Scrubs: My Therapeutic Month

(S06E10) Here's the thing . . .

After a fairly lackluster first half of the season it seems that Scrubs is now returning back to what made this quirky comedy so funny for many of us. So, why the heck did it take so long? It shouldn't take ten weeks to get into the swing of things for a show that's been on for six seasons. There haven't been any cast changes, so everyone knows everyone else. The producer is still the same. Plus, the season before just seemed to take off like a rocket and continued ahead at light speed. What was different this time around?

By the way, this little rant isn't just for Scrubs, but for all of those other long-running shows that seem to be taking forever to get going this season . . . Gilmore Girls, Grey's Anatomy, SVU. All of these shows shouldn't need to warm up their engines and then start the race in the middle of the year! There, I feel better know. On to this week's program.

Really funny episode this week. Even my lovely wife thought it was good, and she's been lukewarm about the season so far. I think the highlight of the show was the story surrounding Turk and his return to medical residency after breaking his arm. We all know Dr. Cox's near hatred of the surgical community, so he was particularly harsh to Turk during the month his arm was in a cast. Yet, Turk wanted to impress Perry with his medical prowess. Eventually he became a bit like J.D. . . . sappy music and inner thoughts included. When that music played and Turk started monologuing I just cracked up. I thought it was even funnier when J.D. told him to stop it ('It's my thing,' he said) the second time it happened.

While we are talking about Dr. Dorian it's good to see that the attitude he decided upon at the end of last episode continued into this one. Yes, he's a recently jilted man who lives in a tent, faints when he poops, and currently has a DUI against him, but he's a well-adjusted recently jilted man who lives in a tent and . . . well, you know what I mean. It was J.D.'s turn this week with Brian, the Iraq war veteran who's been around for a few weeks now. Hmm, last season Michael Learned was on for several episodes, only to die in the end. I wonder if Brian will have the same fate. It seems that he gets worse everytime we see him.

Over to Elliott and boyfriend Keith. Like a commenter mentioned last week, I'm beginning to see a possible trend with Dr. Reid that could lead to her and J.D. reuniting romantically towards the end of the season. This time around it was Elliott mentioning that Keith may not be marrying material. Even though she asked him to live with her, he has his own room that Elliott says he is renting out. That's certainly a sign of a happy relationship.

In summary, a solid episode. I enjoyed the three storylines and the timeframe that was used to tell them in. I even enjoyed the Janitor's throwaway mutton gag and Kelso braided hair after his family reunion in the Bahamas. I look forward to some more solid episodes in the coming weeks.