We’re a few months early for the 25th(!) anniversary of Scrubs, but ABC has resurrected the show once again, with a new season premiering on February 25. The show quickly became one of my favorite sitcoms with its outlandish visual gags, flawed but winning characters, sharp writing, and excellent needle drops. It’s no surprise creator Bill Lawrence went on to create similarly charming shows like Ted Lasso and Shrinking. We all probably got a little too much Zach Braff exposure between this and Garden State, but it’s fascinating he never got bigger than he was in the mid-2000s.
So without further ado, my 10 favorite episodes of the show.
10. “My Way Home” (Season 5, Episode 7)
Possibly the silliest episode of the show – and that includes a musical and a “multi-cam” diversion – but one that successfully pulled off its Wizard of Oz homage, even with the metaphor stretching about as far as it will go. Carla needs courage, Elliot needs more brains, Turk literally needs a comatose patient’s heart, and J.D. just wants to go home. This half-hour packs in more visual humor than usual, as well as renditions of the classic film’s songs by the Worthless Peons.
9. “My Porcelain God” (Season 3, Episode 13)
This “supersized” episode makes the most of its guest spot from Michael J. Fox, making his first on-screen TV appearance since leaving Lawrence’s Spin City. When the visiting doctor has an “epiphany toilet” installed on the roof, it leads to revelations from all the medical staff, including Elliot, who suddenly has a case of the yips. It’s one of the warmest episodes of a show that never was afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve.
8. “My Old Lady” (Season 1, Episode 4)
The show’s first great episode, featuring the always dependable Kathryn Joosten. While Turk and Elliot are dealing with their own dying patients, J.D. is stuck with Babs, who decides against future life-saving measures. When she announces that she’s “ready to die,” the show delivers its greatest visual gag: a delivery of an actual ton of bricks to fall on our protagonist. This may be the perfect episode to introduce someone who’s never seen the show, as it’s the perfect blend of silly humor and earnest sweetness.
7. “My Cake” (Season 4, Episode 6)
John Ritter’s sudden death didn’t just affect his show 8 Simple Rules. It also forced Scrubs to address his passing head-on. Having played J.D.’s dad in the previous season, his brother Dan (Tom Cavanagh) shows up to deliver the bad news with cake to offset the sadness. J.D. and Dan both try to avoid the elephant in the room, but it’s surprisingly Dr. Cox who helps pull them out of their depression. While it’s a perfect balance of crushing and uplifting, this episode is also responsible for a line from Turk that’s rattled around my brain for more than two decades: “Your dad dying has stolen my diabetes thunder.”
6. “My Hero” (Season 1, Episode 23)
A standout episode for guest star Brendan Fraser as Ben – who will pop up later – but maybe the single best episode for Neil Flynn as the Janitor (“My Best Laid Plans” comes close). While undergoing treatment for leukemia, Ben finds his brother-in-law Dr. Cox strangely distant. At the other end of the spectrum, J.D. is freaked out by just how much the janitor knows about him. It’s a great encapsulation of their rivalry and Flynn’s perfectly deadpan performance.
5. “My No Good Reason” (Season 6, Episode 14)
Aloma Wright was one of the many great character actors on the show’s bench, delivering sassy remarks and taking no shit as Laverne. This and every other medical show teaches viewers that tragedy can strike at any time, no matter how good a person is or how healthy they seem. But it’s always tougher when it’s “one of their own.” Laverne, a devout Christian who believes “everything happens for a reason,” ends the episode close to death. Dr. Cox, a rare truly atheist character, takes the news the hardest. This pushes the show to delve deep into one of the oldest philosophical conundrums in history: How can a supposedly loving god allow so much suffering? But the episode doesn’t have any easy answers (because there aren’t any). Though the show could be sublimely stupid, this was far more intellectual than many sitcoms at the time.
4. “My T.C.W.” (Season 2, Episode 18)
A surprisingly mature episode considering T.C.W. stands for “Tasty Coma Wife.” Amy Smart guest stars in the titular role, as a woman whose husband has been in a coma for years with no real hope for recovery. J.D. shows real growth as a human when she goes out for a drink with him, then wants something more. Despite going through a dry spell, he’s confronted with her emotional fragility, and has to think about more than just his own desires. All this while dealing with rumors of bestiality and getting framed as a racist! (Both are much funnier in context.)
3. “My Lunch” (Season 5, Episode 20)
If you thought Brendan Fraser was the guest star whose character caused the most devastation on this show, you’d actually be wrong! (Though we’re not done with him yet.) It’s actually Nicole Sullivan’s Jill. As a “frequent flier” at Sacred Heart, she’s often seen as more of an annoyance than a patient. But when she dies unexpectedly, the doctors feel a twinge of guilt, then relief, as they’re able to use her organs for patients needing transplants. But in a crazy twist – one based on a real-life case – all the recipients die because Jill actually had undiagnosed rabies. It’s an absolute gut-punch, one that sidelined Dr. Cox for several more episodes.
2. “My Finale” (Season 8, Episodes 18-19)
The finale that wasn’t really a finale. After NBC canceled the show following a strike-shortened seventh season, ABC (who produced the show) picked it up for one more, albeit with a lower budget and shorter run. And then they renewed it for another season, although with the focus on a new set of interns. This is pretty much the platonic ideal of a sitcom series finale: it gives every character a moment to shine, has plenty of laughs, doesn’t feel perfunctory, and gives the heartstrings a tug in the final moments. The latter comes courtesy of a vision of J.D.’s future set to Peter Gabriel’s cover of “The Book of Love.” It’s moving stuff.
1. “My Screw-Up” (Season 3, Episode 14)
As if it was ever going to be anything else. “Where do you think we are?” remains one of the most brutal lines ever delivered on TV, an all-time rug-pull that earned the show its lone nomination for writing. As much as I love Arrested Development, this episode should have won that category in 2004, along with Brendan Fraser as Guest Actor (who wasn’t even nominated!) Even if this revival doesn’t last long, we’ll always have this episode, a perfect depiction of what it feels like when you lose one of the good ones.