"My Growing Pains"
Now, this was the
Scrubs we've come to expect...sharp, goofy (but grounded), humane. Very funny, even when (painlessly) lecturing.
J.D. hangs out at the nurses' station with Turk...and with his infant son. Turk invites J.D. to play basketball, which J.D. declines, pointing out that his son is strapped to his chest...Turk suggests that he simply won't pass the ball to J.D., and J.D. notes that that would be just like a typical game for them. J.D. also has a brief fantasy about being able to breastfeed his boy, one among several large-breasted lactating male cast members (a tapped-out J.D. allows Kelso to feed the child; J.D. had apparently used most of his own milk in winning a squirting duel with Turk, who then sprays Kelso and J.D. in a sneak attack). Turk is brought up short by Carla, who notes that Turk could be spending time with their daughter, Izzy. Meanwhile, interns are being detailed to follow, at a close distance, a resident known for his short temper, Hooch (a character used sparingly in the past, and never better than now).
Kelso and a hospital board member are walking down a corridor, and Elliot overhears that Kelso's birthday is approaching. She offers to throw a party; Kelso demands that she not do so, and to mind her own business about his age, which he grudgingly gives as 58. The Janitor and Carla note that Kelso has been holding at 58 for several years, while lawyer Ted loses an argument with himself as to whether he will attend or even help organize a birthday party for his boss and nemesis. After brainstorming with Ted and the Janitor, Elliot decides that she won't be able to find out Kelso's true age, till the Janitor produces the keys to the cabinet holding the personnel files.
Meanwhile, Cox has a young teen patient who turns out to have a treatable case of leukemia..and parents who don't want to tell their son that he has cancer. Cox can't tolerate their reticence, even when Carla warns him about going behind their backs. He tells the kid, and while Ted's concerns that Cox has set the hospital up for a lawsuit hardly faze the doctor, Cox is desperate to know exactly why Carla thinks telling the boy about his illness was so wrong. Meanwhile, Cox is unimpressed by J.D.'s planned jokey stunts with Turk, expressing mild but expected disappointment that J.D.'s previous statements that was going to begin behaving maturely, now that he was a father, have gone by the wayside. J.D. takes his criticism to heart, and decides to tell Turk that he won't be playing.
Turk can't accept that...even while Turk and J.D. sit with their children, treating them almost like dolls (J.D. notes that his infant son might or might not eventually get together with Turk's infant daughter, given all the other options he has, including Cox's infant daughter), Turk argues that J.D. can't simply turn a switch and change his own personality, that that's not what parenting takes. Meanwhile, Elliot and her confederates prepare Kelso's 65th birthday party, even if Ted chooses to buy Channukah decorations, which are on sale.
In a tag-team lecture, Turk makes his case more forcefully to J.D., even while Carla finally explains why she's angry with Cox for telling his patient about his cancer, and thus making him have to worry about adult matters too soon. Cox nonetheless demonstrates why his approach was at least partially correct, and J.D. realizes he can still engage in goofy fun with Turk and still be a responsible father.
And, unfortunately for Kelso, his birthday party makes his age apparent to the board member, who reminds Kelso that, traditionally, Sacred Heart forces its adminsitrators to retire at 65. Kelso asks for, and gets, a reassurance that there will be no public announcement of his replacement till the new candidate is selected.
Really, just a cracking episode, so packed with incident that it's tough to recap elegantly and succintly, and with its three primary storylines so well weaved together, and dealing with real issues of life and death (and bothering Hooch) in the best manner of the series. This isn't one of the best episodes, but it's better than B+ for
Scrubs, and is further evidence that they've hit their stride again...we'll see how many episodes they're able to finish in this punctuated season, and what any interruption might mean for the show. If it maintains the quality of, or improves on, this episode as we run up to the finale, we'll all be very lucky, indeed.
