Scrubs (Season 3)

Seasons 3-5 are the peak of Scrubs, in my opinion. They're the show at its most creative, consistently funny, and emotionally effective. While Season 3 is slightly held back by an ill-conceived plot point near the end, it still stands out as a far better season than the first two.

Compared to the first two seasons, Season 3 actually has a few defined story arcs, with one focusing on JD and Elliot, and the other focusing on Turk. JD and Elliot's typical will-they-won't-they relationship really comes to a head this season, as they both end up getting other love interests only to still be drawn towards each other by the end of the season. Not to mention their own storylines like the further development of JD and Cox's relationship and Elliot becoming more assertive, it all weaves together as a fantastic build-up to the two getting together. However, I can't really say this season nails the payoff. The only thing I don't like about Season 3, the one thing preventing me from giving it 5 stars is the fact that the moment JD gets together with Elliot, he suddenly decides he doesn't want to be with her anymore. That's just bad writing no matter how you slice it, I'm sorry. Thankfully, the Turk stuff is a lot better, as the season focuses on him and Carla preparing for their wedding, while he also butts heads with the new attending surgeon. As you'd expect, both of these subplots collide in pretty spectacular fashion in the finale, along with the return of the aforementioned love interests for JD and Elliot just adding to the chaos.

But what really elevates Season 3 above the first two seasons for me is easily the consistent and fantastic level of quality of most of the episodes, especially in the second half. When I said that Scrubs is at its best when it gets experimental, this is exactly the season I was talking about! The imagine spots are more creative, we got episodes that play around with perspective and alternate timelines, we got way more guest stars including a phenomenal performance by Michael J Fox, and an episode entirely revolving around the song Don't Stop Believing (speaking of which, I just need to express how much I love the needle-drops in this show, they're all so good!). It's not just comedy though, the drama has also been heightened, leading to some of the most heartbreaking and serious episodes in the show to date. Season 3 of Scrubs deals with suicide, OCD, and in probably one the most infamously depressing TV episodes of all time, coping with the loss of a dear friend. All of these shifts in tone are so well-executed, and make for just a fantastic run of television.

These segues were always pretty cheesy and awkward, maybe I should stop them. Anyway, here are this season's highlights:

My Fifteen Seconds: Even with its minor subplots, My Fifteen Seconds is mostly focused entirely around JD and Dr Cox, and all of their banter throughout the episode is great (that Whack-a-Newbie gag lives in my head rent free). However, while it starts off as one of the funniest episodes, My Fifteen Seconds quickly becomes one of the saddest when they learn recurring character Jill Tracy tried to poison herself. The overarching theme about them not getting to spend enough time with their patients makes this moment all the more poignant.

My Catalyst: Television has never been the best at depicting OCD, most shows never really take the disorder all that seriously. It's not just germophobia, and it's also not as simple as just wanting to sit at the same spot on the couch (looking at you, Sheldon), it can be really serious and downright crippling for some people. Scrubs is one of the few shows to actually depict it accurately, and Michael J Fox's performance as the OCD-striken Dr Casey is absolutely phenomenal. I may not have OCD myself, but I felt Casey's pain in that final scene.

My Screwup: What can I say about this episode that hasn't already been said? Brendan Frasier's amazing and genuine performance as Ben, the genius red herrings and foreshadowings building up to that final twist, the fact that the episode still manages to be funny in spite of its dark subject matter, the sheer gut-punchiness of "Where do you think we are?" no matter how many times you've seen the episode, My Screwup is easily one of the best episodes in Scrubs.

My Tormented Mentor: Similarly to My Hero, this episode deals with the fallout of My Screwup, and it's as sad as you'd expect it to be.

My Butterfly: Alternate timeline episode! My Butterfly deals with the concept of the butterfly effect in the most literal fashion possible. After a butterfly causes everyone's days to go horribly, JD wonders what would've happened if it landed somewhere else. It's a very funny and clever episode as it plays around with the differences between both of those timelines, but also manages to get in a great gut punch as we learn a patient dies in both timelines. But then, in case I didn't love this episode enough, we get an ambiguous ending where we don't know which of the timelines is real. Peak television right here.

Overall, Season 3 of Scrubs is great! Aside from one really stupid plot decision, this is the most focused season so far in terms of plot, and almost all of the episodes are consistently creative and well-written, regardless if they make you cry from laughing or from crying.

4/5 Stars