(S07E04) This was kind of a quiet episode, wasn't it? It seemed to go at a relaxed pace that I haven't seen from the show in quite some time. As we've been finding out this season, Bill Lawrence and company have been trying to scale back the zany and make some episodes that were more reminiscent of the show's early years. But this one felt like an early one, like one of the first few half-dozen where even J.D.'s internal monologue was subdued.
But I liked it. It really got in and explored some of the characters' insecurities while giving us a few of the classic laughs that Scrubs is known for.
This week was about identity crises. Carla thinks she's losing her Latina identity. Cox is mourning the loss of his grouchy loner persona. And J.D., in a continuing effort to mature from manchild to man, learns the names of everyone in the hospital after the Janitor challenges him to.
For some reason, the one person who is ripe for a crisis but didn't suffer one was Elliot. In fact, she was essentially Cox's foil this week, poking at him and prodding him to finally admit he's lonely (the dark moment of the soul: he actually called J.D. his friend, much to his former student's glee). I think it's because Elliot's the one who's come the furthest in the seven years we've been with the folks at Sacred Heart. There's no need for her to have a crisis because Dr. Reid knows exactly who she is. It's a good thing that she's no longer a victim and has the capacity to be a hard-ass, even to the glaring Cox.
(By the way, the Coxian rant this week was pretty good, especially with Kelso's interjections "A right bastard!" was my favorite one. Who knew that Cox was a Parrothead, though? Doesn't seem to be part of his personality.)
I wonder why Jordan decided to stay at her mother's for a week? Think there may be trouble down the road? I enjoyed the very rare Jordan - Janitor exchange, though; he's one of the few people who doesn't get flustered at her bitchiness. Even when she purposely spills coffee on the counter, he just slurps it up and goes "first spill of the day!"
I just love how Carla has a dream about J.D., Turk, and Elliot conspiring to kill her and all she cares about is that it's in English. Was there really any doubt that her Latina identity was disappearing? Really? Turk's reassurance was a bit pat but it was sweet nonetheless, as is his effort to learn Spanish. But it didn't go by without a few jokes. "Your homeland is Chicago!" he tells Carla. "Why don't you just buy (Izzie) a deep-dish pizza?"
So on to J.D. While this seems just like another goofy row with the Janitor, it really goes a long way to showing how immature J.D. has been over the years. The nicknames are cute, but it's definitely time for him to grow up and act like a functioning adult. And the fact that he didn't even know that Beardface's last name was "Beardface" (pronounced Beard-fa-SAY), even though everyone else did was a bad sign for him. He lost the bet; he learned everyone's names via mnemonic... except for the Janitor's. It's too bad; I thought we were going to finally find out Janitor's real name. But it's still shrouded in mystery for now.
A few more things:
- The whole name issue started with Nurse Shirley, played by returning regular Aloma Wright. We still don't know if she's related to Laverne, but that didn't stop J.D. from calling her "LaverneAgain."
- And, by the way, J.D. has called people by name in previous episodes. But he's also been referring to Colonel Doctor, Beardface, and Snoop Dogg Attending by nicknames for so long, it's believable that he never knew their actual names.
- Of course, the main fantasy (besides Carla's English and Spanish death dreams) was J.D.'s imagining of what Cox would do on his day off. I think it was funny to not only see J.D. slide in, but Turk and a banana-hammocked Todd as well.
- Poor Ted. "You're looking bald and sweaty, Teddy," says the Janitor. "My smile goes away. On with the rest of the day," replies our favorite sad sack. We got a lot of him this week, including an appearance by the barbershop quartet, who conveniently were learning the episode-appropriate Who song "Who Are You?"
- When are we going to finally see J.D. not pine for affection from Cox? Is that the last step in his journey to adulthood? Seeing Elliot constantly get in his face and Turk stand up to him makes J.D.'s begging even more unseemly. Maybe if we ever get a final episode, we'll see J.D. and Cox finally treat each other as friends and colleagues. Maybe not.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-16-2007 @ 2:27AM
Justin said...
One of the best Scrubs episodes in quite sometime. We saw the ending between JD and the Janitor coming but it was still done well and the end w/ JD cleaning and getting violent and angry due to the ammonia was great.
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11-16-2007 @ 3:43AM
Vincent said...
This did feel like an early episode. I really liked it. This was also the first time I noticed that Christa Miller's lip's didn't look like balloons anymore.
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11-16-2007 @ 8:05AM
SHANNON said...
I've been worshipping at the altar of Neil Flynn (Janitor) for 7 years now... I really, really, wanted to find out his name!! The second dream Carla had, with all the characters speaking spanish was priceless!
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11-16-2007 @ 8:38AM
Lou said...
Major Goof, tho...
Tonight Cox identified himself as a "Registered Independant" where in a previous episode he stated in a list of things he hated that he hated "All Registered Independants!"
Self loathing, much?
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11-16-2007 @ 8:39AM
Duane said...
The whole "Laverne is back" thing (everybody saw her during the birth of Kim's baby too, right?) might be the worst joke they've written in the history of the show. They built up the death of a major character all season. Then they did a 3 episode arc about it. And now they've put her back in the cast, an identical twin so to speak, just for the "nobody but JD recognizes her" joke? I don't understand why they would so blatantly thumb their nose at the audience like that.
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11-16-2007 @ 9:02AM
Cincinnati Mike said...
I think I read that Aloma Wright (Laverne) was OK with getting killed off when she (and everyone else) thought that last season was the end. But when they came back for another season, she was really bummed. So they tried to find some way to fit her back in. You have to admire that sort of loyalty among the producers, but I'm not sure how successful this has been.
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11-16-2007 @ 11:33AM
Oneiroi said...
I've been disappointed with the show in general this season, but I always end up siding with the reviews on episodes by the time I read them. I'm much too persuadable.
Oh and I'm definitely glad they're cutting back on the slapstick, last season was really over the top. The comical situations were great, but JD was painfully over the top.
While I'm glad Laverne is back, it does hurt the legitimacy of the storyline to me. The whole thing just seems silly, after going through such an "emotional" situation with that storyline.
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11-16-2007 @ 11:42AM
Tim said...
This episode was very funny- and it was, I think, due to the fact that the gang isn't forcing themselves to be outrageously funny. Which is what I think they need to be- relaxed and not pushing it.
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11-16-2007 @ 12:22PM
Kendra said...
Aloma Wright's new character is named Shirley.
Laverne and Shirley. Classic.
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11-16-2007 @ 12:25PM
kevjohn said...
I'll give you a one-word reason why we should never learn Janitor's real name: Cosmo.
The Return of Lavern would be much funnier if they keep her appearances brief and mysterious like during the ep. where JD's kid is born. Leave the staff with just a feeling of deja vu about her, rather than having her out in the open and no one noticing.
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11-16-2007 @ 12:38PM
Joel Keller said...
Folks, Laverne is still dead. Aloma Wright is returning as a new character named Shirley (and, yes, as someone pointed out, the Laverne and Shirley matches up well... I'd think Bill and company did that on purpose). I don't see anything wrong with bringing her back as a new character. From what I heard, she's supposed to be the opposite of the church-going Laverne.
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11-16-2007 @ 1:26PM
Dan said...
I think Janitor's name will actually be Neil Flynn since it was revealed that he was in the Fugitive as the real life actor was. Maybe they will say that he failed as an actor and comedian and took a job at a hospital as a janitor to make ends meet. That would be fitting...It was a great episode because it wasn't so far-fetched and stupid. Is it really the last episode before the strike?
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11-16-2007 @ 2:00PM
dtrain said...
Dan,
the strike has already started. 7 more episodes of scrubs will air before there are no more episodes due to it.
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11-16-2007 @ 2:31PM
Dan said...
But if you recall, these shows aren't taped from week to week like South Park or something...they record in advance and could have another 3 or 4 in the vault. I can't imagine that this was supposed to be the fall finale, that there'd be at least a few more episodes left.
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11-16-2007 @ 2:15PM
Joel Keller said...
I never mentioned that this was the last episode. There are 7 left, as people have said. I just alluded to an article that said that Bill Lawrence is going to make a proper series finale whether the strike wipes out the rest of the season or not. Check the link I provided for the details.
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12-03-2007 @ 8:00AM
bray11 said...
I really like this episode. It did remind me of old episodes. It was dramatic, but still had enough jokes. The last scene where J.D. gets "annoyed" from the smell of the ammonia made me laugh. I hope the strike ends soon. I want all the Scrubs I can get. I wish it wasn't ending, anyone else? P.S. I believe the Janitor's name will be revealed in the (gasp...ok I'll say it, the last episode). There is a petition online to convince NBC to pick up the show for more seasons. Please sign. Personally, I think getting ABC to take the show might be wiser. NBC really doesn't like Scrubs. It thinks the show is a bomber and wants more reality shows. There are enough boring, dull reality shows on tv. The only one I watch is Dancing with the Stars because Helio Castronueves is on it. I cannot watch any other reality tv, so if NBC cancels Scrubs and replaces it with cheap trash I will boycott NBC.
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11-16-2007 @ 4:50PM
Happy Steve said...
Might've been funny if JD started guessing his aliases...
JD: Ján Ïtor? Rotinaj? Klaus? Ephraim? Nigel? Figment?
Janitor: Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. What?
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11-16-2007 @ 8:03PM
Piper said...
I thought it was a bit hypocritical for the Janitor to go after JD about the naming thing because he always refers to Eliot as Blond Doctor.
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11-20-2007 @ 7:32AM
christopher said...
Hey, remember when J.D. used to be a doctor? What happened to that? I haven't seen him treat a patient in like, two-three years. I miss that. It was the thing that kept him from being the annoying man-child that he has become. He would have all these akward interactions, but at the end of the day He was good at what he did, and even Dr. Cox said so (although not always to JD)
So in short, a note to Bill: Make JD a Doctor again.
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11-21-2007 @ 2:11AM
devin said...
speaking of lavern's death.....does anyone know the name of the song that's playing when karla is finally saying goodbye to her? it's been stuck in my head and i've been trying to find out who sings it.
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