SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 1 finale of ABC’s Scrubs revival.
The biggest bombshell the Scrubs revival served in its premiere was the fact that one of the show’s central couples, J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke) are now divorced. The two quickly found themselves in that supply closet where sparks between them flew years ago. Not this time, leaving fans waiting for a romantic reconciliation
“The fun of writing is we want to discover it as we’re moving along. What I knew for sure is I did not want to throw those two right back into Will They Won’t They,” Scrubs showrunner Aseem Batra told Deadline. “It didn’t feel real to me as they were going through this very difficult thing, it felt more like they needed to find a new normal. They needed to find who they wanted to be to one another, and I think that’s why we did that scene in the bathroom so early, of like, I still will always love you because you’re my family.”
Both have tried to move on romantically to a different degree of success. Elliot did not act on her crush on the hot young doctor in the first episode but soon started dating a handsome pilot who transports donated organs.
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Meanwhile, J.D. had a disastrous date with the hospital’s harpist. His luck started to turn in the finale when he met hospital visitor Charlie (Rachel Bilson) and the two hit it off, kicking off a recurring arc for Bilson which is set to continue next season.
With both J.D. and Elliot seeing other people, can they still find their way back to each other or are they firmly in the friends zone?
“That doesn’t mean their romance is dead or over or we won’t explore that, but it’s a moving thing, and we want to find it,” Batra said. “The Rachel Bilson arc is going to also help us, because it’s like, what feelings does that kick up for Elliot, for J.D., so we’re really excited to have her back. She’s such a lovely person. We had so much fun with her on set, and we joked because we just kept having her walk by, and J.D. couldn’t talk to her, like, we promise we’ll have more to do for you than you just walking by in the back of scenes. So we’re excited to write for her next season.”
Explaining the new intern couplings
At the same wedding reception for a patient’s daughter that J.D. and Charlie attended together, there were some new pairings among the interns — Blake and Amara danced together while Sam professed her feelings for Asher, and the two went to the photo booth for a make-out session.
That felt surprising and confusing since Asher and Amara had been a couple for most of the season, with her flirting with him and inviting him for a hookup in the supply closet in the previous episode.
The only warning we got was a fleeting remark by Asher earlier in the finale that “Amara put me into the zone of friends” with no context or explanation. What happened?
“Things get cut out of episodes,” Barta said (A finished episode of a broadcast comedy has to come in at 21 minutes without ads.) “There was a scene where the character of Asher and Amara talk. It was Episode 8 where Dr. Turk says, you leave certain things up to fate. And Asher says, I want more with you. And if that’s not what you want, that’s not what you want, but I have to just leave it to the universe and see what you want.”
Turk says the line Barta is referring to while he and Asher are anxiously waiting for news on their patient whose life was in danger.
“We both did everything we could, so now’s the time to let it go or leave it with God or the universe or whatever it is you believe in,” Turk said in the scene, which made it into the final cut.
The Asher-Amara conversation that followed it did not.
“We missed that piece because we were long, and so then it feels a little bit jumpy in the next episode that they’re not together,” Batra said. “Yeah, that’s the tragic thing of trying to tell a lot of story in a little bit of time. So we’ll try and do a better job with that next season. We’re telling smaller stories so we can get everything in, but that was a very big Dr. Cox story, so we didn’t have a lot of time for anything else.”
The curtailed storyline is part of an issue Scrubs faced in the first installment. With returning fan favorites taking the spotlight, the show has not been able to sufficiently service the new cast. Their characters are yet to make an impression as we still know very little about them.
“This isn’t a show about the kids, but the audience is curious about their family life and home life, and so we do want to show a little bit of that as well,” Batra said.
For example, there have been only fleeting references to the fact that Blake used to work at a gay bar. When Dr. Park, who is bisexual, lamented to Blake in Episode 8 that he was the only bartender there who didn’t sleep with him, the scene quickly ended with no context. Blake’s sexuality has not been established yet though he was seen at the wedding reception trying to hit on a bridesmaid before taking to the dance floor with Amira.
“We want people to also care about them, I think being able to nail stories in a shorter time period is hard, and just getting people to link into their lives and stories as well,” Batra said about the interns. “Even though we know our legacy cast is what we’re all back for, we do care about their their stories, and want to tell good stories for them as well.”
Closing a chapter
The finale ended with an internal monologue by J.D. feeling happy about returning to Sacred Heart and grateful to Cox about giving him the opportunity “to make a difference.” It felt like he was wrapping the arc of settling into the new role and closing a chapter.
“Yes, we definitely want it to feel like the season arc is closed, because he started in a place of, it’s what many of us go through, it’s like you achieve a dream, and you think it’s what you want, and it’s not necessarily how you thought it would feel,” Batra said. “When he was practicing concierge medicine and living the good life, there was still something missing. And I think this is just a resolution of that, more than a series closure. It’s really like, I started in this place that I thought I wanted, and actually what I wanted was to come back here and do this much harder thing, but this thing that feels fulfilling and meaningful again.”