Scrubs: My Jerks [season premiere]
By fred | January 7, 2009
(S08E01) “The more things changed the more they stay the same…” That would be the leitmotiv of this new – and probably final – season of Scrubs. This is likely to be the end of the series, as both star Zach Braff and creator Bill Lawrence have said this would be their last year, and I don’t think the show could survive such loss. Especially if (many) others leave as well, and recent news already have Neil Flynn (the janitor) casted in pilot for ABC’s new comedy The Middle…
But if this will be their last year, everyone at Sacred Hearts is more than determined to make the best of it, as Lawrence said they would tune down the goofiness and return to more “believable” characters, more real and less cartoonish, like in the first years of the show. Plus, after years of crappy treatment from NBC the show is now on ABC, and JD pointed to the new logo exclaiming how new it was, and in a shinny new HDTV format to make it even better!
Oh, and the show is stronger than ever.
As promised it wasn’t as goofy as has been seen in recent years, every character and especially our very own JD felt a lot more real, and as JD explained at the end of the episode : “I know it’s tempting to just mail it in, but there’s still a lot of people who rely on us week to week. I think we owe it to them to be as inspired as we were during our first few years.” Plus, the take on the Nielsen was just great, too.
Point taken, this felt like the Scrubs we all fell in love with, filled with great character moments, similarities in all on-going plot lines crossing each other over time, and a perfect juxtaposition of hilarious comedic moments and more serious drama.
So many things to love, from this episode, which was introducing us to the replacement for Kelso, Dr. Taylor Maddox – played by Courteney Cox. And just because things are less goofy, doesn’t mean JD isn’t still JD and he won’t be seeing her walking in in slow motion, and her his dream sequence by having her to force no other than Cox put up a smile on his face, despite his strongest effort to resist it.
Cox was a prefect fit for the role, even if on occasion she sounded just like Monica would have (her punching JD would be the best example), and if things are different as she seemed a lot more likable and friendly than her predecessor was, things remained the same, she’s still a jerk in the end. Leading to Dr. Cox to have to be “that guy” again, fighting for all injustices taking place in the hospital.
About that, there’s one scene that could almost have been playing in JD’s mind, when he and Cox were alone in the cafeteria, and Cox was treating him like an equal, and not a little girl. Well, except that in his recollection of when JD was his intern, he was a she, of course. Great scene, and kudos to John McGinley whose exhaustion could be seen on his face as he told JD how tired he was of always having to fight, and be “that guy.” Of course, in the end he remained that guy and we all love him for that.
Two other characters were also they perfect self again, exactly as you’d expect them to be : first is Ted, still more depressed than one can imagine, sitting on a wheelchair and looking like a dying man, caring a gun in his briefcase in case he would get very sad, and of course the janitor. From him refusing the phone from JD to having him trip and then using a picture of Maddox’ daughter as his own son (!) to have her not fire him, only to be scared by that very picture, he was at his best and I obviously can’t believe for one second he’ll stay fired long. Actually, I was surprised he didn’t just walk back in much like he did the first case, because while he knows she’s serious, he just doesn’t care.
Gone but not really is Kelso, observing things from the Coffee Bucks and still having fun with how messed up everyone can be, and we got a bunch of new interns showing lots of promise, albeit not really in the medical aspect of their job, with Denise the uncaring one, Ed the geek who’d rather send text-message or pretend to be a girl on Lost chatroom that do his work, or Jimmy the Overly Touchy Orderly.
The show is back, as good as ever if not better, and the best news is that there was a second episode right after! Now the real question is, while Eliot might have probably grown more than every other character on the show, as illustrated when she apologized to Keith, she still makes mistakes, and I have to know where one can get his hands on that Drunk Blondes vol#1 !
How about you ? Don’t you want to see them ? How did you like the show for its brand new season ? And would you be interested in a ninth season, even if it meant a large part of the cast was to leave ?
Courtney Cox will probably give Scrubs a big PR boost, and she’s pretty funny as well