By Faith McQuinn

This week on SCRUBS, no major bombs were dropped and no new relationships were forged. It was just an episode with a whole lot of funny.

Carla (Judy Reyes) dreams about Turk (Donald Faison), JD (Zach Braff), and Elliot (Sarah Chalke) trying to kill her, but the real nightmare is that the dream is in English. Fearing that she’s losing touch with her Dominican heritage, she spends most of the episode moping.

Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) is having is own identity crisis because he’s shocked to realize he’s lonely without his family. In a slight change of generic story devices, it’s Elliot who teaches Perry something instead of the other way around. Nice way to change it up there, writers.


JD finds out that no one likes the nicknames he doles out because…well, because they’re stupid, but mostly because he doesn’t know anyone’s real name. This all starts when Shirley (played by Aloma Wright who used to play Laverne, get it?) shows up and JD decides to call her “Lavernagain.”

I just want to take a moment to say I’m happy to see Aloma Wright back on the show. I miss Laverne, and even though she’s Shirley now, it’s still great to have her back.

Enough reminiscing, on to the funny! Before the opening credits, there’s a hospital-wide wave showing JD as not only a dork but also a guy who’s a bit on the girly side. There was also Carla’s strange dream.  Then, before the credits finish, there’s an incredibly hilarious ode to RISKY BUSINESS involving Perry, JD, Turk, and The Todd (Robert Maschio) in his trusty banana hammock. “Hey guys, why are you wearing such big underwear?” Priceless!

And just when I thought the jokes couldn’t get any funnier, leave it to Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins) and Perry Cox to have possibly the best joke delivery I’ve seen all season. Perry’s already neurotic with his family out of town, and he just says, “Go to hell, Bob.” Bob’s response: “I didn’t even say anything.”

OK. It’s really not funny on paper, but I swear it was funny in the episode. I laughed so hard I missed the next minute of dialogue.

Of course, the entire episode isn’t filled with hilarity. It’s SCRUBS; there has to be a lesson learned. JD finally finds out nearly everyone’s real name…with the exception of The Janitor (Neil Flynn). I could almost hear the collective aggravation of viewers everywhere. Maybe by the finale we’ll finally learn The Janitor’s real name. Watch it actually be Janitor.

Carla, reassured by Turk and a Spanish-speaking Kelso, realizes she’s still a strong Latina woman. She even starts dreaming in Spanish again.


Turk, in an attempt to make Carla feel more Latina decides to learn Spanish. He must do it in secret, of course, because it’s always sweeter that way.

And Perry, after a good pep talk from Elliot, gives in and accepts that he’s truly a family man.

This episode wasn’t extra special, but it was still good television, and no one can complain about that.