TL;DR – A surprisingly emotional episode right out of the gate.
Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that aired this episode.
Scrubs Review –
Well, we are back for Season Two or Season 11 of Scrubs, and in a rare form these years, we did not have to wait three-odd years to get it. Scrubs is now and has always been a comfort show for me, and today we will see if that trend continues or not.
So, to set the scene, while JD (Zach Braff) is celebrating the first meaningful relationship since his divorce from Elliot (Sarah Chalke), things are not all good at Sacred Heart. That is because Dr Cox’s (John C. McGinley) treatment is not progressing as it should, putting a real strain on his kidneys. It is a problem only a super team of medical superheroes, and Todd (Robert Maschio) can fix, if at all. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
An Old Friend
One of the best parts of the show is how it does feel like an old friend coming back into your life. There are all those years of connection, and you can’t help but feel the bond. There is comfort in those moments where you find that connection, of say Elliot finally putting Jordan (Christa Miller) in her place, or JD hopping into his pocket dimension to imagine a fire-breathing wretch laying waste. So far, these all feel like natural outflowing of the story, rather than forced nostalgia bites, and I hope that remains.
The Return of Emotion
Now, I should say that Scrubs is probably the show that has made me cry the most in my life. I mean, I can drop “Where do you think we are” or “I’m ready, I really am” or “You can ask any doctor, sometimes it seems like patients just hang on until everyone has had a chance to say goodbye”, and those are just three of many, many examples. So, I should have been prepared for it to get me again. I think it is just the strength of John C. McGinley acting that you can never expect any vulnerability until it hits like a tsunami. Having to hand over your independence to the very people you used to be is such a hard pill to swallow. Bookending that pain with conversations with Dr Tosh (Ava Bunn) and Carla (Judy Reyes) heightened that emotion. It is the reason why the show works as well as it does.
Recommendation
In the end, do we recommend Scrubs? Yes, we do. While the humour is sometimes juvenile, silly, and a bit odd. That emotion hits home in a way that you don’t see in comedies all that much. It is time, it is history, and it is care. Have you seen Scrubs yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.
By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.
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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Scrubs
Directed by – Zach Braff
Written by – Mathew Harawitz
Created by – Bill Lawrence
Developed by – Aseem Batra & Tim Hobert
Based On – Scrubs by Bill Lawrence
Production/Distribution Companies – Doozer, Seemu! Inc., 20th Television, Hulu & Disney+
Starring – Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Ava Burn, John C. McGinley, & Judy Reyes
With – Christa Miller, Rachel Bilson, Jacob Dudman, Layla Mohammadi, Amanda Morrow, Robert Maschio, Michael James Scott, K Callan, J.P. Manoux, & Vanessa Bayer
And – Joey Fatone, & Tasya Teles
