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As many favourite characters (such as Elliot and the Janitor) made only brief appearances, several new characters (such as new intern Lucy Bennett) appeared, and a new hospital on the campus of a medical school appeared, the latest season of Scrubs already has a very different look and feel to the previous ones. Even the opening credits are completely changed from what they used to be, although with the old Sacred Heart demolished it’d be strange if they weren’t.
Of course, lots of the other characters are back and the same as ever, JD & Turk even got a repeat in of “Guy Love” from the musical episode. Dr. Cox returns to terrorise the trainee doctors (e.g. “patient roulette”), Todd was as inappropriate as ever and Dr. Kelso was still talking about his late wife badly. The plot has seen big changes though, Sacred Heart Hospital has moved into a new building on the campus of “Winston University” medical school, where many of the old faces are now teachers. JD, Turk and Dr. Cox are all teaching classes, and Dr. Kelso has come out of retirement due to the death of his wife Enid. Denise Mahoney, one of the students from last season, is now looking after the new interns. (Although she is about as willing to look after them emotionally as Dr. Cox is willing to hug JD, so she tries to make the oldest intern do it for her.)
The new intern Lucy is clearly a mix of characteristics from the Elliott & JD of the early seasons, she narrates with JD in season 9, which means there is less focus. There are also many more characters that it’s difficult to like. Indeed, of the new interns, the only one it is easy to feel sympathy for is the hapless Lucy, whose innocence and frequent disillusionment makes her a pathetic character in the traditional sense of the word (i.e. Invoking pity), the character Cole is particularly annoying, yet remains untouchable due to his father funding the new hospital.
So, the real question is: is it any good? Well, it isn’t much like it used to be, many of the characters seem more extreme, Dr Cox for example is more bitter than usual, and JD & Turk seemed more like caricatures of themselves. The new characters aren’t likeable, the ones you initially felt sorry for (like Drew, the oldest intern) quickly lost one’s sympathy. Others, such as Cole, seemed very thinly drawn, without the three-dimensionality you’d expect of most characters. Also, the script seemed more dark, lines such as “If you’re going to kill yourself, I’m looking at you sad eyes,” don’t seem as funny or ironic as Ted’s “We’re all going to die,” in the ICU during season 3.
It was still enjoyable, but for someone who watched Scrubs from JD’s very first day at Old Sacred Heart it won’t always be pleasant viewing. Would I recommend watching it to the end of the series? I would, but with caution. Don’t watch it expecting the old Scrubs, given all the changes, it’s better viewed as more of a spin-off than a continuation. It’s over a year since the last season in the first episode of this one and it feels rather like if you just missed a year of a soap opera.
The new season of Scrubs continues on E4 at 9pm on Mondays
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