(S06E21 / S06E22) Now that we know that Scrubs is going to be back for a seventh season -- though from what we've all heard, the seventh season was all but assured, even if it was on ABC instead of NBC -- the way this season concluded made a whole hell of a lot more sense. Since I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't seen the episode yet, I'll save my thoughts on that until after the jump.

You know what? I really shouldn't call this an "episode." Really, it was two episodes edited into one. You could just tell by the fact that the tried-and-true Scrubs structure was run through twice here. Oh, that and the two different names and episode numbers. Those were also a good indication. Anyway, my point is that if the pacing of the episode felt weird to you, that's the reason why.

So, here's how we're leaving the sixth season: back on the J.D.-and-Elliot love train. Or at least we're seeing it come down the tracks. The two of them are on a cot, holding hands, facing each other, and slowly advancing towards each other.

Heck, Elliot was wearing scrubs, using some lame excuse about how she didn't want to get her christening dress all wrinkly. It didn't take J.D. pointing it out for fans of the show to know the symbolism behind that; the previous times the two got together, they were young residents, whose only real concern was whether they were going to make it as doctors. Now, things have changed: Elliot is getting married to a devoted Keith, and J.D. and Kim are having a baby. So there's a hell of a lot more at stake here. But, as you'd expect, the two are still drawn with each other.

I find it interesting and troubling that the two of them are getting together at this point. Not as much with Elliot; breaking up an engagement, even a week before the wedding, is somewhat understandable. But J.D.... boy, he's just going to stay a man-child forever, isn't he? Yeah, it's funny when he's making out his godfather speech for Jennifer Dillon Cox in a journal with a unicorn on the cover. But he continues to make decisions that reek of immaturity. I thought he reached a level of maturity when he told Kim that there's no chance they could get back together. Even when he decided to give the two of them a shot, that was OK because he was thinking of his kid. But then he went way too fast and got in too deep, like he usually does. So now, he's in the position of really hurting the mother of his child in order to maybe go back with someone that he never seemed to work well with romantically. I guess season seven will finally put the two of them together for good... eventually. Maybe they'll wait until the last episode like Gilmore Girls did.

That little cliffhanger at the end of last week's episode got diffused pretty quickly, with Carla grabbing Elliot and J.D. constantly escaping. It's too bad he didn't actually have to face the music at that point in time. But it made for a funny opener with all of J.D.'s escapes. The only part I didn't like was the appearance of his rabbit-headed, jogging-suit wearing conscience. Oof, did that gag fall flat, every single time they tried it. But at least I had to mention it; the thing kinda creeped me out a little.

One thing we do know is that J.D. and Kim are going to have a son, and that it will likely be named Sam Perry Gilligan Dorian. I like how he said he's using "Perry" merely because he likes how it sounds. Uh huh. And, of course "Gilligan" was because he lost a bet with Turk.

The rest of the hour was a mixed bag. Elliot's bridezillaness was OK; I liked how she rewarded Keith for putting up with her craziness by giving him extra tongue. By the way, what is it this week with people romantically licking each other on the face? We had Lily lick Marshal on HIMYM, and now Elliot lick Keith here. But the B-stories of both ends of the hour didn't really pack much of a comedic punch. Even the reason why Elliot didn't want another woman with a man's name at her bachelorette party didn't do much for me. And the whole thing where the Janitor and the Braintrust try to make Keith into the perfect husband weren't all that funny (but Murphy's attempts to get back into the Braintrust were, a little).

Oh, and who does a christening at the hospital chapel? I tell ya, little J.D. (Cox's head almost exploded when Jordan called their daughter that) got gypped, since Jack got christened in a real church.

What did hit? Mostly anything involving Cox and J.D. We haven't seen a lot of Coxian (to use J.D.'s version, that combines "Cox" and "Dorian") interaction lately, so seeing it here was a welcome return to form. Kelso's defusing of Cox's list of things that he'd rather see than J.D. being his daughter's godfather -- "Yeah, yeah. A funny long list. We get it. You need a new thing, big guy. We've seen it before. Isn't time you got a new thing?" -- was pretty good, though "a sequel to Hope Floats" was a pretty good item to put on the list. Also, who knew that Cox was the type to actually enjoy The Wiggles in Concert... twice? I'm sure fathers everywhere (including TVS' Keith and Rich) said a silent "Yeah!" at that one.

What else... Donald Faison with hair. Just can't get used to it. He had peach-fuzz before, but not a full growth like he does now. It was even more grown in when he went on Conan the other night. How 'bout Elliot telling Carla that she looked like George Lopez when she was pregnant? I liked Turk and J.D. finishing each others' sentences. Also, the negotiation between J.D. and Cox to trade in the godfather title was good; too bad Johnny didn't take the deal, since Jordan was able to make her own deal. And who can resist little Jack saying, "Yeah, up yours, Bobbo."

(UPDATE: I forgot to mention the Travelocity product placement, or at least that's what it looked like. You think Travelocity bought that flashback, or was it put there on purpose to make fun of product placement?)

For all that went on, story-development-wise, the humor of the episode(s) was as surprisingly flat as the rabbit-head gag. Definitely a down note to what had been an increasingly entertaining second half to the season. It wasn't as awkward as episodes from the first half, but it definitely wasn't as funny as a lot of the episodes we've seen lately. Let's hope season 7 is better. Because of the J.D. / Elliot thing, I'm giving it a 5.