Scrubs (Season 4)

Coming after the massive improvement that was Season 3, Season 4 of Scrubs is another pretty good season of the show. It doesn't reach the same heights, but it makes up for that in sheer consistency. 

Unlike its predecessor, this season of Scrubs doesn't go for an overarching story arc, and instead focuses on evolving the character dynamics and changing up the status quo a bit. JD and Elliot are still reeling from their disastrous attempt at getting together last season and both end up getting back in the dating scene, Turk and Carla deal with married life, and Dr Cox and Jordan continue to revive their relationship. It's all solid character progression that feels natural, unlike the aforementioned JD/Elliot disaster. The plot point I tend to remember the most from Season 4 is always JD's relationship with Molly Clock, who is probably my favorite non-Elliot love interests of his. Their dynamic just felt really wholesome and healthy, and I kinda would've liked to see more of them together before Clock left the show a third in. His second girlfriend Kylie was pretty enjoyable too, but I would've preferred the series just focus on developing a single love interest. The other big plot point for Season 4 is the conflict between JD and Turk, since the latter being married means they can't really be roommates anymore. There's a great feeling of tension throughout the season, as it slowly becomes increasingly clear that JD is going to have to move out and it's only a matter of time until that happens (though quite predictably, it happens in the finale).

As for the episodic stuff, Season 4 of Scrubs mostly just keeps doing what the previous season did so well, albeit slightly more consistently. I mentioned that Season 3's second half was fantastic, but aside from a few episodes, I actually thought its first half wasn't anything too special. Season 4, on the other hand, starts off with one of the show's best premieres and ends with one of the show's best season finales, rarely hitting a lull or dipping in quality. The same sense of experimentation also applies here, with the typically great guest star appearances, a really cool multi-camera sitcom parody, the closest thing the show has to an action movie, a bottle episode, and another Story episode. However, despite mostly keeping the same level of quality as Season 3, I found that this season just didn't reach the same high points for me, especially in terms of emotional punch. Granted, it would be hard to top My Screwup and My Butterfly, but I'll be honest and say that this season's big emotional episode, My Cake, wasn't quite as much of a gut punch (though that's entirely intentional).

For my last segue ever, take a look at some of these highlights:

My Cake: My Cake deals with the real-life passing of John Ritter, who played JD's dad, and yet it takes a different route than most of Scrubs's emotional episodes. It's not meant to leave you gutted, it's meant to be a lot more cathartic, with JD having a full-on support group to help him deal with his dad's death. Even if My Cake is sad, it's also really heartwarming to see Dr Cox drop everything to be supportive to JD, and paralleling that, Carla's uncharacteristically calm reaction to learning Turk has diabetes is also just really sweet. I think this episode's calming, mature, and at times light-hearted tone was intended to soften the blow of Ritter's death for the audience, and I'm sure it did a great job at it too.

My Unicorn: I'll be honest, I just really liked this one because Matthew Perry is in it, and he just goes full-on Chandler for the whole episode. Scrubs tends to use its guest stars really well, though while Brendan Frasier and Matthew J Fox had more dramatic roles, Perry got to really show off his comedy chops and it was a joy to watch.

My Life In Four Cameras: Similarly to My Butterfly, this was the genius high-concept episode of Season 4 that also happened to end with an unexpected punch to the gut. With things not going too well for pretty much the whole cast, My Life In Four Cameras has JD imagine a sitcom version of Sacred Heart where nothing goes wrong, everything is brighter and realistic, and a laugh track plays. The crew does a great job at mimicking traditional sitcoms like that, to the point where the show snapping back to reality where nothing's really been fixed feels all the more shocking and jarring.

My Roommates: My Roommates is simultaneously one of the funniest episodes of the season and one of the most important. JD finally gets kicked out of the house by Carla and Turk, and watching him bounce around all of his friends' houses is a ton of fun. JD comes back, of course, but this episode makes it clear that he's going to have to move out for real at some point, and when he does, Turk and Carla are going to need to figure out how to live together.

My Changing Ways: Excluding the actual series finale, this is my favorite finale of Scrubs. It's not as shocking as My Last Day, I don't think anything else will be, but it utilizes the whole cast and changes the status quo super dramatically for pretty much everyone. Similarly to My Last Day, this episodes marks the end of the cast being residents, and thus feels like the end of an era. Elliot is heading off to another hospital, JD is moving out, Turk and Carla are planning to have a kid, Jordan gets a job at Sacred Heart, if it weren't for JD not getting the happiest ending, this actually could have been a solid series finale.

Overall, Season 4 is just another really good season of Scrubs. It doesn't reach the emotional highs of the season before it (spoiler: or the season after it), but it's consistently strong, develops the characters, and doesn't have any stupid plot points like the last season did.

4/5 Stars