Scrubs. Ever since the “series” finale in April, I have wanted to write about the show. I will not pretend to be someone who has watched the show since it was created in 2001, but it certainly feels like I have. My brother introduced me to scrubs during winter break of 08-09. I was skeptical at first, but with comedy central airing two episodes a day during dinner time, I was forced to watch. Four months and eight seasons later, I knew everything there was to know about Scrubs. I’ve seen most episodes two, three, even four times, and I do not know how many youtube videos I have watched. So by the time the series finale came around, I was emotionally invested. I want to use this article not only discuss the series finale but the show as a whole.
The series finale of Scrubs was the perfect hour of television and perhaps the greatest series finale of all time. Why do I say that? Because it encompassed everything that made Scrubs great, it was not cheesy, and it perfectly wrapped up a number of storylines while still leaving hope for the future. The future was what the episode was all about. Whether it was JD and Elliot’s future or a patient’s son wanting his future to remain his own by not taking the test to find out if he has Huntington’s Disease. The episode gets everything right. The opening scene of flash backs to season one, the Todd high five, the book of rants with two old Cox greats, and JD’s final “eagle” with Turk. But I think what the episode gets even more right are the subtle things and its refusal to compromise. We do not get some soap opera ending; in fact the episode makes fun of that with JDs daydream of turning all the lights off in the hospital with one switch. Cox does not compromise and tell JD how he really feels, although in hilarious fashion JD does end up finding out. Most importantly, the episode does not focus on JD and Elliot by turning it into a sappy love fest. No, the season finale of Scrubs is just another day at Sacred Heart Hospital: there are patient’s to be treated and work to be done. JD gets fired by a patient and he has to give terrible news to another. He doesn’t get to stop being a doctor because it is his last day.
What made this episode really stand out to me were the three things that have made Scrubs great. The first is its ability to seamlessly combine laugh-out-loud comedy with heart-wrenching drama. The second is its ability to give meaningful messages and provide people with hope. The third is Scrubs use of music. Let me start with the first. There are two scenes that come to mind. The first is JD and Carla which is probably the most touching moment of the episode. You want to tear up as JD thanks Carla for being his teacher, only to laugh through the tears as he says that Turk loves JD about the same as he loves Carla. The second is as JD walks through the hallway and sees all the faces from his past. Again seeing all these people from the last eight years of your life wants to make you tear up, but then laugh as Lonny says “I hate you so much JD” or as Hooch says “Hooch is crazy.”
Scrubs uses every episode to give a message. Sometimes it is a harsh reality other times it’s a message of hope. I’m reminded of episodes like “My Lunch” with the Fray’s “How to Save a Life” and the emotion you see Dr. Cox go through or when Dr. Kelso tells Turk and a patient that “Turkleton I have no idea why you are chiming in but I will say this to the both of you, nothing in this world that’s worth having, comes easy.” Whether it was a word from Cox or Kelso, or JDs trademark inner monologues at the end of episodes, Scrubs always had a message to tell. The same was true about the finale. It was all about making the future your own. But I thought JDs monologue as he walked down the halls one last time was the best, “Endings are never easy, I always build them up so much in my head they can’t possibly live up to my expectations and I just end up disappointed, I’m not even sure why it matters to me so much how things end here. I guess it’s because we all want to believe that what we do is very important, that people hang on our every word, that they care what we think, the truth is, you should consider yourself lucky if you even occasionally get to make someone anyone feel a little better, aft that it’s all about the people that you let into your life.” I think that is the perfect message for Scrubs to end on because as a show it was always about the people.
When we finally get to the end we are basket of emotions and Scrubs decides to really pour it on. As JD watched the Montage of his future, I knew I was watching one of the greatest endings in television history. It had it all. It started with the perfect song: The Book of Love by Peter Gabriel, which is beautiful and so appropriate. The montage again made you want to cry and laugh at the same time with moments like JD and Turk showing Cox their sweaters, or as JD and Turk find out that Sam and Izzie are engage. It was perfect.
And then Scrubs did something that I bet 75% of the viewers missed. The Janitor who pulls down JD’s goodbye sign is actually Bill Lawrence the man who created Scrubs. So as the unknown janitor says goodnight to JD, Bill Lawrence says goodnight and goodbye to the character and who he created eight years ago.
I could go on and on about this episode: learning the Janitors real name and then having an orderly call him Tommy (probably a nod to the fans who thought they heard that Janitor called Tommy a few season back), Kelso stealing the Table and chair, Ted getting stuck on a thought, it was all genius. But what I want people to remember about Scrubs is this: it was a show that could make you laugh and make you cry so seamlessly, it was the first show to really use music to enhance a scene and its meaning, and through JDs monologues it showed viewers the values of friends and family and just maybe it guided each of us through a dark time or two in our lives. Scrubs was always ready to provide you with hope for a better day. That’s what the series finale was all about: the idea that the future can be whatever we want to make it. Now there is a hopeful thought.
Below are just a few of my favorite scenes from the last eight years of Scrubs.
