My Doc Talk Scrubs Recap 04.15.09: My Soul on Fire Parts 1 and 2

Posted by James Craig on 04.15.2009

A Wedding and and some benchmark moments for all of the couples.

Hi all, welcome to the run down of the last two episodes of Scrubs, parts 1 & 2 of My Soul On Fire. I chose to skip last week for a number of reasons, the only one directly connected to the episode being that part 1 was a very empty episode and there wasn't really a lot to talk about until we got to see how things turned out tonight. After tonight's episode, I can safely say that things have turned out rather well, and that as a fan, I'm happy to see the original cast all together and the focus of the episode(s) without the interns popping up.

This season has been one where the focus has been on the cast originals and having them mature and move into new levels in their lives before we send the series off. With My Soul On Fire, I feel that we're on our way to the various character's growth coming to fruition. With this 2 parter, the main story thread was based around the Janitor getting married in the Bahamas to Lady. At least that is how it seemed when he passed out his invitations with only 3 days notice. What this actually was, was a ploy to still get the gifts for a wedding, while not actually having to go through with a formal ceremony at all. Unfortunately, J.D. was able to rally the troops and convince them that Janitor was part of their family, even if he was like their weird, creepy uncle. Once was all said and done, nearly all of the Sacred Heart originals were assembled to a wedding that was never supposed to happen. Using this as the backdrop, we then split off into the other story threads following J.D. and Elliott, Turk and Carla as well as Cox and Jordan.

While all dealing with their own issues, the common thread was that on half of each couple was in a different head space than the other. This is a road that Scrubs has gone down before, but it was nice to see the relationships being touched on once again as it really helps to illustrate where the everyone is now compared to when the season first started out. Of the 3, Turk and Carla's thread gave the most feeling of "been there, done" that, as it centered around Turk's desire to have some alone time with Carla and Carla's having to deal with Turk's needs as well as taking on the responsibilities of being a mom all the time. Like always, the Turks were able to get on the same page and go from there. It is with Cox and Jordan, as well as with J.D. and Elliott that we see glimpses of what this season has been building so well since the very start.

In the case of Dr. Cox, it was that he was growing tired of playing the same old games with Jordan and move on into a mature relationship. This is in complete contrast to everything we've seen in the seasons before this one, but looking back at what has been seen this season, it isn't surprising that this is where their relationship was going to go. It was touched upon with the whole wedding ring issue a few episodes back, but here we finally get to see Jordan coming on board with the idea. It seems that after years of antagonizing each other, these two are ready to move into the healthy relationship that we were so sure to we would never see. I'm positive that there is still going to be a give and take, and neither one is going to become soft over this new found level in their relationship, so I'm not too worried.

As for J.D. and Ellott, it seemed like a case of deja vu at first for long time fans, as in part 1 last week, it looked like JD was heading down a road we were all too familiar with when it comes to these two in a relationship. Before I get into that, is it just me or is this the first episode that really focused on these two as a couple all season?. I know there have been mentions here and there, but this seemed like the first real chance we've had to see these two in full on couple mode. I'm not saying this as a bad thing as I think that their relationship has been handled in entirely the right way all season and I think that as we get nearer to the end, this is the perfect time to have this sort of story for them. Now, getting back on track, it looked like J.D. was heading down the path of relationship sabotage/fear of commitment again, as when asked by Elliott to say how much he loves her in a special and meaningful way, he just couldn't find the words. This has all the trappings of J.D> chickening out and ruining the relationship, but I was happy to see that J.D. was able to finally say something to Elliot I though he would never, ever, ever say to anyone else, "I love you more than Turk." That right there could be the most important J.D. phrase of the season, maybe even series. what's so nice about this is that it firmly steers these two in the direction of finally sticking together. It may seem all a little too FRIENDS for some, but really, there wasn't going to be any other way to go with this. I liked it.

Finally, I must hit on something perhaps even more shocking than having J.D. say he loves Elliott more than Turk, Janitor getting married. It's a mind blowing thought, and I never would have called it, but as the season moved on, and we seen how much that Janitor actually tried to put on his best face for Lady, it was apparent that something unexpected was going to come of this relationship. It's slightly disheartening that Janitor was married before J.D. and Elliot, but that's what series finale's are for. Probably. As a whole, My Soul on Fire was a very good hour long episode, and will watch much better once on DvD. As Scrubs heads towards the end, this was a fine beginning to that end.

The 411: While part 1 was a thin at times, part 2 more than made up for it is terms of character development and big moments. I say come for the Bahamas, stay for Ted's acustic redition of Hey Ya.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]