To say that Scrubs is one of my favorite shows on television would be a stretch by definition. This of course has nothing to do with the actors or the writing per se. No, the acting in my opinion was always either par or above par for what is out there these days in the land of situational comedies. With the exception of the last few seasons, the writing itself was always decent. With a flair for the ridiculous mixed in with tear jerking drama that you would normally find in other memorable hospital dramas, I found myself looking forward to that next episode. Unfortunately I never really felt that the network that hosted the sitcom, NBC, really ever showed Scrubs the love that it deserved. So being the couch potato drone that I am inclined to being during prime time, I tended to love Scrubs in the same way. A filler for my sitcom cravings, take it or leave it.
The show was never a ratings winner either, only besting the 18-24 category in whatever time slot the peacock put it in. That’s not even accounting for the writer’s strike that hampered its last season with NBC. The show’s future from that point was doomed to end without a graceful exit. NBC even went as far as showing the last couple of episodes out of order causing some confusion to the Scrubs faithful (Kelso gone, Kelso here?). Luckily for us hapless fans, ABC decided back in May 2008 to allow the show to end charmingly in its own prime time ranks as a 2008-2009 mid season show. Of course, as with everything in television land these days, there is good news and there is bad news. First the bad news, given the rumors, this 8th season will be the show’s last season, at least for the show’s primary actor Zach Braff. The good news is that the season (which aired this past Tuesday around its former NBC timeslot) got off to a fairly decent start with two back to back episodes, My Jerks and My Last Words.
My Jerks
In the season opener, signs of better writing, that is more fluid and fresher than in the past two or three seasons, is evident. It played to the original strengths of the show and dumbs down the unneeded and inane subplots (JD and his on again-off again relationship with his baby’s momma) that were really bogging the show’s comedic/dramatic flow. Right off the bat we are introduced to the new Chief of Medicine at Sacred Heart, Dr. Maddox, played wonderfully by the always fantastic Courtney Cox. Her addition to the cast is part of a plan to stunt cast the Chief of Medicine position for the rest of the season. So it is bittersweet to know that Courtney will only be on for a three episode story arc, but hey at least she is back on television (did anyone ever give Dirt a chance?). As always, John C. McGinley’s Dr. Cox steals every scene he is in, especially one involving his initial meeting with Dr. Maddox.
The main plot and subsequent meaning behind the episode title comes from Dr. “JD” Dorian (Braff) dealing with his incompetent new interns, which range as much in personality as they do in hilarity. While JD deals with the interns, Dr. Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) is dealing with her inner ego and the way she treats her ex-fiancé Keith (Travis Schuldt). And then there is always the lovable side characters like the beaten down Ted (Sam Lloyd) and crazy Janitor (Neil Flynn) that rarely have a story of their own, but help fill in the pieces of the various story lines.
It’s easy to say, in my opinion, that ABC knocked this out of the ball park. The writers gave Braff more to work with and made JD more layered in a way that was no longer common with past episodes. I know this might upset some, but the fantasy dreamscapes were getting a bit tiring. JD, still not completely normal with his own insecurities, blows a serious “man to man” talk with Dr. Cox that involves an involuntary (albeit funny) sharing of one cup of coffee. In the end Dr. Cox once again shows JD the path to medical enlightenment in that the young Dorian has to teach the interns to become doctors as Cox did him years before.
My Last Words Review
Once in a while there is an episode in the Scrubs armada that makes you literally cry. My Last Words is one of those episodes, and can easily be seen as one of my Top 10 episodes out of the entire eight seasons thus far. The episode continues with some of the same sub plots that the previous one did. Dr. Cox trying to prove that the new Chief of Medicine (Cox) isn’t a goody two shoes, Dr. Reid (Chalke) finally dealing with the aftermath of her breakup, Carla (Reyes), The Janitor, and Ted filling in the ranks, so on and so forth. The strength and ultimately the emotion behind the episode come from JD and Turk’s (Faison) “bromance” of a night out for steaks being put on hold so that they can keep company with a man on death’s door. Not to belay the drama here, but I for one will never again be able to go to a Longhorn Steakhouse without doing the “Steak night dance”. The episode keeps to Scrubs’ dramedy formula and follows JD and Turk as they stay with this man in his last hours, all the while splashing some strong comedic moments in between. On a side note, it also fixed the balancing issues between characters and fit Dr. Turk in with JD as I was hoping it would.
In this episode you start to see that decent writing those earlier seasons of Scrubs were known for. They literally brought an unknown character (played strongly by Glynn Turman) on the show and just when you embraced him he was gone. The episode is what every Scrubs’ fan would want out of it, that overwhelming sense that it is ok to laugh out loud meanwhile wiping away the tears (or at least pretending to get that something out of your eye). One minute you are sad for a dying, lonely old man, the next you are laughing at Ted and his use of an antiquated typewriter. I would have to say that the only downside to this episode was the lack of use of Courtney Cox as the new Chief of Medicine, especially accounting for her short three episode stint. While giving her much screen time in the first episode, she is downgraded to a side character in this one.
Overall though, these episodes are what I was hoping for and they delivered. The comic blend with dramatic tones hit home, especially with this last episode, and so far ABC can say, “Two for two.” This is the strength of Scrubs, and it is good to see that its new home network is giving the show its much deserved final season.
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My Last Words Rating:
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