So, after 8 seasons, Scrubs (as we know it) has come to an end and JD has walked out of Sacred Heart for (possibly) the last time.
There have been some exceptional episodes - Ben's Death and Jill Tracy. Experimental episodes - The Musical one, plus Wizard of Oz. And some downright awful ones - Season 5 onwards!
'Scrubs' was about JD's journey from fresh Intern to experienced Attending. And that journey is now complete.
There has been talk of a 9th series, with the Interns taking centre stage and only some of the current cast returning albeit in guest roles instead. JD, Turk, Carla, Janitor and Cox have been hinted at as the infrequent returnees. But this would be a new show and a new journey.
Over the years there have been some hideously under-used characters like Ted's Band and Dan, JD's brother.. along with some overused ones like Keith. But it's one thing that Scrubs was good at - bringing in some cracking guest characters for one or more episodes... Who remembers TCM? Molly Clock, or the occasional Colin Hay appearances? But, I think Brendan Fraser as Ben was one of the best they ever had.
So the finale... It managed to redeem all that is Scrubs from the chaos of the past few years. Lets face it.. seasons 5-7 were not consistently good. I don't think this is the fault of the writers or cast, but the uncertainty over whether it will return for another season, and on which network. When it switched networks for the eighth season Scrubs began to settle down and appeared to be ever so slightly more 'grown up' then before. There was definitely a sense of wrapping up the whole way through the season, with Perry getting Bob's old job, and JD, Elliot, Ted and the Janitor all finding happiness. Also, to some extent Cox and Jordan learned to live with the fact that they actually 'like' each other.
What we ended up with was a solid and sometimes sad 2-parter to end JD's journey. He got his goodbyes, he got his hug (and expression of true feeling) from Perry, but more importantly, WE got the name of the Janitor. Bill Lawrence, true to his word said that the Janitor would reveal his name in the final episode of the series and he did. There was nothing special about it, no fanfare or mystery, it was just spoken.
As JD walked out we got a flash forward of his life, with accompaniment from Peter Gabriel singing 'Book of Love'. The difference here was that there was no 'fantasy flash' that normally accompanies JD, so we can only hope this was one fantasy that would come true.
It was a perfect way to end the series.
