If there's one word that characterises the eighth season of Scrubs for me, it's surprise. Going all the way back to when the writers' strike happened, it seemed like Scrubs was dead, with NBC determined to shamefully air the produced episodes out of sequence in order to bill an especially unusual (and not especially good) episode as the series finale. It was a bit of a slap in the face to longtime fans of the show, but it made the surprise all the more tasty when ABC (who had produced the show all along) announced that they would broadcast an eighth and final season on their own network.
The next surprise came when the season aired and the shift in tone (and facial hair) was apparent. The overblown and increasingly stale fantasy sequences were considerably reduced. The humour was much less broad and the drama much less forced. In short, Scrubs had gone 'back to its roots' and the show's tone was much more reminiscent of the very early seasons, which pleased me no end. What's more, the quality (almost) matched. Arguably, the show seemed to have died when its characters had all grown up, round about Season 4. After that, despite occasional greatness, it was difficult to care because the storylines became increasingly silly and the characters weren't learning anything new. An intelligent move, then, to introduce some new blood in the form of fresh-faced interns, letting our once-incapable doctors become the 'I've seen it all before' teachers, thus showing a new side to everyone.
What grabbed me about this season was that the show avoided overblown melodrama wherever possible. Take JD and Elliot's relationship for example. It became clear as the show came to an end that they would end up together, amidst fireworks. So I'm glad that that's exactly what happened, only without the fireworks. That's been done before. Instead, the pair have a frank discussion with each other about the past, the present and the future and decide they're grown up enough for it to work. And having seen their passionate but damagingly neurotic attempts at a relationship in the past, it all made complete sense to me. Similarly, treatment of other such character 'resolutions', such as Dr. Cox's new role and how it develops his friendship with Kelso, or Ted's romantic success (finally!) are underplayed enough for them to have much more of an impact with the audience.
There's other good things I have to say about the season, including the appeal of some of the new interns (Denise and Sunny particularly), but I want to talk about the finale (spoilers!). I thought it was wonderful, perfectly encapsulating all the qualities that had always made the show enjoyable. Yes, it was very sugary, but it worked. The final sequence, with JD daydreaming about his perfect family-having future with Elliot but allowing us, the viewer, to decide whether it will come true, was to me the best way to incorporate one of Scrubs' trademark fantasy sequences and send the show off in a way no other show could. It was the perfect goodbye to JD, to Zach Braff and to the show...
...Except, as we all now know, it wasn't. In the final (and perhaps biggest) surprise of the lot, ABC have awarded the show a ninth season, albeit with a major facelift. The show will now be set in med school and will be centred on Denise and a few other new interns, with perhaps only Turk and Dr. Cox remaining on the show as regulars (and JD to pop up in several episodes). It's baffling, and many people aren't happy because how can Scrubs be Scrubs without JD's signature monologues? However, I want to give the show a chance; It does face a challenge, as it needs to be similar to the previous generation's tone to keep its old viewers, but different enough to keep the show fresh. Also, I'm a little worried that showrunner Bill Lawrence will now be splitting his time between this show and the forthcoming Cougar Town. Finally, given that Zach Braff had the aforementioned perfect farewell, do we really want or need to see his big Jewish face again? :-) Something tells me that Scrubs still has a few surprises up its sleeve...
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