Review: Scrubs - 8x01/8x02 - "My Jerks"/"My Last Words"

Several years ago, it became apparent that Scrubs was a bit poorly. The cough of increasingly ridiculous daydreams, the runny nose of the cast turning into caricatures of themselves... Eventually, as the sickness got worse, I figured the show had gone terminal, and I bailed. So news that Season 8, relocated to the new hospital ward of ABC, was beginning to show signs of improvement peaked my interest. With that in mind, I finally went over for visitors hour for the Season 8 premiere.

The first episode of the double bill, "My Jerks", indeed started showing signs of improvement. Within the first five minutes, several of the jokes are actually... y'know, funny. A particularly clever cancer joke raised a laugh, and references to Lost message boards can never be a bad thing. A recurring gag about red balloons stemming from this also hits its mark. The move to ABC brings with it some new cast members, as both the new Chief of Medicine (Courtney Cox as Dr. Maddox) and J.D.'s new group of interns enter the hospital. Apparently there has been talk of these new interns carrying Scrubs on after Zach Braff leaves at the end of this season. Personally, I can't see it. They work well in the roles given to them in this episode, be it forcing Elliot to confront her very self-centred attitude (although I'm not convinced that's as new as they made out it was), or causing J.D. to admit he's tired of teaching them, which I imagine will factor into the endgame of the show. However, they just seem like enjoyable supporting characters for the actual cast -- there were no real standouts that I'd choose to watch if they were on their own. Maddox plays a relatively amusing role, especially in her interactions with Janitor, who was as amusing as ever. From laugh-out-loud comedy (the final scene, reminiscent of Arrested Development's self-referential network problems scene, is hilarious) to some good character-based drama, the season's definitely off to a good start.

"My Last Words" plays with a different area of the show, with a more introspective emotional episode dealing with coming to terms with death. In contrast to the previous episode, it has a much focused approach on J.D. and Turk, as they cancel their yearly Steak Night to comfort a proud man as he approaches death. In a way, the idea of having to cancel a yearly routine that means a lot to you says a lot for the way death is treated here -- as their dying patient George says, one minute you're here, the next minute you're just gone. The ensemble is barely used, with Kelso, Cox, Janitor and Elliot not appearing at all, and the rest of the cast being used sparingly. The episode managed to reach some very good emotional heights, and in that sense it was reminiscent of what made the earlier seasons so excellent. George's eventual death scene worked very well, and J.D.'s thoughts on it are particularly poignant. The way a gag about a flare from early in the episode returns in the final scene definitely lived up to the "classic Scrubs" angle that Bill Lawrence promised for Season 8, and along with a very fitting song choice to end the episode on, proved that Scrubs hasn't lost it yet.

So, what's my final diagnosis on Scrubs Season 8? So far, vitals are improving and a lot of the problems plaguing the last few seasons seem to be in remission. The comedy mostly came from the characters themselves, rather than extremely over-exaggerated versions of the characters doing increasingly absurd things in J.D.'s mind. The second episode especially avoided relying on crazy dream sequences, and in turn managed to produce a more subtle, emotional episode than I've seen from Scrubs in some time. All in all, I'll definitely be visiting Sacred Heart Hospital again, and can only hope the opening episodes show a recovery from creative illness, as opposed to just a temporary shot in the arm for the medical comedy.