(S06E06) Well, it's finally here! The musical episode of Scrubs, that is, with songs composed by Avenue Q's Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. A brief synopsis of the plot: a patient (Stephanie D'Abruzzo, an original cast member of Avenue Q) is admitted to Sacred Heart after a fainting spell. From that point on everyone around her is singing and dancing. There are also two additional subplots. One deals with Carla's indecision to return to nursing after being home with her baby, and the second deals with Elliot moving into her own house without J.D. as a roommie.
But, the stories don't matter. What matters here is if this musical experiment paid off. It most definitely did! I would certainly put this behind 'Once More, With Feeling' the musical episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and far ahead of the one that 7th Heaven aired a season or two ago. Gosh, I'd put the musical episode of The Love Boat ahead of the 7th Heaven episode.
I digress. After the jump I'll give you a recap and a review of the big numbers in this week's show.
Welcome to Sacred Heart -- You can't have a musical without a big opening number, and Scrubs didn't disappoint. Ken Jenkins (Bob Kelso) led this singing and dancing number that took place in the parking lot of the hospital. Surprisingly, Jenkins had a fairly decent singing voice. On the other hand, Sarah Chalke (Elliot Reid) has a baritone voice that didn't fit into this song or any other in this episode. This is probably why she wasn't in too many numbers.
Everything Comes Down to Poo -- Come on, it was a song about poopie. How could it not be good? It was the funniest song in the entire episode. I thought the best line in the song was 'I was shot! Check the poo.' This was the first of three songs that featured a duet with Zach Braff (J.D.) and Donald Faison (Turk), but not the best of the lot.
We're Gonna Miss You, Carla -- It's Ted's turn in the spotlight with this number. Regular viewers of Scrubs know that Ted has a pretty decent singing voice, as seen from appearances with his barber shop quartet (who haven't been around much this season). This was probably the only number in this episode that was forgettable.
You Annoy Me -- Coxian rant put to music. John C. McGinley is a wonderful actor, and he fits like a glove into the role of Perry Cox, but he is definitely not a singer. Still, the number was entertaining and summarized Perry's feelings about J.D. very well.
When the Truth Comes Out -- This number took the place of the summary that J.D. usually gives mid-way through the show. It combined a song about what was wrong with the patient who heard singing and combined it with snippets of other songs from earlier in the show. While the beginning of the tune was humorous it ended on a serious note as the patient was told that she had a brain aneurysm.
Guy Love -- This is the number that has been all over the Internet since late last year. I thought it was funny when I first saw it and I thought it was funny when I saw it again tonight. Composers Marx and Lopez really got J.D. and Turk's relationship down in this ditty. Out of all of the duets that these two performed this was, by far, the best one.
She's Dominican -- This Latin-flavored number featured Turk and Carla. Nice dancing from both Judy Reyes and Faison in a song about how much Turk really knew about his wife.
Friends Forever -- If this wasn't a direct rip-off of 'We Go Together' from Grease then I don't know what was. You could've actually taken this number and thrown it into a production of Grease. Pretty amusing. This song led directly into . . .
What's Going to Happen -- This serious number highlighted the talents of D'Abruzzo as the fainting patient. This was the best song of the whole episode and involved the entire cast telling her that everything would be okay. it was one of those tunes that gave me chills, and was an excellent ending to a fine episode.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-19-2007 @ 12:07AM
Scott M said...
while the musical numbers kept things going at a decent clip each subplot was realized well and given good screen time amidst gags. that's what i got into scrubs for and this episode at times gave me chills as well Rich. not sure if they were chills of expectation the quality that Bill Lawrence says is in store for us or for the actual quality of the episode, but what does it really matter? this episode strait up satisfied.
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1-19-2007 @ 12:28AM
Tim Dorr said...
I didn't care one bit if the episode was good or bad. I was sold on the first scene. Turk was wearing my favorite t-shirt, which I just happened to be wearing while watching: http://www.threadless.com/product/285/Operation_Needed
So, call me biased, but I loved the episode solely based on that fact :D
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1-19-2007 @ 12:37AM
Mike said...
At first I really didn't understand all of the excitement leading up to this episode. I'm not a personal fan of musicals or musical comedy songs. Actually I was initially disappointed that this week's Scrubs episode was going to be a departure from the usual format that I have grown to love. All of that changed when I watched the show. I was pleased to see that they cleverly incorporated the music into the aforementioned usual format, and I have to say that this episode is one of my favorites form this season.
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1-19-2007 @ 12:38AM
Kurifurisan said...
great episode....I can't wait to download the soundtrack for this from itunes. Does anyone know if it's available tonight or tomorrow?
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1-19-2007 @ 12:43AM
Joel Keller said...
According to Bill Lawrence, each song was an homage to a different Broadway musical. So the Grease rip-off was purposeful. Can you guess the others?
Great episode. Lived up to the hype. I even applauded at the end of it.
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1-19-2007 @ 1:07AM
summer said...
"What's going to happen"....homage to Rent???
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1-19-2007 @ 1:23AM
Jason Hendrix said...
"Everything Comes Down to Poo" = homage to Avenue Q?
"You Annoy Me" = Gilbert & Sullivan?
I agree that "What's Going to Happen" = Rent (thought so as it was airing)
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1-19-2007 @ 2:09AM
Kelly Kim said...
I thought the Janitor sang really well!
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1-19-2007 @ 2:27AM
Malcontent said...
"When the Truth Comes Out" seemed very "Les Mis," probably riffing on "Do You Hear the People Sing" from the end of Act I.
Stephanie is a friend of mine from college. I was so proud to see her (after seeing her twice in "Avenue Q")!
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1-19-2007 @ 2:29AM
Malcontent said...
Sorry, I meant "One Day More."
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1-19-2007 @ 3:11AM
Curt said...
NOt saying they all didn't sound good, but remember they can make bad singers sound good what with computers and all.
Still, best episode of the season, without a doubt. And a brilliant way of doing it, what with the patient thinking their all singing. I always worry with musical episodes, because they tend to be contrived and fake, but they did it, and made it plausible (not that Scrubs is anyway plausible normally, but you know what I mean)
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1-19-2007 @ 3:45AM
shawn said...
I liked how the songs moved the plot along and kept consistant with the characters.
Bravo. i say. Bravo.
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1-19-2007 @ 3:47AM
Pete said...
I just laughed all the way through it. I thought it was excellent.
This shows my lack of stage musical knowledge, but I thought a lot of the songs had a The Who's Tommy (the original album) quality about them. Anyone else?
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1-19-2007 @ 5:12AM
Paul said...
I agree with Shawn, the best part was that throughout the hilarity in song form, they really did a great job of moving the plot along (both this episode, and overall story arcs) and keeping consistent with the characters.
I was also impressed with the shout-out from the Janitor to the first encounter between he and J.D. Good stuff!
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1-19-2007 @ 6:35AM
Jennifer said...
The show has had musical elements throughout its run and I love how they pulled it all together tonight.
Richard, a quick note - "baritone" really refers to a man's voice, a voice lower than tenor and higher than bass. So that would not apply to Sarah's voice. The bottom line is Sarah is just not a singer. (I read somewhere they teased her about it.)
Also, you may not have liked McGinley's piece, but he most certainly is a stage-trained singer and I think his voice is very professional and nice to listen to.
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1-19-2007 @ 6:53AM
BillS said...
Ted's group is an a capella group. Barber shop is just a bastardization of the genre. It's a completely sagacious form of music.
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1-19-2007 @ 8:38AM
Lou said...
hey, does anybody know what the deal was with Judy Reyes during the first part of the episode? She almost seemed like she had a turned ankle or something. She was always sitting, or leaning or otherwise stationary while everybody else was dancing around.
I know that they film out of order sometimes and I wonder if she did something during her big number that sidelined her for the other parts.
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1-19-2007 @ 8:54AM
BillS said...
Lou: Judy Reyes broke her hip a while back. In the Bill Lawrence interview here the other day, he said they kept her sitting in all her scenes, and filmed her big dance number just recently.
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1-19-2007 @ 8:55AM
Mike said...
Lou
Carla (aka Judy) broke her hip earlier this year. I'm guessing the scenes where she's sitting down were filmed earlier in the year and the dancing numbers, obviously, later.
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1-19-2007 @ 9:01AM
Gordy said...
'Once More, With Feeling' it was not, but good nonetheless. Loved Turk's Michael Jackson inspired moves and facial gestures. He and Carla's song was the best.
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