23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In the era of reboots, what does a great series finale mean?
But what it also excelled at was its bittersweet tone. Sometimes, in medicine and in his personal life, things didn't work out the way J.D. wanted. Sometimes, in fact, they worked out tragically, or even just disappointingly.
It was an emotional balance that Lawrence would continue honing on shows including '
That tone was particularly evident in the original finale of 'Scrubs,' (original, yes, because the show backtracked and came back with a new set of young doctors for a couple of extra seasons) which saw J.D. leave Sacred Heart, the hospital where he worked, for a new job.
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What set that sort-of-finale apart from other series finales was what happened as he exited the hospital. True to J.D. and his active fantasy life, he imagined what his future might be — he saw himself marrying Elliot and having a baby with her, he celebrated Christmas with Turk and Dr. Cox, he finally got a big hug from Dr. Cox, his kid married Turk's kid. It was all very cheesy, but knowingly so.
It was the type of wish fulfillment that TV shows often seem to feel obligated to close with (ahem, 'Friends'), but in perfect 'Scrubs' fashion, its final scene doesn't say any of this will actually happen. As a Peter Gabriel cover of the classic Magnetic Fields song 'The Book of Love' plays (a Lawrence show always has excellent music thanks to his wife and frequent star, Christa Miller), J.D. thinks about how nice it would be if it did. Wouldn't it be wonderful if marriages always lasted lifetimes, and we always stayed central to the lives of all the people we love?
With a reboot set to happen, we'll find out whether any of J.D.'s dreams came true. The potentials will become facts, one way or another. As show after show gets rebooted, it's a little sad to see all of those endings undone. Sure, it can be fun and comforting to revisit these worlds. But as 'Scrubs' so often pointed out, sometimes the real joy was in leaving room for uncertainty.
Lisa Weidenfeld can be reached at
