Episode 3 - My Inconvenient Truth
29 March 2012
Synopsis: JD realises he needs to grow up, with some help from his brother Dan. Dr Cox makes Elliot feel like a hypocrite for not being able to follow her own advice to a patient. The Janitor sees An Inconvenient Truth and becomes the hospital’s environmental officer.
The Good: Dan becoming successful is nice continuity from his previous appearances on the show. He is pretty hit and miss though, he brings a good energy to the show but his humour is too obvious.
Dr Cox teaching Elliot a lesson is delivered with more subtlety than Scrubs usually bothers with. He makes his point well: when it comes to treatment, it’s about the patient and not the doctor. She learns it by failing to stick to a plan she thought would prove him wrong. It’s simple storytelling which is good.
The Janitor’s story is straightforward and uneventful. He manages to have one good joke as he locks Turk in his car with a wasp hive. Turk’s screams are always good value.
The Bad: In an episode which features an environmental story, I can’t help but feel other things are being recycled. It feels like JD has been learning the lesson to grow up for a very long time now. That’s not a bad thing for a character but as a viewer it has become repetitive to see the pattern of denial followed by revelation.
The two major surreal jokes don’t land punches. Both the hedging noise symphony and the weight machine scene are more spectacle then humour.
Comic Highlight: Turk paints his head like a basketball and JD repeatedly bounces his head on the floor. JD then shouts “Between the legs!” They both look awkward.
Diagnosis: After seven seasons it can be a bit tiring to sit through the characters learning lessons in the same way they always have. Even if the lessons they learn are good ones. The humour however is weak and predictable.
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