By Faith McQuinn

The creators of SCRUBS have obviously read the sitcom rulebook. Rule number one: a baby kills your ratings. When Perry (John C. McGinley) had his son Jack, we saw him a handful of times. Since Carla and Turk (Judy Reyes and Donald Faison) had little Isabelle, she’s probably appeared on the show three times at the most. Now there’s JD’s (Zach Braff) son Sammy—born last week and M.I.A. for the majority of this week’s episode.

Little Sammy wasn’t the only one missing in action. Thankfully, Keith (Travis Schuldt) has disappeared from the halls of Sacred Heart. Hopefully he will stay away. Kim (Elizabeth Banks), too, has left the building—conveniently moving forty miles away for a new job. Don’t you wish real-life breakups could be so convenient?

Fortunately, JD has another family member to contend with—big brother Dan (Tom Cavanaugh). I love when Dan is on the show. Not just because Cavanaugh is one amusing guy, but also because it’s always nice to see JD as the responsible one every now and again. Oh, whoops, spoke too soon. This week, JD gets shown up by his formally deadbeat brother.


Dan, who I lovingly recall spent a few episodes in old bathwater with a case of beer, has gotten a real job flipping houses, bought his own house, and gotten JD a car. (It’s a hybrid, of course, because NBC went green this week.) JD is upset because Dan is not the responsible one, and the little brother must finally face facts. He needs to grow up.

Meanwhile, The Janitor (Neil Flynn) goes über-green after being scared straight watching AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. (Did you catch that tie in with the title?) He even threatens people who don’t heed his new environmentally sound way, but as per Janitor’s state of mind, it wears off quickly. Elliot gets upset at all the doctors for being hypocrites. Then she turns around and tells a patient to eat more while she herself weighs less than the patient.

All and all, it wasn’t a very memorable episode. It was better than last week because I didn’t have to listen to Keith insult Elliot (Sarah Chalke) but not as good as the season opener. I’m really in love with the SCRUBS signature mix of weird comedy and morality tales, but this week had a bit too much morality going on. Yay for the scenes like the one with Turk painting his face like a basketball. Boo for the scenes of Perry telling Elliot she’s a hypocrite. I know Sarah Chalke can be hilarious. She needs to get out of her post-Keith slump and bring back the funny Barbie incessant behavior.


NBC has never given SCRUBS the love it deserves, and I’m just hoping that this last season can go out with a bang instead of a fizzle. Even though I’ve said the creators read the sitcom rulebook, maybe they should throw it away and bring in more baby time. It’s OK if JD wants to grow up and be a responsible parent, but let’s have some fun doing it!