"As I fondled Katya, my pillow girlfriend, I thought about how things changed for all of us. You see, I had almost forgotten, when I wake up, it'll be the start of my last week as a resident." - J.D. (Zach Braff), awakened from a dream by his Sugar Hill Gang alarm clock
Scrubs: The Complete Fourth Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
When the fourth season of Scrubs begins, several employees at Sacred Heart Hospital find themselves at crossroads. After unsuccessfully trying to turn their friendship into a romance, J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Roseanne's Sarah Chalke) do their best to avoid one another as their residencies come to an end. Elliot is thrilled when Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) names her Chief Resident ("Oh my God! Now I know how Liza Minnelli felt. When she won the Oscar, not when she married that gay, pan-faced alien."), but her buzz is killed when she learns that J.D. is to be Co-Chief...and that they will have to share an office no bigger than a broom closet. J.D.'s best friend and roommate, Turk (Clueless' Donald Faison), has to adjust to married life after returning from his honeymoon with Carla (Judy Reyes). The hospital's chief of medicine, Dr. Kelso (Homefront's Ken Jenkins), continues to cut corners, even deciding that public bathrooms will be available only on every other floor. The hospital's nameless janitor (Neil Flynn) continues to torment J.D. but also finds the time to develop a crush on Elliot...and to start a "squirrel army" using animals he catches and stuffs.
The focus of season four is love in its many forms. In several early episodes, Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) guest stars as Dr. Molly Clock, the hospital's new scatter-brained attending psychiatrist. She's so sunny that she sings to her food and leads the cafeteria in a whistle-along to the theme song from The Andy Griffith Show. J.D. falls for her - hard - even though she thinks his name is Johnny. These episodes are some of the season's funniest. At the same time, however, Graham never really seems to mesh with the rest of the cast. Dr. Clock's idiosyncrasies are well-written, but Graham cannot totally pull them off.
Later in the season, J.D. begins dating Kylie (Passions' Chrystee Pharris-Larkins). Oddly enough, even though Pharris-Larkins is an extremely appealing actor, these episodes are less successful than those featuring the miscast Graham, mostly because the relationship between J.D. and Kylie seems too one-note.
Newlyweds Carla and Turk face several obstacles throughout the season. First, they have to become accustomed to living with each other. Carla stuffs Rowdy, Turk's taxidermy dog, with potpourri because she thinks he smells. Their bed times conflict, causing several sleepless nights. Their marriage faces even more stress when Turk, Carla's "Superman," is diagnosed with diabetes. And having J.D. as a roommate isn't exactly an ideal situation.
Which brings us to the series' most unlikely romance - that of J.D. and Turk. The duo - who have been roommates for twelve years - are a little too thrilled to see each other when Turk and Carla return from their honeymoon. One of their favorite pastimes is to swap seats just to see how well the other has warmed it up. They play dress-up, donning Eddie Murphy-esque leather outfits. Plus there's J.D.'s nickname for Turk: Super Chocolate Bear.
Dr. Cox, J.D.'s reluctant mentor, is as irascible as ever in the fourth season. When J.D. asks him to speak to the new residents, his idea of a pep talk is to let them know that each and every one of them will inevitably kill a patient. He and his ex-wife Jordan (Christa Miller) nearly break up - again - when they discover that their divorce never actually went through. Yet he also shows a caring side. When forced to perform community service by riding along with a manic ambulance drive (Saturday Night Live's Molly Shannon) he at first loses his patience with her constant nattering. He becomes sympathetic, however, upon discovering the family tragedy that explains why she won't shut up. In "My Cake," a heartfelt episode about heroes and father figures, he finally admits to J.D. that "truth be told newbie, I'm proud of you."
Another standout episode is "My Life in Four Cameras." The E.R. is overrun with hypochondriacs when a local TV station runs a report on e. coli-tainted beef. J.D. recognizes one of the potential patients as a former writer for Cheers, his all time favorite TV sitcom. It turns out that the writer doesn't have e. coli, but routine tests show something even worse. J.D. imagines what life would be like if all problems got wrapped up in neat thirty minute segments. Scrubs then morphs into a traditional sitcom, complete with shticky jokes, a hooting audience, and formulaic plotlines. This episode is brilliantly written, simultaneously sending up and paying tribute to sitcoms. It is must-see viewing for all TV fans.
Season four is heavy on slapstick, too. Each episode has more pratfalls than a Three Stooges short. Scrubs must employ more stunt people than your average action series. Guest star Julianna Margulies (E.R.) even performs a literally ball-busting dance number to the tune of A Chorus Line's "One" in "My Malpractice Decision."
Other actors making guest and cameo appearances in season four include Thomas Cavanagh (Ed), Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), Chuck Woolery (Love Connection), Richard Kind (Mad About You), Jon Polito (Crime Story), Matthew Perry (Friends), Colin Farrell (Miami Vice), Tara Reid (American Pie), Clay Aiken (American Idol), Michael Boatman (Spin City), Ed McMahon (The Tonight Show), and Josh Randall (Ed).
The twenty-five episodes that make up season four are divided onto three discs. Each of the three blue-hued discs are decorated with an x-rayed image of a skeleton. The discs are housed in a yellow foldout case. The three discs attach to two panels - one of the panels holds two discs, one on top of the other in a figure eight pattern. Two panels of the foldout case list the episode titles found on each disc. Once again, no plot synopses are included, making it a little more difficult for viewers to choose individual episodes. The case slides into a cardboard outer sleeve. The design of the outer sleeve and the foldout case - both of which feature photos of the cast - is most certainly colorful, but not quite as nice as previous seasons.
The DVD menus are an oddball variation on those for season three. A computer animated opening introductory sequence takes viewers on a first person stroll through hospital corridors before veering into the cafeteria. From here, viewers can play all of a disc's episodes or choose an individual one. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
