SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Season 2 of “Scrubs,” which aired Wednesday night on ABC and airs on Hulu the next day.
When ABC’s “Scrubs” returned earlier this year after a nearly 16-year hiatus, fans were pretty divided over one major change in character dynamics: J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke) had gotten divorced. In Season 1 of “Scrubs” 2.0, JD returned to Sacred Heart as chief of medicine, which put him back in the same workplace as his ex.
And that’s what mattered. If Season 1 was about establishing the new dynamic between JD and Elliot, Season 2 is about seeing how they adapt to this new reality. This includes seeing your ex start dating other people. When the first episode of Season 2 (“For the First Time in a While”) opens on Wednesday, JD has a crush on Charlie (Rachel Bilson). But is this just a flashback?
Meanwhile, with Episode 2 (“My Mentee”), also premiering Wednesday, viewers will be treated to Dr. She gets an update on Cox (John C. McGinley) and his autoimmune disease. We see some cracks continuing to form in Turk (Donald Faison); Meanwhile, JD and Elliott adapt to their roles as mentors to new faces, including newcomers Grant (John Higgins) and Mimi (Keyla Monterroso Mejia).
Besides McGinley, other OG actors who star include Carla (Judy Reyes), Jordan (Christa Miller), and The Todd (Robert Maschio). Expect to see more from the Cleaner (Neil Flynn) later in the season, as well as Elliot’s ex Sean (Scott Foley).
Diversity He spoke with “Scrubs” executive producer and showrunner Assem Batra about the premiere episodes and where we go from here; Dr. Including whether Cox will be okay and whether JD and Elliot’s child, Ollie, will be seen.
To the season Dr. You begin by delving into Cox’s illness and how it affects JD and the others. How did you decide to devote so much more time to this?
We focused on that a lot because we created such a grave, serious feeling last season. We would like to encourage our listeners in no way to disrespect Dr. We wanted to reassure Cox that we would not put him in such danger that he would not be with us. We think this is a way to let the audience know that she will always be a part of this family. While reading the comments people were wondering “Is he going to die?” they asked. This is a comedy. We don’t want to go that far on this one. So part of this is, Dr. It was to show their ongoing journey to help Cox stabilize this particular autoimmune disease that we gave him. With the drugs they have these days, people can do great things with them. So now it’s just a matter of finding the right treatment.
I mean, people yell “Scrubs!” He dies because of it. So Dr. There was a high probability that something would happen to Cox.
Absolutely, of course. It’s always open and airy, but we just wanted people to at least feel like our family was reunited, and we’re just not jeopardizing that. That’s why we wanted to focus on treating it rather than endangering it.
Throughout the season, Dr. How much of Cox do we see? Obviously John has another job in the Bill Lawrenceverse.
I know we would have loved to see more of him. But what we got with his ‘Rooster’ show was about four episodes, so that’s how much we’ll see of him in this show.
We also saw Judy Reyes as Carla in the season opener, but she also has a day job on “High Potential.” I’m sure it’s been difficult finding ways to get familiar faces back.
We have to give a lot of love to our showrunner, Mike Livanos, because he’s always going back and forth trying to figure out how to do it. Not only are there days when we get them to shoot, but they also have to fly to Vancouver. So sometimes we can spare very little time for people who do more than one project.
Christa is also Dr. Cox’s wife also appears as Jordan, and she also has another job in Bill’s series “Shrinking.” It’s nice to see that you manage to find ways to let people in so they’re still part of the universe.
Yeah, everyone was so gracious to take the time to come back to the show, and we thought it would be a really fun opener to have her react to Perry’s illness because we haven’t seen her perspective on it any more than she’s learned about it. We’ve seen him learn that, but that’s his reaction to what happens when someone you care so much about is that sick.
Things seem to be going well with JD and Charlie so far. What are the plans for these two?
I always call these post-divorce relationships “first pancake” relationships because it’s like you make that first pancake, everything’s weird, it’s not the best, and then you try again. The place where he finds himself again is in his relationship, which is recovering somewhat. And as we see in the early episodes, he does too much and thinks too much. It almost takes him back to his youth. And so the more she sees them together, the more she becomes more balanced with it. But this is trying to show the first relationship after a major breakup.
And there’s the moment when he hires Joey Fatone to do a Cameo for him.
This was going to be an off-screen joke, and then we found out it was okay for Joey Fatone to make the joke. So it was great.
How would you describe these first few episodes in terms of the stories that will develop as the season progresses?
We really want to explore who JD and Elliot are now that they’re no longer together as a couple. What is their new normal? We don’t have many episodes to tell their stories outside of the hospital, but as they get back into the friendship zone post-divorce, we want to see them a little bit as parents and who they are to each other.
Will we see your children?
If I’m allowed to do this as a spoiler, we will. We will see your children. We don’t have a lot of time as we are telling these stories and want to include all our new players. But wherever we can, even if it is Bismillah, we try to make the whole world experience that they are now parents.
Donald has talked in other interviews about how you explored Turk’s mental health a little more this season. This was briefly signaled last year. How do you dive into this topic a little more?
It is important for us not to let it fall. We are a comedy and we want to show our relationships and the fun dynamics between friendships. But it’s important for us to note that these things aren’t just disappearing for humans. We touched on this a little bit and what is JD’s take on this for his friend?
And then we know Scott Foley will be back. Can you tell us what’s going to happen to her and Elliot?
The great thing was that when he came back he felt as if he had never left. He felt like he was a part of it too. What happens when someone you’ve always been in tune with but never quite figured out comes back into your life? Did you say? Would you give it another chance? This is Elliot’s dilemma. He’s in a very different place and what does that mean for them?
It looks like JD and Elliot have a lot to come to terms with the fact that they’ve both moved on. What does this mean for these two?
Actually, they don’t even know. As we writers explore this, you can see that they are on their own journey, which is one of the reasons we chose to have them not stay married. We’ve kept Turk and Carla married, but there are so many fun, interesting things to explore with JD and Elliot. What’s it like to see your ex working with you and having to know everything about his or her personal life? How does this make you feel? What does it mean to be friends again and not partners anymore? We explore all these organic things that happen to people after a breakup, and it becomes even more intense for them because they’re working together. This season is a little more about JD and Elliot, about who they are in each other’s eyes now.
Another story you left hanging last season was the janitor and the janitor’s son and the revival of this rivalry.
We have some fun when we meet up with them and get the strange idea that this is the janitor’s son, or is he really? What’s going on with this? Having his son in the hospital gives Neil a good reason to come back. We play some of this in an episode.
Joel Kim Booster’s departure and both Dr. With both Cox and the Doorman only making guest appearances, does JD need another obstacle?
There’s John Higgins, who is kind of a disappointment for JD. JD was always so needy, Dr. While he wanted Cox to be his mentor, he is now still a bit needy and wants Grant, played by John Higgins, to be his mentee. “Why don’t you love me more?” JD’s color has always been so fun – neediness and this gives him a way to play still. Grant may not be an obstacle to stopping her from achieving what she wants at the hospital, but what she desires is Dr. He fails to achieve the mentor-mentee relationship he had, or believed he had, with Cox.
Yes, JD’s Dr. I noticed that he was willing to bend the rules to help Cox and Grant said emphatically no, there was already a sort of intergenerational relationship between the two.
It’s funny you realize this, but it’s a case of Gen Z not seeing things the same way. His Dr. Here’s what he learned from Cox, and what we always think of as metaphorical parents; You will pass on what you have learned to the next generations and it will be easy. But the interesting thing about being a so-called parent or mentor is that it is never easy. There’s always something you didn’t see coming. Grant’s personality is very different. He is an ethical person, but JD is also an ethical person. They see what this means in two different lights. It’s a fun dynamic for us to play with.
Elliot also serves as his own mentor and sees these limitations as well.
This is another fun thing for Generation Z to play with. What I love about this generation is that they don’t see age as a limitation like Generation X was taught. It’s great playing between Tosh (Ava Bunn) and Elliot; “It’s not too late to do what you’ve always wanted to do,” says Tosh. This is like a new thing for Elliot to hear.
Ken Jenkins’ Dr. I know you’ve been asked a lot about him returning as Kelso. Is there any hope of being revealed?
I tell everyone, we need to remember that things happen in people’s lives. They can’t always do these things, and that doesn’t mean they don’t want to. These are limitations they have in their own lives or schedules. He knows the door is always open. He can call me today and tell me I can fly next week and I can write him back. So it’s really a matter of whether he can make it happen, that’s why we’re here.
Are there any other themes you would like to highlight for this season?
There is mentoring. Honestly, I think they’re all JD/Elliot. I hope our audience gets excited about it because I think people have questions about why we booked them. This is one of those great relationships where you’ll always wonder why they can’t work out. But this is just one of the complicated things we can play around with.