After twenty years, there are nonetheless episodes of Scrubs that damage to recollect, and “My Lunch,” Season 5, Episode 20, is on the prime of the checklist. Initially airing on April 25, 2006, its transplant storyline seems to be set to be a Sacred Coronary heart success, however by the tip of the episode, the story has damaged each characters and viewers alike.
“My Lunch” seems to be set to revisit affected person Jill Tracy (Nicole Sullivan) after J.D. (Zach Braff) and Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley) stumble upon her on the grocery store, however it evolves right into a catastrophic medical tragedy that completely alters Cox and momentarily reverses the central mentor-mentee dynamic between him and J.D. It’s an episode filled with drama, coronary heart, and humor in equal measure, and apart from “My Finale: Half 2,” it stands because the highest-rated episode of the sequence on IMDb. If you are going to revisit any episode forward of the Scrubs revivallet it’s “My Lunch.”
J.D. and Dr. Cox Understand Jill’s Tragic Circumstances Too Late in “My Lunch”
The sudden middle of “My Lunch” is Jill Tracy, who has been a recurring affected person since her first look in “My Nickname” in Season 1. Through the years, she popped up in six episodes throughout 5 seasons, recognizable for her speedy speech, chaotic love life, and virtually painful lack of social consciousness. She was the memorable comedian aid, however her life was tinged with loneliness. Jill was the sort of affected person who lingered too lengthy in conversations and overshared an excessive amount of info, particularly with Elliot (Sarah Chalke).
In “My Lunch,” she unexpectedly collides with J.D. and Cox on the grocery store throughout their break. She has been stood up for a date and returns two days in a row, hoping the person may lastly seem. J.D. additionally returns to purchase lunch once more and tries his finest to disregard her, however it turns into clear that she has nobody else to name, nowhere else to be. J.D. contorts himself to keep away from her, and Dr. Cox zooms, cartoon-style, again to the hospital to flee. On the second day, J.D. agrees to take a seat together with her for lunch, however his effort is dutiful as a health care provider reasonably than with real curiosity. The comedy in these scenes is traditional Scrubsawkward and absurd, which is precisely what makes the episode’s later flip hit so laborious.
The brilliance of “My Lunch” lies in the way it aligns the viewers with J.D.’s discomfort. Jill is offered as exhausting. In the meantime, a much more pressing storyline is unfolding at Sacred Coronary heart. Three critically in poor health sufferers are awaiting organ transplants beneath Dr. Cox’s supervision. The episode makes us root for a affected person to die to supply the three organs wanted for the central transplant sufferers. Nonetheless, it turns right into a gut-punch when J.D. realizes it’s Jill who was admitted to the hospital unconscious after an obvious drug overdose. Hours earlier, J.D. and Cox have been complaining about her, and now she seems to have killed herself. J.D. is devastated, not solely as a result of she is dying, however as a result of he realizes she was clearly an individual in want of connection, and he selected his personal comfort over kindness.
Dr. Cox responds in a means we’ve got come to count on. At any time when J.D. is having an emotional second, Perry steps up and makes it a tough however essential lesson. He takes J.D. to lunch and explains that he can not carry each tragedy. Jill didn’t come to the hospital searching for assist. Medical doctors can not assume duty for each lonely soul they encounter exterior their partitions. It’s a lesson in compartmentalization, and we will see how Cox has used that as his personal survival mechanism. When Jill is asserted brain-dead, her organs are discovered to be viable matches for the three transplant sufferers. In an episode that appears steeped in loss, this looks like a redemptive second for J.D. and Dr. Cox.
“My Lunch’s” Third Act Turns All the pieces We Know About ‘Scrubs’ on Its Head
Within the closing third of “My Lunch,” it’s revealed that Jill didn’t die from an overdose as assumed. She died of rabies. Rabies is awfully uncommon, and testing for it beneath the time constraints the medical doctors confronted would have been impractical, as three sufferers have been ready for organs. Sadly, by the point the reality is found, the transplanted organs have already contaminated the three recipients. Regardless of each effort, the primary two sufferers die, and Dr. Cox retreats to the break room, visibly upset. For 5 seasons, he has been the unshakable pressure of Sacred Coronary heartabrasive and ranting, however a superb physician. Watching him sit in shocked silence is unsettling, and J.D., who hours earlier was drowning in guilt over Jill, now finds himself within the unfamiliar place of providing perspective to his mentor. J.D. tells Cox that the sufferers have been critically in poor health, and they’d have died inside hours with out the transplants. He admits that he would have made the identical choice.
As they sit all the way down to eat lunch once more, Dr. Cox is paged. The third transplant affected person, the one he was closest to, has crashed. Cox’s resuscitation efforts fail, and that affected person dies as nicely. He’s visibly offended and confesses that the third affected person was not in fast vital want, and the transplant may have waited one other month. The primary two deaths have been tragic however a bet he needed to make, however the third feels prefer it was his fault. Earlier within the episode, Dr. Cox advised J.D. that after you blame your self, there isn’t any getting back from it, so “beginner” reminds him of this. Cox agrees and walks out earlier than his shift is over.
Dr. Perry Cox, the sequence’ most unshakable character, suffers a real emotional collapse in “My Lunch.” In subsequent episodes, Carla (Judy Reyes), Jordan (Christa Miller), and the remainder of the Sacred Coronary heart employees try to coax him again to work as he isolates at residence, ingesting beer. The emotional energy of “My Lunch” endures, making it that a lot stronger of an episode. With the revival on the horizon, there isn’t any higher episode to revisit. The episode is a transparent reminder that Scrubs was by no means nearly foolish cutaways however actual human drama.