Scrubs: Was That a Fairy Tale Ending?

by RachelL | 19:07 EDT, 02 Nov, 2010

Topics: Scrubs: Episode 11: Season 7

Last night something aired on NBC that in some places was billed as some sort of a finale for Scrubs.

Though it hasn't been officially announced by ABC yet, everyone knows that Scrubs will be moving to ABC for 18 final episodes next season.

However, last night was still the finale for NBC - and for a show that has aired on the network for 7 seasons - it sure didn't feel like it!

The episode was certainly not bad. In fact, it was one of the better episodes to have aired post strike. The way in which the fairy tale personalities paralleled the real-life hospital characters (from Dr. Cox's perspective, at least) was adorable, as was the way that the fairy tale paralleled the current medical case in the hospital (golden ring = copper deposits around the eyes). The episode also consisted of some cute gags:

1. Homage to The Princess Bride: "My name is Percival Cox. You're killing my friend. Prepare to die."

2. The two headed Turk/Carla character with one side of armor resembling a breast and the other a pec...

3. The monster was totally a cartoonized version of Lost's smoke monster, no?

4. I loved Cox's line at the beginning, "Much like one hit wonder Natalie Imbruglia, I'm torn."

However, here was my problem with the episode. It clearly was aired out of order. Kelso was the Chief again and JD referenced the on-call room "almost moment" with Elliot from last season's finale as occurring one month ago.

While I understand that the strike messed things up, airing this episode as the final episode, right after a bunch of episodes centering on the idea that Kelso was no longer Chief was a slap in the face to Scrubs viewers (in my opinion, at least). NBC's decision to do this made a statement that was essentially, "We know this makes no sense, but we don't care". For that reason alone, I was incredibly bothered that this was the way NBC chose to send off a program that had aired on the network for so long. If they really wanted to, I imagine they could have done some additional editing to make the episode make sense, continuity-wise. Furthermore, while again the episode was not bad, it was a novelty type of episode that did not reflect what the series normally is; I would have preferred to see one of the other post-strike episodes as the last one that aired on NBC.

What do you guys think? Did you approve of the NBC Scrubs finale? Will you be following the show to ABC?

Comments

uwannadonkey | 22:01 EDT, 09 May, 2008

i thought the story was a Flashback of sorts, mainly because when elliot paged cox, he was at the hospital at that moment, yet the story was also STILL being told...

fury365 | 22:10 EDT, 09 May, 2008

i thought this episode but also the end of this season has been horrible....... as u said this episode (in terms of the where the plot is) made absolutely no sense. the end of the episode was basically "Elliot and JD are now friends and their kiss meant nothing" without showing us a conversation or anything. also the end of the last couple of episodes were hinting towards JD and Elliot getting back together or hooking up of some sort. Also Keith is old news and a abandoned character.NBC, i expected more from you and more respect for the fans of a show you have been airing for 7 years

Natorade | 03:01 EDT, 10 May, 2008

honestly, you put it into much better a perspective for me. "a slap in the face!"i had no idea that episode was meant to be the season finale, but the day after it aired my friends all informed me "yeahh.. Scrubs season is over." mass amounts of mental outrage.what sort of "finale" is that? and then the lacking in the consistency of the "continuity" (i scratched my head many a times during the episode, especially when Dr. Kelso was Chief.. again!). a brief thought being, why would the actors allow this to happen.couldn't they have stepped up? for the fans?! Disappointing.but here's to Season 8!

mp4331 | 05:10 EDT, 10 May, 2008

i agree that the episode was a bitter disappointment, especially for a finale but i dont think the kelso thing was necessarily inconsistent. Cox is telling his son a story about a case that happened in the past, it wasnt occuring in the present. so it wouldnt be inconsistent that kelso would still be chief. and the whole kiss thing, they kind of abandoned it at the beginning of the season, maybe it was there to remind us and to point out that the almost kiss did mean something- and we will find out next season. but really disappointing nonetheless.

x9mj73l8 | 12:00 EDT, 10 May, 2008

I agree that dr kelso being in it as chief made it confusing because i know it was kind of a flash back but wasnt it only meant to have happened that day?

Racho | 19:27 EDT, 10 May, 2008

I think this episode was forced into being a finale. Not necessarily what they planned, but due to moving to ABC. I do think it was a bit of a disappointed though.

ozzyozzyozzy | 20:19 EDT, 10 May, 2008

The episode itself was great. Although i really am dissapointed with the incontinuity; mainly because kelso was back as cheif after a truly amazing exit. Im also annoyed that J.D and Elliot didnt get any closer. In my opinion i think that "my dumb luck" would have been a much better finale. overall the strike ruined things, i expected this though so i will definitely be continuing to watch scrubs and im eagerly awaiting season 8 =D *also im in england so it makes no difference to me waht channel the show is aired on because i watch online. NBC was a bit shit though forcing a finale.

born4purple | 22:19 EDT, 10 May, 2008

I thought that yea for a season finale it was bad but considering the other two post-strike episodes were filler episodes anyway I assume they have more coming for season 8. The story-telling idea I actually loved, Cox was adorable in the way he told the story to his son though I think it would have been better suited for a girl's nightime story. I am a big fan of the Princess Bride so the omage to it was awesome. The ending of the story "hapilly ever after" was obviously a fake, Wilson's disease won in the real version but I liked that Cox left and then came back and Jordan outside listening was just adorable. I think this would have served as a better near the begining episode and the Kelso leaving Cox becoming cheif would have made for a better ending.

Thewillproject | 01:39 EDT, 11 May, 2008

Some earlier posts eluded to the possibility that this was essentially Dr. Cox telling his son a story that had happened in the past. I disagree. At the end of the episode, Jordan is very interested in finding out what happened to the patient, and Cox infers that the patient dies. The patient dying was one of the main reasons why Cox was having such a bad day. The patient died the same day that Cox told the story to his kid and the story was a synopsis of his day, albeit in fairytale format. Did anyone else feel that the introduction to the fairy tale story was a little scatterbrained. I am afraid to make the connection, but it almost felt family guyish. I'm crossing my fingers for next season!

jberg51 | 08:26 EDT, 12 May, 2008

the problem with all the post strike episodes is that none fit the bill of a cliff hanger season finale. this came closest imho. while it clearly came out of order, if we assume that its meant to come either before or after "my inconvenient truth" (roughly a month after the kiss incident), the episode makes a lot of sense and is quite good. clearly, "my waste of time" was the last episode in chronological order, so as far as were concerned, kelso is out, cox is in, jd and elliot are careening towards getting back together. its unfortunate that this happened because im sure a lot of people dont go on messageboards and such to find this stuff out and probably just assumed it was a huge screw up on nbc's part. one last note- at the end, cox says to jordan, something to the effect of "no, but that's the way i'm telling it." i wonder if, since he lied to jack about the patient dying, if maybe jd and elliot did end up kissing. while that clearly isn't how it would have been intended if aired in correct order, that could be a bit of a cliffhanger type thing- his disgust by their relationship causes him to lie about it to feel better...food for thought...

Want to comment on this post? First, you must log in to your SideReel account!

SideReel - Watch TV Shows Online - Full Episodes of Your Favorite Shows