Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

When I picked up the first season of Scrubs on DVD, I had only ever seen a couple of episodes of the second season back when they were originally broadcast. Based on that scant experience, I had no trouble making the investment in the first season on DVD.

The Story

John "JD" Dorian (Zach Braff) starts out the season, along with his friend Chris Turk (Donald Faison), as a brand new intern at Sacred Heart Hospital. They make friends early on with Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), another intern, and Carla Espinoza (Judy Reyes), a more experienced nurse. They're led through their first year by the caustic Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley) and the misanthropic Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins).

Relationships develop and evolve between the main characters in fascinating and real ways, despite how silly the show strives successfully to be. Carla and Turk develop a romantic relationship early on, while JD and Elliot dance around their interest in each other for a while. JD enormously (and improbably, at times) looks up to Dr. Cox, and every once in a while Dr. Cox spares him the sharp side of his tongue to reveal a real person underneath his brash exterior.

The plot is standard sitcom stuff, for the most part, but set in the locale of a medical drama. Scrubs distinguishes itself, also, by its frequent jaunts into JD's imagination. Whether it's something as mundane as experiencing an alternate way of dealing with somebody (as in the most memorable scene in High Fidelity), or picturing himself and Turk dressed as Robin and Batman respectively, JD's flights of fancy are always hilarious.

The Characters

JD - He's the main character of the show. Every episode starts and ends with a voiceover narration by JD. Some people might not like that there seems to be a "lesson" portion of every episode, where some music plays and the voiceover tells us what JD has learned that week. It plays a little too much like Full House for some people (my roommate included). But it's JD that pulls it all together, in my opinion, and keeps it from degenerating into such dreck.

JD's not a terribly exciting character, but by design. He's likable, if not overwhelmingly so. He's awkwardly charming. In short, he's more real than a lot of characters in films and television are these days. He's got clear faults that transcend making a mistake and fixing it in one episode. He's too nervous and wants everyone to like him all the time. He often says the wrong thing. But at the end of the day, he's a stand-up guy who will fight to do the right thing, and that's what lends the show its moral center. We get the voiceover with the lesson in it from a real guy who's learned a real lesson, not from some godlike narrator who's distanced from the events of the show.

Elliot - Elliot Reid was given a boy's name by her father for some reason. It's not integral to the character, and you don't even notice it after a little while, but it helps add to her quirkiness and eccentricity.

Elliot is the daughter of the chief of medicine at another hospital, and seems to have always been under a lot of pressure to succeed. She constantly second-guesses herself, and picks up other people's slack, and she's insecure enough to do it all with a smile on her face. She's too friendly at times, and often puts her foot in her mouth, but you can't help but like her and hope that she and JD will stop beating around the bush and realize that they like each other. I couldn't, anyway.

Turk - Turk was JD's roommate in college, and in med school, and is now his roommate as they start out as doctors. He's a surgical intern, as opposed to JD and Elliot, who are medical interns. He's cocky and sure of himself, but one of his major weaknesses is his inability to effectively handle change or surprise. His relationship with Carla has developed in a surprisingly sensitive and real way, and contrasts very well with other relationships in the show.

Carla - Carla had been working at Sacred Heart for a few years before JD, Turk and Elliot started there at the beginning of the first season, so she serves as a guide to them a lot of the time. She's tough and assertive, and fiercely proud of her role as a nurse

Dr. Cox - John C. McGinley's role as Dr. Cox is probably my favorite part of Scrubs. Coming from anybody else, the long, exaggerated speeches he gives would get tiresome, but McGinley pulls them off masterfully. At his heart, Dr. Cox is the most competent and (dare I say it?) compassionate doctor that we see at Sacred Heart, but the caustic face he puts on obscures that fact sometimes. He's afraid of intimacy and is always pushing people away, but when the rubber hits the road, he stands up for what's right without reservation.

Other Characters - There are a lot of supporting characters who fill out the rest of the cast. Neil Flynn as Janitor plays a wonderful foil to JD, and Christa Miller as Dr. Cox's ex-wife Jordan gives a wonderful performance every time she's onscreen. There have been several memorable guest appearances by such actors as Ed Begley, Markie Post, John Ritter, R. Lee Ermey, and Brendan Fraser, to name a few, but somehow Scrubs manages to fit them in naturally, so that they don't feel like they were just tossed in there for no good reason.

The Final Verdict

I'm not going to go into a review of specific episodes, because frankly, I didn't see any that I didn't like. There were ones that stood out above the rest (My Bed Banter & Beyond, My Occurrence, and My Hero come immediately to mind), but each episode is as worth watching as the next.

The final verdict? In my opinion, it's impossible not to love a show that includes a line like, "You can't have sex with someone you care about. Sex is for making babies and revenge."

Other TV Reviews!

24 - Season One
Scrubs - The Complete Second Season
Smallville - Season One

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older