on the air. The pathos he communicates while also being a pretty arrogant jerk is impressive to me.
Cox is also front and center in my favorite two-parter from Season 5, “My Lunch” and “My Fallen Idol.” In the first episode, Cox makes a seemingly small and common decision that results in the deaths of three patients. Taking the blame, the second episode sees Cox show up to work drunk, having anger issues, and sitting on his couch and not saying a word to anyone who stops by to see him. Meanwhile, J.D. comes to terms with the fact that Cox is not a perfect doctor and reconciles this by seeing how badly Cox is taking the deaths as a good thing. As J.D. tells him near the second episode’s end:
J.D.: I guess I came over here to tell you how proud of you I am. Not because you did the best you could for those patients. But because after 20 years of being a doctor, when things go badly, you still take it this hard. And I gotta tell you, man, I mean, that’s the kind of doctor I want to be.
It’s a touching moment. Most viewers knew that Cox felt something toward J.D. before that episode, but given his emotional issues, and just being plain annoyed at J.D., he doesn’t show it much. That J.D. brought him out of his depression says a lot. Giving J.D. a pat on the shoulder and a quiet thank you at the end of the episode is just the cherry on top.
There are a lot of relationships in Scrubs; probably too many to mention. However, J.D. and Cox’s stuff is my favorite. It’s hard to resist J.D. and Turk, though. To be fair, time hasn’t been kind to every aspect of their relationship, whether it’s the implied homoerotic or racist jokes, there was a time when all of it was funny. Seeing J.D. in blackface now, even as a comment on how blackface is racist, doesn’t work. Still, they’re the kind of best friends I love in TV shows or movies. They actually love each other, and the show can joke about that all it wants, but I just think it’s kind of sweet.
Take the musical episode from Season 7, “My Musical,” which garnered the series five Emmy nominations, including one for directing. Most of the characters get their own songs, and the stand-out, for me at least, is “Guy Love” (which was nominated for an Emmy). In it, J.D. and Turk express their love for one another, and again, while it’s played as a joke, it’s the episode’s love ballad. It works, as does every other song in the episode, which was based on an actual case study involving a patient with an intracranial aneurysm that causes said patient to have musical hallucinations. It’s an all-timer of an episode, but it works mostly because the audience is several seasons into the show’s run and knows the characters.
When Scrubs came to its original close at the end of Season 8, the episode “My Finale” stood as one of the best series finales of all time to me. There was certainly closure in J.D. hearing what Cox really thought about him after all those years together, as well as seeing familiar faces during the episode’s climax before J.D. fantasizes about what the future holds. By then, J.D. and Elliot were together, and Turk and Carla were married with a child. The Janitor finally revealed his name (most likely), and even series creator Bill Lawrence showed up as a janitor who gives J.D. his final goodbye at the end.
Alas, given that Season 8 was the first season to be aired on ABC, after NBC canceled the show, and it had good ratings, Scrubs was renewed. As Lawrence stated, Season 9, though still called Scrubs, was designed as more of a spinoff. In fact, he wanted to call it Scrubs Med, but ABC declined the name change. A new title would’ve been more appropriate, given the new cast of main players, including a new, J.D.-like protagonist in the form of Lucy Bennett (played by Kerry Bishe, in one of her most underrated roles).
Sure, Cox, J.D., and Turk were still around, but it clearly wasn’t the same show. Personally, as much as I wanted, and still want, to love the final season of Scrubs, it doesn’t work for me. For one, it pulls the rug from beneath a truly great send-off like “My Finale.” Second, aside from Lucy, I don’t really care for any of the new characters, which is surprising given that I’ve always at least liked all of the interns from every previous season. Most of all, though, the writing is weak. Most of Season 9 feels like the lesser work from the previous 8 seasons. It’s a shame.
However, this season doesn’t hurt the series overall. I’m not someone who thinks the end of something, or a sequel, or even a spinoff hurts what came before. It doesn’t ultimately bother me that Season 9 exists after “My Finale.” That episode is still excellent, as are the majority of episodes before it.
Scrubs has always managed to make me laugh and/or cry, and that is because of the characters. I don’t mind being manipulated. I believe that’s what storytelling does in the first place, and if a storyteller doesn’t want to hide it, well, no points off from me. Still, when I watch an episode like the Emmy-nominated “My Screw Up,” I’m moved not because of the twist. What gets me is that I’ve been shown who Cox was a person for over two seasons, so when he cries, I know it’s a big deal. I also know how much Ben meant to him because I watched an episode where I got to know their friendship.
There are stories the writers told that will always stay with me. In addition to the ones mentioned above, there’s “My Old Lady,” where all three patients central to the episode die. There’s “My Best Moment,” the Christmas episode from Season 4 that culminates in every major character getting a moment tied to a father surviving last-minute surgery. Or how about “My Big Bird,” which interrogates the dark humor the show plays with sometimes.
In the episode, J.D., Turk, Eliot, and Carla are all questioned about their involvement, or lack thereof, concerning a patient’s death. The four have some pretty silly stories in this episode, yet are they really that funny when these stories take their attention away from a patient who needs them? In the end, it appears none of them are to blame, but as Cox reminds them, “You know as well as I do that it could have been any one of your faults.” It’s a heck of an episode.
Again, these stories only really work because they’re not about their plots. If they were, the show would just be about doctors, with humor and soap opera thrown in. Instead, the stories are really about each of the characters, specifically the series’ main players. As the show progressed, the more the characters did. None of the characters are static. Even the Janitor gets his own episode, “His Story III” from Season 5, which shows that he’s not just a one-dimensional person who says crazy things and is more than willing to do whatever it takes to get revenge.
Revisiting Scrubs is something I’m always up for. I wish I had the time to do a full series rewatch, but I catch up on my favorite few dozen episodes from time to time. It’s nice to check in on the staff at Sacred Heart. If you loved the show and haven’t given it a rewatch in a while, find an episode you remember really liking and check it out. It’s probably still really good. And, if you’re someone who’s never watched the show, give it a shot. Start with the “Pilot” or choose any of the episodes mentioned above, sans “My Finale” and Season 9. I think you’ll be rewarded.
Scrubs remains an excellent achievement. It isn’t so much a show about doctors and medicine as it is a good time spent with characters that I miss every time I finish a rewatch. I believe you’d feel the same way, too.
