Scrubs (Season 5)

Season 5 of Scrubs is phenomenal. I like this show, but Season 5 is far and away the best season. It's not just consistent, it's consistently fantastic, nearly every episode is experimental, and the balance between uproarious comedy and crushing dramatic is at its absolute best.

The start of Season 5 feels like a pretty big turning point in the series, as after being interns/residents for the last four seasons, JD, Turk, and Elliot are finally proper doctors. This means that there's now an entirely new lineup of interns joining Sacred Heart, and JD, Turk, and Elliot are the ones who are going to have to coach them. This also means that JD and Dr Cox are now essentially equals in terms of their jobs, which adds a new wrinkle to their dynamic as it transforms from a mentorship to a partnership. I think these changes was a breath of fresh air for the series and despite how disastrously introducing a new lineup of characters can go, I found myself liking most of the interns well enough, and they never stole screentime away from the main cast we know and love. There are also a bunch of solid subplots this season, particularly Elliot and JD both entering genuinely long-lasting relationships with intern Keith and urologist Kim (exactly what I wanted out of Season 4) and Turk and Carla trying for a kid which remains the best baby-related subplot in the series. My only... and I mean only... gripe with Season 5 is the finale, which isn't bad on its own but two of its big twists end up reflecting negatively on the season that comes afterwards.

I can't even begin to express just how amazing Season 5's lineup of episodes is. The crew came up with so many amazing and fun experimental episodes, way more than even in the last two seasons, such as a premiere that took place from the perspective of an intern, an episode that reused the script from the pilot, a Rashomon episode, a Dr Kelso character study, multiple Story episodes, and a Wizard Of Oz homage. The sheer variety on show here makes for easily the funniest season of Scrubs, as the show also amped up the surrealism and goofiness to great results. However, Season 5 is also probably the darkest season of Scrubs, as it contains two different two-parter episodes (so four episodes in total) that rival My Old Lady and My Screwup in sheer gut-punchiness. One of these episodes in particular is my absolute favorite in the series, and really pushes the bar in how emotionally gutting a sitcom episode can be. Season 5 really is the peak of Scrubs and everything I love about the show, and the way it balances absurdity with heart-wrenching drama is unrivaled by any other show outside of probably Bojack Horseman.

Highlights:

My Way Home: I love seeing what a show decides to do for their 100th episode, but Scrubs going for a Wizard Of Oz homage was definitely an... interesting choice. Thankfully, while this episode could have come off as really corny (like a certain other homage episode in a later season), My Way Home is actually one of the most heartwarming and fun episodes in the series. The episode packs in many sly references to the source material without feeling over-bearing about it, culminating in one of the show's best musical montages set to Sam Lloyd singing Over The Rainbow. And with all that, My Way Home still manages to feature the whole cast and reflect on how much they've grown, just like a good 100th episode should do.

My Big Bird: I love Rashomon homages so much, it's such a simple but reliably great premise to pull off, and given Scrubs's penchant for cutaway gags, I think the structure fits the show pretty much perfectly. It's another great example of a Scrubs episode that starts off funny as we learn what JD, Elliot, Turk, and Carla were doing when a patient died, only for it to really hit you that they might've just caused a patient to die. 

My Half Acre: Just to clarify, the first three episodes in this highlight section came out back to back to back, that's three fantastic episodes in a row! My Half Acre isn't super gimmicky or emotional or anything, it's just really solid and fun. Julie is one of the funniest JD love interests in the series, a clumsy female version of him who he eventually buys a half-acre block with. But the real highlight here is Turk joining the Cool Cats (and unintentionally creating the Fortnite default dance), leading to another one of my favorite musical montages, this time set to More Than A Feeling.

My Cabbage/My Five Stages: This is the first of the two big dramatic two-parters, and is another episode that's really funny until it's not. JD picking favorites between the interns is My Cabbage leads to a lot of great gags, at least until the titular intern gets fired and infects a patient with a disease. Cue another great episode about dealing with the five stages of grief, I'm surprised it took so long.

My Bright Idea: No one talks about My Bright Idea which is a shame because I think it's one of Scrubs' most effective episodes. It basically plays out as a farce where the cast learns Carla is pregnant before she does so they have to pretend they don't know so she can surprise them. It's like the The One Where Everybody Finds Out of Scrubs, complete with the same heart-warming ending once all the secrets are out.

My Lunch/My Fallen Idol: My Lunch is my favorite episode of Scrubs, it just encapsulates the show perfectly. Jill Tracy returning and the subplot of Todd possibly being gay may have you believe this going to be another comedy-focused episode, until a series of disaster dominoes leaves Dr Cox unable to save three separate patients in hands down the most heartwrenching moment in the series, made even worse by the fact that it's scored to How To Save A Life. It's hard to see Dr Cox break down to this degree, and his subsequent spiral in My Fallen Idol is just as rough.

Overall, Season 5 is the best season of Scrubs by a mile. It changes up the status quo just enough to keep the series and its character dynamics fresh, it brings so much variety to the table with its experimental episodes, it amps up the comedy to ridiculous degrees, it boasts some of the darkest episodes in the series, and it manages to do all that while remaining consistently great.

5/5 Stars