Scrubs Update
I’ve really enjoyed Scrubs this season. I’ve been watching every week, and the one week I couldn’t I headed straight to ABC.com to watch it online. And after each back-to-back episode pairing I watch, I always think about coming here and writing my thoughts. But I’m always too lazy to do it. Until now because I’m really in the mood even though I ought to be cleaning my room.
This season of Scrubs has been extremely experimental. It’s not even subtle. Especially if you’ve read up on what’s been happening with the production of the show. It’s Zach Braff’s last season with the show, but there’s talk that it might go on without him. So almost every episode this season has had some sort of focus on the interns, introducing and developing the different new characters. The producers (or perhaps ABC) is so into this experiment that they’ve creative short webisodes at ABC.com that star the interns. Guess what it’s called? [Interns]. With the brackets and everything. Meanwhile the producers want to see how the audience reacts to each of those interns to see if next year they could carry on Sacred Heart Hospital as the main characters.
And from tonight’s episodes I really doubt that. Tonight’s first episode was called “My Absence” which was basically what the title says. J.D. is on vacation and Dr. Cox is relieved while Elliot misses him so much that she obsesses about him throughout the entire episode. And even though there’s plenty of plot in those 22 minutes between the other plethora of characters, it just isn’t much of an episode without J.D.’s flashbacks or narration (although he is constantly on Elliot’s speakerphone giving a few comments and finally making his philosophical monologue at the end of the episode even though he probably had no clue what was going on in the hospital). If this is the type of style we would have to expect for future seasons, then I see this show jumping the shark after the first episode of season 9.
There were two things I did like. I’m glad they finally put Sunny in an episode. Sunny Day is the main character of the [Interns] webisodes, where she takes her camcorder with her to document her life at the hospital (in college she double majored in pre-med and film). I was wondering when she would be in a TV episode, or if she was exclusively in the online series. She has a cute and energetic personality, but I wonder if she sounds too much like the Fun Size Intern (now Resident).
My other favorite thing was seeing the return of Stephanie Gooch played by Kate Micucci, who I immediately fell in love with after seeing her in last week’s show. I do not know a lot of ukulele-playing actors who attended Loyola Marymount Univeresity (which I just applied to) but she rules them all. When I am a famous filmmaker, I want to place her in every single one of my movies. And she will play ukulele, even if it is in a completely irrelevant scene. Ted deserved something nice for once, and I’m glad she was what he got.
The second episode, “My Comedy Show” was far better. Actually it’s been a trend all season that the second episode shown each Tuesday is better than the first. I’ve noticed that the first episode tends to focus on the interns, while the second episode tens to focus on the drama between the original 4 characters. The best thing about it was that Laverne made a short cameo… in a flashback that supposedly took place 7 years earlier. Unfortunately there was no Kate Micucci in this one. So maybe it wasn’t all that great.
Overall this week was a downer for Scrubs. Better not do that again to me next week, ABC!
