(S08E06) This episode was a little better than "My ABC's," but not by much. I don't know what it is, but I just didn't laugh all that much during either of these episodes. At least this one dug into some good character-based stories, from Cox getting in his own way on the way to becoming chief of medicine, to J.D. and Elliot continuing down the path of a drama-less relationship, to Denise/Jo revealing a little about why she got into medicine even though she's as sympathetic as a rock.About the "Jelliot" thing, as Bill Lawrence has taken to calling it on his ABC.com blog; he writes on the blog that the decision to get them back together, but take them down this mature path, was a compromise between Lawrence, who didn't want them back together, and the members of the cast, who did. And because one of those castmembers was his wife Christa Miller, he made the compromise because, "Ultimately it came down to this - I wanted, at some point, to sleep with my wife again..." That's always the best motivation, isn't it? (By the way, thanks for the commenter last week who pointed this fact out... I was wondering where he got it from).
So Jelliot go about their business in fairly low-key fashion, which is what they did here. Even when there is a little bit of drama, like Elliot trying to figure out a new way to wow J.D. in bed after all these years, folks like Turk step in and echo the sentiments of the audience. He tells her that the reason why things between he and Cara are perfect is that they don't overthink things and just like being together, something that everyone who's in a mature relationship knows already.
We all knew that Cox was on his way to becoming chief, weren't we? And we even knew that this last bit of self-sabotage, that came after Kelso gave him the lowdown on the crap he has to deal with in the job, wasn't going to get in his way. The fact that the now-retired Kelso decided to recommend Cox between bites of free-for-life muffins shows that the former chief had a heart after all, and that the job was what made him into the dark-hearted meanie we all knew and hated. Since Cox was half-way there already, he was perfect for the job. But Kelso seems to be softening in his retirement... he even tried to group-hug with Cox and Jordan after Cox got the job... thankfully, Cox said "too soon."
J.D.'s analysis of what mucks everyone up at the hospital was a pretty good moment, because it was very accurate. Cox gets in his own way, Elliot is amazingly insecure, and J.D. himself cares too much. It was a good way t
o show Denise/Jo that, yes, she's not sympathetic, but she'll have to work with it. It helped in the case of the patient that she gave the test to despite J.D.'s orders. Eliza Coupe did a nice job in showing that Denise was more than just a tomboy who "likes banging dudes," as she put it in the previous episode. She seems to be the intern that's going to be the most fertile character-development mine, isn't she?By the way, didn't Elliot in her cookie pants look eerily like what Sarah Chalke / Elliot used to look like in season one (cast photo at left)? It was almost refreshing, and shows that Jelliot isn't about J.D.'s beard or Elliot's glam look; it's about two best friends finally falling into an adult relationship.
More fun stuff:
- Missing cast member alert: No Judy Reyes. Elliot's frantic voice mail message to Carla, though, was funny, as it ranged from love to anger to annoyance to insecurity. Classic Elliot.
- Gotta love Elliot using the piano mat to alert her to intruders. It especially helps when Turk comes in to steal cookies.
- That Turk cookie-stealing fantasy sequence was probably the funnies thing in the episode, especially the pratfalls they all took as the gas entered the apartment.
- "Angry woman out... Angry woman in." Always a good Janitor moment even in a bad episode.
- Kelso was good with the callbacks in this episode. "He brought it back!" was Cox's amazed declaration when Kelso brought the fake-phone gag back at the end of their opening conversation. Very nice.
Anyway, if Lawrence and company can pair this nice character development with some genuine laughs, we might have something. Feel-wise, the season is definitely closer to what we saw in the earlier seasons, but the humor isn't as consistent. Maybe that'll come back soon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-28-2009 @ 10:59AM
Wii60 said...
Wow,
I am nothing but impressed with the turnaround Scrubs has made. I wish they'd switched to ABC years ago. Bill Lawrence does drama WELL, and NBC never let him do it.
I couldn't disagree with the reviews more, these were two excellent eps.
Reply
1-28-2009 @ 11:05AM
Grover said...
ditto. Both were great... or maybe it was because i had a couple of beers before hand... but i enjoyed the drama,the subtle humor, slightly over the top humorous fantasies, Janitor, and character development (new and old). Definitely getting back to how it was in the earlier seasons.
1-28-2009 @ 11:01AM
mterrific said...
I really liked the ball of string gag that Kelso pulled. It made me laugh out loud.
Reply
1-28-2009 @ 12:48PM
StillBash said...
"Told you I was gonna use it later"
*snicker*
I don't know I didn't laugh out loud watching these two Eps of Scrubs but the funny is definitely back.
1-28-2009 @ 11:09AM
Ryan said...
Jo is my favorite intern. I love her. I want to be her.
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1-28-2009 @ 11:26AM
Wii60 said...
She is so ridiculous hot.
1-28-2009 @ 11:13AM
Martin said...
Bringing the ball of string back was the best part of the episode. Still miss "what has 2 thumbs and doesn't give a damn" though :(
Reply
1-28-2009 @ 11:20AM
cdawg said...
Again I disagree with Joel (but still respect his opinion)
I thought this might have been my favorite episode of the season. (maybe cuz I was wearing my cookie pants as well). It really truly resonated with me.
And I was amongst those who didn't want to see Elliot and JD back together again, but I've found myself rooting for them... again. I even commented to my husband that I didn't find their on/off/on/off thing nearly as annoying as I thought (see, e.g., Ross & Rachel, Sam & Diane, etc). Good job Bill!
I do too wish that they had moved to ABC years ago - its so great hearing promos for Scrubs during Lost!
I'm actually hoping for a Scrubs: the next generation. I really think Jo and Ed would be great characters (I know Ed is moving to the new Office spinoff, but I would hope he could do both!)
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1-28-2009 @ 11:39AM
emme said...
Have to disagree too... I watched it alone in my room on abc.com and laughed out loud, which I only ever do for a really good 30 rock. 100% brightened up the rainy morning.
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1-28-2009 @ 1:35PM
joe said...
I think we all love the show so much that bar might be getting a little to high. I know me personally I found a lot to laugh at in these episodes like pervy elmo and Turk proving JD right and stealing the cookies. I am really loving this season and might rank it up there as one of my favorites so far.
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1-28-2009 @ 1:40PM
scrubsperson said...
Joel, i think you're smoknig crack if you didn't find these episodes funny. Maybe you should switch to something green or have you funny bone examined. You're just not right, man.
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1-28-2009 @ 2:32PM
Paul said...
I've thoroughly enjoyed all 6 of the new episodes so far. This one was no different. Nice to hear some Joshua Radin again on "Scrubs", too, since the show basically was his first big break.
Bill Lawrence has gone back to just telling really nice, interesting, heartfelt stories, with great humour thrown in. That's why I fell in love with this show year's ago, and I'm so glad it's back!
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1-28-2009 @ 4:08PM
Michael said...
I thought both of these episodes were fantastic, the best in a couple of seasons. They all had a good mix and match of comedy and drama and character development, the classic Scrubs formula.
Was the only one who was floored by the Todd's comment to Turk about sex: "Don't worry T-dog, if doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right" or something to that effect. Absolutely awesome, especially followed by the perplexed looks on everyone's faces afterwards.
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1-28-2009 @ 5:32PM
Argus said...
Okay, I had a gigantic problem with the fact that JD said intern who had stomach cancer made the right call. Despite the fact that what she did turned out better than what JD did, he still made the right call. There was no indication that his abdominal pain was different, and an endoscopy would have put him at needless risk considering his history of heart disease. A proper interview with the patient to find out the nature of the pain in relation to previous times and an initial x-ray or a barium swallow would have been preferable for finding issues.
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1-29-2009 @ 9:33AM
Mee said...
You can't diagnose a stomach cancer with an x-ray or a barium swallow. She probably did the right thing, don't know his history.
1-28-2009 @ 11:19PM
Argus said...
Hi, I'm an upper GI series used to find stomach cancer!
http://novascotiadeptofhealth.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=105&pid=2&gid=1202
1-29-2009 @ 9:48AM
Mee said...
The gold standard for gastric cancer is an endoscopy, so you still need to do that after a positive barium swallow (it could be a false positive).
1-29-2009 @ 3:42AM
Suntzu said...
I found the "yarn scene" to be classic Kelso and Cox. I'm not sure exactly what you people want from the writers. They put out a consistent show that the fans love. Yet people don't laugh as hard as they did last season so the show is slipping??? I agree that the bar is a little too high. Just watch I mean Elmo saying "what is this your woman?" I laughed my ass off and then hit rewind three times to see it again. Get off your high horse
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1-29-2009 @ 3:46PM
Joe said...
I'll be the first to admit that I was worried about the show after the move. To be honest though, the last two seasons weren't as good as previous one though. I think so far this season has been a huge improvement.
http://www.joeonthetube.com
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2-01-2009 @ 12:49AM
Marcos said...
I'm surprised when I see people complain about this season of Scrubs. I think this season has the chance to be one of the top three, if not the best, seasons ever. So, the show's not using over the top stoner humor anymore. That's a good thing because when they started relying on that kind of humor is when the show started to go down hill. This season is like Scrubs of old, and that's far from a bad thing.
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