Tear Jerker / Scrubs

”Watch Scrubs they said. It's a funny show they said.”

—YouTube comment on this video, basically summing up this whole page

Thought Scrubs was just a comedy set in a hospital?

Nope. While it certainly has its comedic elements, Scrubs does not shy away from showing how difficult the world of medicine can truly be. After all: the characters are people responsible for making numerous life-and-death decisions every day—and despite their best efforts, they can't always keep their patients alive. For all its funny moments, the show also has some powerfully sad moments, sometimes one after another.

Season 1

• Mr. Burski's death in "My First Day" was the first hint of how sad Scrubs could be. A Nice Guy shown bonding with J.D. in their scenes together, when he's called in to pronounce time of death a shocked J.D. can only reflect on how similar but different he looks in death, and how ashamed he feels for thinking of the impact this has on him.
• "My Old Lady" was the first huge tearjerker for Scrubs. Three patients come in that J.D., Elliot and Turk all care for and J.D.'s narration in the episode mentions how "one of three patients always dies", foreshadowing that one of the three patients will die by the end of the episode. Instead, they all die. J.D.'s patient dies because she feels she's ready for it after living a good life and refuses treatment, Elliot's because there was simply nothing she could do to help in the long run and Turk's dies on the operating table during surgery.
  • Ms. Tanner is a Cool Old Lady, who bonds with Dr. Dorian as she calls J.D., and invites him to her granddaughter's birthday present. When she tells him that she's ready to die, he has an Imagine Spot about a pile of bricks falling on him. Later, he does all he can to convince her otherwise but fails. She offers him a hug, when he decides to respect her wishes. He spends two hours with her after clocking out, and what he gets from it is that she has had a long, full life, and he's wasting his.
• Doctor Cox looking at photos of him and Jordan in My Bad with a hint of fondness.
• Nick Murdoch completely breaking down at the end of the episode after being The Ace all episode because his patient (A seven year old) is doomed to die no matter what he does and completely quitting being a doctor because of it.
  • What makes it worse is you actually see it throughout the episode with snippets of foreshadowing: Nick starts off confident and still cordial on his status with helping the child... but with each update that whatever treatment he recommended doesn't work he begins to lessen his confidence and show gradual concern until finally he breaks down at the idea that despite everything he's done, that seven year old will die. That alone leaves him broken.
    Nick: Now his parents want to talk to me. What am I supposed to tell them? Peter lived a good long seven years? Seven years, man!... It's not fair! I hate this place. I hate this job. (Elliot attempts to comfort Nick, but he's made up his mind) I can't do it anymore. I'm done... I'm done... I'm done...!
• Another minor one occurs in the episode "My Own Personal Jesus." Turk, completely joyous with Christmas spirit isn't letting any cynicism or criticism of his beliefs get to him. Cue montage of him trying to rest in the break room while on call during Christmas Eve only to be called out for emergencies each time all set to "The 12 Days of Christmas" with lyrics that get progressively sadder.
  "On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
  12 beaten children
  11 drive by shootings
  10 frozen homeless
  9 amputations
  8 burn victims
  7 strangled shoppers
  6 random knifings
  5 suicides
  4 beaten wives
  3 OD's
  2 shattered skulls
  and a drunk who drove into a tree"
• A minor one, but still sad nonetheless. In Season One, episode 15, during a psychology interview the main cast had to do, Doctor Cox winds up talking about his marriage with Jordan. He says that he kept trying to figure out why his friends who were married weren't trying to destroy each other like he and Jordan were. The words "They weren't unhappy. We were." really sold it due to Johnny C McGinley's acting ability.
  • J.D. and Elliot's first attempt at a relationship. It goes from starting out well to crashing and burning incredibly fast.
• In "My Occurrence" when Jordan's brother Ben visits the hospital and at the end, JD finally admits that he was just hoping that he was wrong about Ben having leukemia.
  J.D.: Ben, you have leukemia.
  Ben: [Beat] Well that sucks.
  J.D.: [Beat] Yeah...
  • Note the ending of the episode: Ben is completely not joking around and is rather shaken while JD show signs of nearly tearing up.
  • The worst part is the musical montage with "Hold On Hope" by Guided by Voices, Ben shows JD all of the photos he takes as the lab results on his blood work are done again and come up negative. Then JD notices the Out-of-Character Moment of everyone seeing Ben off...after he had asked for a group photo. When JD asks why ask for a group photo (as Ben stated in an earlier line that he hated "faked photos"), Ben states "Come on, JD. None of this is real", revealing the entire second half of the episode was JD imagining everything and slowly accepting that Ben has leukemia.
• Dr. Cox's reaction to the aforementioned news in the following episode qualifies as well. He puts on a brave face around Ben, but buries himself in his work.
  Dr. Cox: "What chance do you give a guy with Ben's blast percentage? Huh? 20%? 30, maybe? You see, I can't handle that. I cannot. So, no, thank you, there, Johnny.
• Elliot prepares to join Carla and her friend for a night out, only for Carla to cancel. Elliot goes to the bar in question anyway. . . and runs into them. Carla fumbles for an excuse, but a hurt and angry Elliot storms out. For anyone who's ever felt rejected by the "cool" kids, that moment is painfully familiar.
• In "My Blind Date", Dr. Cox finds himself having unusually good luck with his patients, and becomes determined to make it 24 hours without a single one dying under his watch (he calls it "throwing a perfect game"). He just barely fails: one of his patients goes into cardiac arrest and dies five minutes before midnight. The resignation in his voice after the patient flatlines is heartbreaking.
  • Although Cox being Cox, he then manages to turn it into an understated Moment of Awesome when Elliot tries to salvage the situation by refusing to declare the death until after midnight, flat out telling her he refuses to cheat and cheapen what should be an “endless pursuit of perfection.”
• The finale's last scene, where Jordan cruelly outs everyone's secrets:
  • Perry has feelings for Carla, Turk knows and he's been hiding it from her. This is the only one that isn't even remotely Played for Laughs. When Jordan's gone, Carla looks at both Perry and Turk as if she's unable to believe the two of them know this and talk about it all the time. She's the first to get up and leave.
  • Elliot's is a massive Kick the Dog on Jordan's part, since she's outright getting revenge for Elliot calling her on her hypocrisy earlier. She tells JD that Elliot still has feelings for her, and the second they make eye contact Elliot runs away as if she's trying not to cry.
  • Perry finds out that JD and Jordan slept together - although Jordan is very deceptive and leaves out that she pretty much forced herself on him and he didn't know she was his ex-wife - and he looks daggers at JD as though he wants to murder him. Even Harsher in Hindsight when you learn their marriage failed because Jordan had an affair with his friend.

Season 2

• Obviously it all ends up okay, but in “My Nightingale”, Cox is almost adorably in love with Jordan again. She can’t watch him sabotage every good chance he gets though, and he tries to prove he’s changed by giving the Kelso speech. He sabotages himself again though, and she walks out.
• Turk is concerned with the senior doctor's callousness and insensitivity to death, worrying that he's becoming just as callous. Dr. Cox then shows him a surgeon telling a family about how a patient recently died. He mentions that, unlike everyone else in the room, the surgeon is going right back to work. Dr. Cox tells him that making jokes and distancing themselves from dead patients is the only way for the doctors to manage daily. Dr. Cox's expression at the end is heart-wrenching.
• The episode "My Brother's Keeper", where Doctor Kelso is forced to fire/enforce retirement on his old friend, Doctor Doug Townsend, because for all that he's a nice guy and a good mentor, he simply can't keep up with modern medical practice, which J.D reluctantly reveals. Even more so for fans of Diagnosis: Murder, as it's like watching Dr Sloan finally break down. This scene is also noteworthy for being the first point Kelso, up until this point a one-note loathsome Obstructive Bureaucrat, demonstrates any real redeeming traits whatsoever, setting the stage for his development over the rest of the show.
  Dr Townsend: ...*sighs* Look, Bob, I just don't have the energy for all that stuff.
  Dr Kelso: Well, *chokes up* then we got a problem.
  • Compounded by Kelso's reaction to having to do it, an act that irreparably damages his relationship with what might be his oldest living friend (Townsend notably introduced him to his wife):
    Dr Kelso: *perceiving J.D watching him scrub Townsend's name off of the on-call board* Sport, if you're still standing there when I turn around I'm going to have them erase your name too.
    JD: *realising for the first time the burdens Kelso shoulders* Goodnight sir
  • JD telling on Townsend. "Townie" took the blame for what happened when the antiquated procedure went wrong, sparing JD trouble, but JD realized that he'd have to betray this nice, friendly doctor to keep other patients ( and other interns) safe. His Imagine Spot of Townsend asking JD to remove a literal knife from his back is Played for Laughs, but highlights just how Townie feels betrayed, and how JD feels like a betrayer.
  • Townsend's reaction qualifies as well. As much as he loves being a doctor, he knows full well that he isn't able to keep up with the requirements of his work and is devastated at having to admit that. He doesn't even seem angry at Kelso for firing him, knowing it's for the best for the patients.
• The end of the episode "My Philosophy" where the heart transplant patient dies and, in J.D's mind, goes out with a Broadway style musical, just like she wanted.
• My Sex Buddy's ending. J.D. and Elliot have been having casual sex all episode and J.D. realizes that he wants to have a real relationship with Elliot, who is unaware of this. She ends up breaking it off as J.D. wants to take care of her. J.D. expresses the heartbreak without her realizing it. The song choice sells it.
• The next episode, where Elliot has the truck with all her belongings stolen from the hospital car park. JD blows her off when she needs him, and she calls him on it the next day that she "didn't need a boyfriend; I needed a friend!". Although it's a Tear Dryer when the episode ends with JD going over to her apartment to comfort her, we hear snippets of what she lost; not just clothes and appliances, but personal things like the first love letter she ever got. And this stuff is never recovered.
• In "His Story," the first episode narrated by someone other than J.D., we see a glimpse of Dr. Cox's life. He invites a large group of men over to his apartment to watch a football game. Later on, J.D shows up at his door to tell Dr. Cox that he plans to take a break from him for a while, which is brushed off by Cox who leaves J.D. to get back to the "big party" that's currently going on in his apartment. But after J.D. leaves, we see that Dr. Cox is all alone in his apartment, with no one having shown up at all. It's the first real sign that Cox's jerkass tendencies might be entertaining once in a while, but they ultimately drive people away and make Cox a bitterly lonely person.
  • The therapy session is pretty uncomfortable, as the guy Cox goes to talk about his problems openly derides him for all the verbal abuse in prior sessions. At first, it's Played for Laughs as if they were Vitriolic Best Buds, but after seeing the rest of the episode, it's clear the therapist really does hate him and that Cox was acting like a Stepford Smiler just to get through it.
• The Reveal of "My Own Private Practice Guy" and by an extent, why Cox is the way he is: Peter (whom Cox mentored and was his friend) essentially used what he learned from Cox during their talks to get in bed with Jordan. And it's clear in the end that Cox still resents Peter for it. JD thinking Cox and Peter were fighting over him doesn't make it better either.
  Peter: Perry...please.
  Perry:: (motions to the break room exit) Out.
  • What drives the point home is throughout the episode (especially now with that context), Pete acts like the situation is nothing despite how much it affected Cox. But when Cox finally hammers it in through his skull how hurt he was about it, Pete begins to realize what he did, but it's clear he can never repair his dead friendship with Cox now.
• This line from the ending of My T.C.W. - "Because nothing sucks more than feeling all alone, no matter how many people are around," - can sting just a little too much.
• Also from My T.C.W. - J.D.'s rant to Dr. Cox, Carla, Turk, and Elliot at the end before he storms out. Especially the last bit to Elliot:
  And you! You know what, let's just - let's just forget for one second that a month ago you told me you couldn't be in a relationship with anyone. Because, for me, it's actually fun to watch you sabotage a relationship from the outside, it really is. Honestly, the only thing that gives me comfort, you guys, is while I'm sitting at home, staring at the ceiling, just wishing that I had someone to talk to, is knowing that none of you idiots realize how lucky you are!
• In the next episode, Elliott indeed does sabotage her relationship with Paul by saying "I love you" by mistake while looking at U2 music. She takes him to the park for a picnic and a gentle breakup, but it goes wrong. Paul has to instruct her on how to do it. Then he gives her a What the Hell, Hero? for not talking to him about the words being said too soon and walks off in a huff.
• In "My Kingdom," Dr. Cox pulls a prank that makes everyone believe that Kelso has passed away. Instead of grieving, the staff of Sacred Heart react to this lie with either indifference or celebration. Kelso may not be a particularly good person, but the thought of literally nobody mourning your supposed death is harsh. Especially since, as we learn later on in the show, most of his dickish behavior is an act he puts on to be able to function as Head of Medicine.

Season 3

• "My Fifteen Seconds": After spending as little time as they can with Jill Tracy, J.D. and Cox realize that she tried to poison herself. They rush to the hospital and ask her how things have actually been going lately. The way she answers is particularly saddening.
  Jill Tracy: Actually it has, uh, (choking up) been a couple of rough months.
• The episode "My Catalyst" has one of the show's most heartbreaking endings. When J.D. is about to confront him, he finds Dr. Kevin Casey obsessively washing his hands, revealing that his last surgery ended two hours ago but he can't bring himself to stop washing and go home. He is absolutely enraged at his body for failing him and himself for not being able to function properly but tells J.D. that he isn't going to be someone who makes someone else shoulder their problems. The scene is immeasurably sadder by the fact that Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's Disease has all but forced him to retire from acting and is slowly destroying his body, but there is nothing that can be done about it.
  Dr. Casey: Look, this is a weak moment... nobody was supposed to see this.
• "My Screw-Up"'s ending, since it's revealed that Ben Sullivan was the patient that died earlier.
  J.D.: ...where do you think we are?
  • There's a reason this episode won an award. How could it not when Cox actually CRIES in public.
  • Even worse, the death happened on Jack's birthday.
  • Not to mention the fact that if you look at everyone who was at the funeral, you'll see everyone from the Hospital came to pay their respects to Ben. He was such a likable person that he touched everyone's heart, even Kelso's, and you can tell by the mood, everyone there is going to miss him.
• Dr. Cox asking if Jordan's friends are still in town because he's wallowing in self-pity and she needs someone to take care of her. Her reply: "I miss Ben." Simple and devastating.
  • In an earlier scene, Cox kicks the dog by telling Jordan he is openly struggling with Ben's death and thinks she's acting like nothing even happened. It's not until later that it dawns on him that he completely missed what she was going through.
• "My Brother, Where Art Thou?". JD tells his brother Dan he doesn't want to see him around anymore in some of the harshest language he can muster. Dan's response is fairly heartbreaking.
  Dan: But I'm your brother. Doesn't that count for anything?
  JD: Not to me.

Season 4

• In "My First Kill", the montage of doctors talking about patients who died because they made the wrong call. Special mention goes to Dr. Kelso's very raw and blunt, "I've been a doctor for thirty years. What do you think?" No punchline or quip, just an older doctor who's had to learn to deal with his bad calls.
• The episode My Cake opens with J.D describing the different ways doctors break bad news to patients (the hand-on-shoulder, hand-on-hand, resident kabuki theater). J.D then states that his family has a different way of going about it, to which he opens the door to find his brother standing there with a cake.
  Dan: ...Dad died.
  • Dr. Cox has been trying to help J.D. by secretly taking all of his patients so that he doesn't have to work that day. When J.D. comes by to Cox for advice, the latter notes that he is too busy to talk, making J.D. angry. When Cox informs J.D. about what he's done for him so far today in an annoyed tone, J.D. defiantly points out that he didn't ask for Cox to take all his patients before storming out. Cox sarcastically claps and cheers as J.D. does so, calling him ungrateful. When Ted walks in and asks what he's cheering about, Perry responds "His dad just died." before reproaching himself with a soft "Damn it".
  • A very brief one done somewhat as a gag, but when Carla serves Turk and J.D. cake later in the episode, J.D.'s instantaneous reaction is to worriedly ask who died.
  • Hell, the entire episode can be both this and Heartwarming, especially when watching after the death of a loved one.
• In "My Office", it's Played for Laughs; but the revelation that Todd's unhealthy sexual boundaries stem from a "weird relationship with [his] mother", implying sexual abuse, is pretty heartbreaking. Season three's "My Tormented Mentor" reveals that his father also actively encouraged him to objectify women, so while he should still be called on his actions it's not difficult to see how he came to be the way he is.
• The end of "My Last Chance", after Dr. Cox rants at the annoying, talkative paramedic he had to work with and asks what could've possibly happened in her life to make her that way. After leaving the room he works out that the 10 year old son she mentioned is actually dead and when he goes back in she's crying. Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment when she mentions she thought the paramedic crew that tried to save him were amazing, and they inspired her to go into that line of work.
• While Doug's High Hopes, Zero Talent tendencies had been played for laughs up until "My Malpractical Decision", this episode shows just how soul-crushing it can be to spend your life pursuing a certain dream and finally come to terms with the fact that no matter how hard you try, you simply don't have the talent to ever come close to succeeding at said dream — and also how painful it can be for other people to tell you so, as Elliot is forced to. On top of that, Doug was comparatively lucky in that he did have some medical talent, just not in the field he initially wanted to be in; plenty of other people, such as the following season's Cabbage, won't even have that small mercy.

Season 5

• The ending of "My Jiggly Ball". To explain, the episode revolves around J.D. being forced to write an introduction speech for Dr. Kelso at an awards banquet and desperately trying to find something good to say about him. Throughout the episode, Kelso is at his coldest, removing a terminally ill patient, Mr. Morrison, from a Drug trial in place of a rich patient who will make a donation to the hospital. Cox calls him on his callousness, asking him how he can not care about another person. Laverne notes Kelso's coldhearted attitude, saying that when he steps foot outside the hospital, he can be entirely happy despite people dying, shown twice in the episode with him walking away smiling and whistling. The tearjerker comes at the end when J.D. notes that Kelso may be coldhearted but he would never want to have to make the same decisions he does. The final scene, where Kelso leaves the hospital, his foot hits the bottom of those stairs... and a look of pure sadness and self-loathing crosses his face. It’s heartbreaking, made worse by the fact that he then quickly fakes a happy whistle as he passes by the gang, in order to maintain his Jerkass Façade. The song ("Sideways" by Citizen Cope) and Ken Jenkin's brilliant acting absolutely sell it and show just how hard it is being The Spock. Watch it here.
  J.D.'s narration: As far as Bob Kelso goes, I know sometimes even the good things he does are for the wrong reasons. Still, I also know that I wouldn't want to make any of the decisions he makes.
  (the scene changes to Dr. Cox pulling a sheet over Mr. Morrison's body as Kelso watches, coldly, from another room)
  J.D.'s narration: But when all is said and done, I like to think that he does care a little...
  (Kelso exits the hospital, and upon taking the last step down the staircase, looks up into the camera with an uncharacteristically somber Thousand-Yard Stare)
  J.D.'s narration: ...even if he's too proud to show it.
  (he immediately changes expression and begins to whistle a tune when he spots J.D., Turk, Elliot, and Carla passing by)
  • Its revealed during this that Kelso used the money the rich man donated to reinstate the hospital's prenatal screening clinic, mentioned as having been axed due to budget cuts earlier in the episode, meaning he didn't make the choice out of cruelty as Cox and others had thought but because he had to weigh what was the greater good. And it still kills him that he couldn't save everyone. This scene is also notable as the one and only time in the entire show that Cox actually yields the moral high ground to Kelso, as after hearing the real reason Cox realizes that his personal friendship with Mr. Morrison clouds his objective judgment.
• In "My New God", Dr. Cox's sister visits the hospital and we see that Dr. Cox finds her annoying, and being Dr. Cox, makes no secret of it. We (and J.D.) are told that Cox's sister Paige is very religious. When JD asks about it, Dr. Cox, in his usual sarcastic way, nonchalantly brings up that it's probably because their mother would watch silently while their drunken father would, in Cox's words, "knock us from room to room." The casual way Dr. Cox brings it up is sad enough, but there's also the ending of the episode, where Cox talks about it with Paige. Admittedly, the very next line makes this more heartwarming, as Perry asks her to attend his son's baptism, but the line before that paints a pretty bittersweet picture:
  Dr. Cox: You know, uh, I've been thinking about why I hate seeing so you so much.
  Paige: Please, Perry, don't hold back.
  Dr. Cox: It's not the God stuff. {Paige turns more attentive} ...I've worked hard to forget everything about our childhood, but when I see you, I...I can't think about anything else.
  • Paige's answer to this, "It's hard for me, too," is pretty subdued. It wouldn't be a stretch to think that her turning to religion is her way of coping with the same memories Perry has been repressing.
• In "My Missed Perception", there's a patient who's in so much pain his wife mentions he couldn't even make it off the couch to go to the bathroom. It looks like Turk and Elliot are going to give up on him, until they catch the couple before they leave the hospital; and tell them that they're going to do everything they can to find out what's causing the pain. The looks on the patient and his wife's faces say it all.
• The end to "My Big Bird", in which the ghost/memory of Mr. Foster follows J.D., Turk, Carla, and Elliot through the hospital.
  • There's also the summation. J.D.'s about to do what he always does (speaking out loud this time instead of narrating), but Kelso interjects to offer his own take on events. After recapping the predicaments the main four got into, the montage cuts to the intern team desperately trying to save a dying man and failing.
• The final moments of My Cabbage, where Cabbage accidentally infects Mrs. Wilkes after mishandling medical waste; the infection kills her in the following episode. The Coldplay song ("Fix You") playing in the background doesn't help the teariness.
• In "My Chopped Liver" Dr. Kelso's beloved dog Baxter dies. He is so distraught that Carla answers his office door for him while he hides in his office crying.
• "My Lunch", from start to finish. Three patients are all sick and need new organs. Jill Tracy also reappears and ends up in the hospital and J.D. thinks she died from a cocaine overdose because she was desperately lonely and J.D. ignored her when they ran into each other in public and blames himself. Dr Cox talks him out of feeling that blame and uses Jill's organs once she dies. It turns out she died of rabies and all three patients die.
  • Making it even more upsetting is that J.D. telling Cox that the patients would have died anyway almost works... right until the last one dies.
    Dr. Cox: He wasn't about to die, was he, Newbie? Could have waited another month for a kidney.
  • And then afterwards, a despondent Cox is storming out of the hospital. J.D. stops him and reminds him of some advice that Cox gave him earlier in the episode.
    J.D.: Remember what you told me? The second you start blaming yourself for people's deaths... there's no coming back.
    Dr. Cox: *completely broken* Yeah... You're right.
    • The key piece of logic here: Dr. Cox told J.D. not to blame himself for deaths that weren't his fault (Jill Tracy didn't come to the hospital asking for help, and JD is a physician not a psychologist, helping a random person out in the world with her possible depression is not his responsibility). J.D. leaves that part out in his Ironic Echo to Dr. Cox, but from Cox's point of view, these deaths were his fault.
  • After the first two patients die, JD brings Dr. Cox lunch and tries to comfort him over what happened. He even says that if the roles were reversed and JD had to make the call, he would've made the same call. Dr. Cox quietly asks him if that's really what he thinks, sounding so broken in that moment that he isn't even trying to hide behind his usual mask of machismo. To see someone as proud and strong as Dr. Cox sound absolutely gutted really showcases how much this decision is weighing on him.
  • To twist the knife further, J.D.'s narration provides a brief Hope Spot that the worst is over, before conceding that life sometimes isn't that merciful.
    J.D.: I got us lunch, and I think we should eat it.
    J.D.'s narration: [while unpacking the food] Right then, I knew I was gonna pull him out of this. But unfortunately, sometimes, the hospital just picks a day where it's going to pile it on.
    [both their pagers go off]
  • Even worse is Dr. Cox's reaction to his last patient dying. To see someone as typically level-headed as Dr. Cox completely flip his shit in impotent rage is... unsettling. Not to mention his reaction just before:
    Dr. Cox: *looks at pager* Oh, God... come on...
  • Add to this the whole scene being framed perfectly with The Fray's "How to Save a Life" playing just in case you didn't feel like you were being hit by a 2x4 yet. Scrubs always did frame scenes perfectly with music, but none better than this one.
  • Add to the fact Cox is seen just losing it, using the defibrillator when it's just in vain. His meltdown as he pushes the defibrillator and screams in frustration just adds to his pain as Carla just looks with complete shock.
  • And all of this was not also because Cox lost a patient: He lost a patient he was becoming friends with.
    • Cox and Dave bonded over their abusive fathers, with Cox saying Dave won by default due to his still being alive. The way Dave talks of the relationship seems of one that hasn't been reconciled. If the next of kin notified is Dave's father, there's the potentially painful outcomes: 1) A man who doesn't care his own son died, 2) Learning his son hated him to the point that he'd rather die than ask him to be a possible donor, 3) A father blaming Cox for his son's death due to recklessness, or any possible combination.
  • Props need to be given to everyone involved in this scene. While John C. McGinley's performance is absolutely spectacular, Zach Braff and Judy Reyes also perfectly capture the myriad of emotions they're feeling in the single moments they're focused on; Carla shows how torn up she is over Cox's reaction while trying to put on a brave face, while JD sees what happened, immediately processes it, and then puts it on the back burner to try his best to stop Dr. Cox from blaming himself. The sight of JD standing alone in the hallway as Dr. Cox walks out of the room marks the tragic conclusion to the saddest episode of the entire series.
    • An understated but none the less heartbreaking moment is that Carla specifically is forced to watch Cox's breakdown. She has basically been Cox's best friend in world (other than the now deceased Ben of course) and certainly his best friend at the hospital. While he's not quite as close to her as Elliot at this point, Cox and Carla share a bond of mutual trust and respect that not even Cox and Jordan have. With that in mind, there Carla is, in a front seat to the worst moment of her friend's life, and all she can do is watch.
  • And the icing on the cake is... this episode wasn't a piece of fiction. "My Lunch" is based on an incident that happened in real life the year before when a donor who died of rabies hadn't had their infection caught by their doctors until the autopsy (as in the episode) by which time three of their organs had already been transplanted (and several others had to be stopped from being used and disposed of). Those three transplant patients really did die from the infection and when the episode aired it had been in the news for some time and was being passed around by the American Medical Association and CDC as a cautionary tale. The only artistic license the episode took was putting all three transplant patients in the same hospital (three organ compatible patients in the same hospital is very very rare, and the real life cases were spread out across three states).
• "My Fallen Idol" when Carla tells Dr. Cox that JD isn't coming. His reaction is slightly surprising; he's going to take a drink of his scotch but once Carla tells him the news about JD, he stops and seems sad. Considering how Cox treats JD most of the time, this is very moving and it shows you how much he cares about JD.
  • JD's speech at the end, while heartwarming, was also incredibly sad.
• "My Deja Vu, My Deja Vu" has Cox react the same way Elliot did in "My Old Lady", unable to make a choice out of self doubt. He pretends he was just messing with her, but at the end he admits he needs people to see him the way they used to: "bulletproof".

Season 6

• Carla's hysteria while she's in labour in My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby is mostly Played for Laughs, which makes it all the more upsetting when they take her to have a C-section and she sobs down the phone to Turk that she's really scared and needs him there.
  • Jordan admits that she had an abortion. Later, Jack is repeating "Mommy had an abortion" over and over. When he says it to Jordan, she tearfully replies, "She sure did, sweetie."
• The whole episode of "My House" has us thinking that the woman next to Carla has post partum, but then the end of the episode cuts to Carla breaking down in tears while holding Izzy. It really hits home for those who have been through it themselves.
• "My Musical"
  • The Reveal that Ms. Miller has a brain aneurysm and that's why she's hearing everyone sing. Dr. Cox (who's spent the episode up to this point dismissively assuming she's just mentally unstable) has a Jerkass Realization when he has to sit down and tell her.
  • Carla's regret over taking maternity leave for a year potentially, even though it would save Turk and her money on a babysitter. She finally goes back on it when Dr. Cox says she'll always have a job at Sacred Heart.
  • J.D. nearly ends his friendship with Elliot after she says she's bought a house but doesn't want him to move in with her. She's essentially leaving him homeless.
  • Halfway through an upbeat, Grease-esque song, Ms. Miller cuts in with a slow, sad melody reminding the characters (and audience) that she has a massive brain aneurysm, and she is terrified. The lines "What's going to happen? And will I be alive, tomorrow?" never fail to be heartbreaking.
• The ending of "My Cold Shower". After finding out Elliot's going to get engaged to Keith, every cast member has brief, absurd, comedic fantasies about how their married life with Elliot would be. Then when JD watches Elliot accept Keith's proposal, realises he's still in love with her, and we snap to a similar fantasy where it's just Elliot and JD sitting together on a couch, then to JD later crying in the shower.
  JD: You know what? I'm really happy that you're my wife.
  Elliot: Me too.

  JD's inner monologue: As I looked at all the relationships around me: some that had gone on forever, some that were reigniting, and some that had just begun, I realized something...
  It should've been me.
  • It's made even more striking if one notices that it's one of the few Imagine Spots where J.D. doesn't break eye contact or look to his left like he usually does. Instead, he's staring straight at Elliot the whole time.
  • Once again, the music fits the scene perfectly and makes it that much more heartbreaking for JD, this time being Dashboard Confessional's "Stolen".
• The scene with Carla saying her parting words to Laverne in My Long Goodbye set to "A Bad Dream" by Keane.
  • Made especially poignant considering that earlier Laverne was under fire from Cox about her beliefs in Jesus and how that her belief that everything was a part of God's plan kept her going when she had to see so many people injured, sick, and/or dying on a regular basis.
  • By the end of the scene, you can actually see that Laverne's actress is crying.
  Laverne: Look. If that's the way you choose to see the world, so be it. But don't you dare try to take this away from me. I been coming in here every day for twenty-four years, watching children die and seeing good people suffer. And if I couldn't believe that there was a bigger plan behind all this, well I just wouldn't be able to show up tomorrow, so just stop it!
  Cox: [chastised] ...I'm sorry.
  Laverne: ...it's okay. You'd be surprised how many bad things happen around here for a reason.
  • The same episode features Dr. Cox not telling anyone about his daughter's birth because he didn't want her birthday to forever be associated with Laverne's death. It's a reminder of the fact Ben died on Jack's birthday.

Season 7

• "My Number One Doctor" sees Elliot treating Shannon, a woman with ALS who suddenly develops a series of mysterious symptoms that have nothing to do with the disease. She eventually discovers that Shannon's symptoms are the result of her taking too much of one of her medications—because she's trying to commit suicide by giving herself a fatal overdose before her ALS fully paralyzes her and leaves her trapped in her own body. Once Elliot accidentally reveals that one of Shannon's other medications actually is fatal in large doses, she's forced to decide between telling Shannon's home care nurse that she's suicidal (allowing her to intervene and prevent her from killing herself) or letting Shannon end her life on her own terms. She realizes that if she lets a patient take their own life without doing anything to stop them, she'll be haunted by that decision for the rest of her life. She does it anyway, refusing to say anything to the home care nurse as she drives Shannon home. The last that we see of Shannon is a shot of her gently whispering "Thank you" to Elliot as she leaves Sacred Heart. Oof.
• "My Dumb Luck". All of Dr. Kelso's scenes at that episode are touching, but the finale, as he resigns from his post, completely content, thanks Ted, with real emotion, for all his help over the years and finally drives off into the sunset with his picture on the back of his car is one of the most beautiful moments, managing to be a Heartwarming Moment, an Awesome Moment and a Tear Jerker.
  • His story about his first kill at the hospital; a 19-year-old girl who he diagnosed with appendicitis, when she really had an ectopic pregnancy. He tells Boone that he still sees her and other patients he's lost when he looks at the hospital.
• The ending of "My Princess". Dr Cox is telling his son Jack a fairy tale based on his day at the hospital, and ends it by telling him that the maiden, or patient, lived happily ever after. He then runs into Jordan, who has been sat outside eagerly listening.
  Jordan: So what happened to the girl? Did she make it?
  Cox: ...let's just say that's the way I'm telling it.

Season 8

• The cafeteria scene in My Jerks, where Cox and JD admit they’re just... tired, the latter of teaching asshole interns every year and the former of having to be the crusader for justice against an asshole boss. After the show becoming brighter and wackier in its middle seasons, the bittersweet was a return to form for many fans.
• My Last Words. J.D. and Turk were going to go out for Steak Night, but they meet a patient named George who has no one to be with him in his last moments. They give it up to spend the night with George and try to comfort him. In the end, after all of their banter, they all admit to being afraid to die. The saddest part is his last words, after they smuggled him in a drink; "You know you guys... that beer... tasted great." The saddest part of that was the choice of music: "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie.
  • Like J.D told him, as George's end nears, his body can no longer process enough oxygen. George simple gets tired, says his final words, and goes to sleep. He never wakes up again.
• The end of "My ABC's" where JD explains that he's learned everything you need to know about life from Sesame Street and ends it with, "it's okay to cry sometimes" while he sheds a tear watching a mother console her 8-year-old son after his father has died from lung cancer after it had been in remission as a melancholy cover of the Sesame Street theme plays, performed by Joshua Radin.
• My New Role. Just the way that JD and Dr. Cox are yelling at each other can be really difficult to watch. Dr. Cox is the new Chief of Medicine and JD has taken his former role of the guy that makes sure the Chief stays on the right path and calling him out if he strays. By the end of it a furious Cox growls, "Get out." Later when JD attempts to smooth things over, he is immediately rebuffed with a cold "Go to Hell."
  • "My Lawyer's In Love" is lovely for Ted finally being happy, but the Cox storyline continues the breakage, from a "Carry On My Wayward Son" montage of him still trying to do everything and failing, to the conversation where he sadly confides in Jordan that everyone is right and he's going to have to give something up, to the ending (backed by a song that goes "we are all innocent") where he's too late home to read Jack a bedtime story.
• Elliot having to tell a patient that they have HIV in My Full Moon and then telling Turk that if she could afford to not be a doctor, she would quit without hesitation because it can be so hard to have to diagnose patients with horrible diseases.
  • Elliot and Turk comparing surgery and medicine. Turk tells Elliot that he sometimes feels like a glorified auto mechanic, just fixing problems as they pop up, and never gets to really know his patients or do any real intellectual work. Elliot retorts that Turk gets to fix his patients, make them better, solve their problems. All Elliot can do is provide a diagnosis and a potential course of treatment that may or may not help... and sometimes she can't even do that. No matter how many "wins" a doctor gets, there's always another "loss" lurking around the corner.
• Dr. Cox spends most of "My Chief Concern" angry at an intern for making a mistake. When Elliott confronts him about it, he lets it slips that he actually feels betrayed that JD is leaving Sacred Heart after all the time and energy he spent training him over the years. At the end of the episode, though, he still can't admit he'll miss him.
• My Finale: the montage scene where all the important people who have been on Scrubs in it's eight year run turn up to wish JD goodbye, including some who had died. It looks like a stereotypical series finale ending until the end when he turns around and we realize it's all in his fantasy. This finale was so powerfully moving and such a beautiful ending, that Season 9 of Scrubs has entered Fanon Discontinuity and true fans consider this episode the series finale.
  • Where he's watching that film of events on the banner, culminating in Dr. Cox finally giving J.D. the hug he always wanted. Also, you can add in Dr. Cox's Engineered Public Confession that he actually respects J.D.
  • The best thing about the Engineered Public Confession? When JD goes to hug Cox, not only does Cox not try to get out of it - if you look closely, you see that he actually leans into it.
  • Not just the hug from Dr. Cox in the film, it's the JD getting as great a life as possible: he marries Elliot, has a child with her, stays close enough to spend Christmas with Turk and Dr. Cox, gets the fatherly hug from Dr. Cox, and JD's son marries Turk's daughter. Then, as JD's walking away he suggests that unlike the other fantasies, there's no reason why this one can't come true. It's an amazing sequence in and of itself, but add the fact that "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel is playing.

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