After a strong start in 2001 on NBC, Scrubs lost considerable steam by the time it moved to ABC for a planned final eighth season and a subsequent ninth season absent some of the core original cast. Like so many other shows from that era, Scrubs is back for more. It’s relatable enough that newcomers should be able to appreciate it without much context, while those who loved the show back in its heyday should appreciate a chance to wipe the slate clean and get back to what was best about this endearing comedy series in its prime.
Not all that much has changed at Sacred Heart, but medicine isn’t the same as it used to be. Doctors are constantly on their phones since patients are too, and wellness manager Sibby (Vanessa Bayer) steps in constantly to tell Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) to bring it down as he fumes at the incompetence of his interns. When concierge doctor J.D. (Zach Braff) comes back to the hospital with a patient, he’s delighted to reunite with his old best friend and current Chief of Surgery Dr. Turk (Donald Faison). Along with Elliot (Sarah Chalke), these three former newbies train the next generation of doctors to learn the hard lessons they learned long ago and laugh a little along the way too.
Scrubs was midway through its run when Grey’s Anatomy became the dominant medical show on television, a mantle that has now passed to The Pitt, which takes its patients and their life-threatening conditions very seriously, while St. Denis Medical presents at opportunity to laugh at the antics of a hospital workplace. This revival occupies a different space, leaning on its hospital setting but shying away from the technical details to instead focus on the people treating them and how this profession transforms them into better people. It doesn’t really feel like a show about medicine even though that’s what its characters are doing throughout every episode.
As the final season of this show’s original iteration showed, keeping the location but cycling out the stars didn’t work, and so it’s wonderful to have Braff, Chalke, and Faison back. Though they’re all now in the vicinity of fifty years old, they look very much the same and don’t always act all that differently, and their characters’ youthful behavior now presents as fighting to get out of destructive patterns they’re able to approach more maturely. Turk earning the nickname “Dr. Bummer” due to the constant stress of balancing multiple children and a demanding job with a wife, Carla (Judy Reyes), who’s working as hard as he is, serves as a productive anchor for reflection, while J.D. and Elliot reach a critical moment of growth when J.D. points out that Elliot’s demeaning nickname for an intern is all too reminiscent of the condescending and soul-crushing treatment she endured from Dr. Cox.
While these three are indeed the stars, it’s great to see an equally competent cast of younger stars on whose shoulders this show could eventually (perhaps not entirely) rest should this revival prove successful and long-running. Amanda Morrow, Layla Mohammadi, Ava Bunn, David Gridley, and Jacob Dudman each bring something special to their occasionally overconfident, occasionally overloaded young doctors, and the moments where they take the spotlight are just as worthwhile as revisiting the old crew, which is an impressive feat for this show to pull off.
This revival delivers just enough callbacks to the original show, like the intense bromance between J.D. and Turk, the ever-evolving relationship between J.D. and Elliot, and the flashes to fantasy sequences as J.D. lets his thoughts take him to faraway places. The jokes are there, as are the cameos of familiar faces whose appearances are very welcome, and each episode includes a few dramatic punches that work well to ground a show that often teeters just at the edge of reality. It’s a true delight to have Scrubs back, if even for one season. This feels like a return to everything the show always did right, and there’s no better way to bring back a show than with new content that’s just as satisfying as the old stuff used to be like it is here.
Season grade: 8/10
