These Are The 15 Best ‘Scrubs’ Episodes Ever

Raise your hand for a high five or spread them wide for a big hug, because Scrubs is back. America’s favorite medical sitcom is returning to ABC for Season 10 on February 25, and all of your favorite doctors and nurses are back nearly 20 years later as they return to Sacred Heart Hospital.

With the beloved series making its comeback, now is as good a time as any to revisit some of the best Scrubs episodes from the show’s original run.

Developed by Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff, Scrubs broke through for its unique structure, narrated by central character John “J.D.” Dorian (Braff) along with Dr. Chris Turk (Donald Faison), Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), Dr. Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes), Nurse Laverne Roberts (Aloma Wright), the Janitor (Neil Flynn), Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins) and so many more.

For nine seasons, the show struck a delicate balance between hyper-silly and heartbreaking, never shying away from the pain and raw emotion of doctors and nurses working in the healthcare industry. The series featured fast-paced slapstick Sesame Street-esque Muppet characters, surrealist vignettes of J.D.’s daydreams and profound conversations about grief and death. You’d be hard pressed to find another show that could do it all.

Here’s our take on the series’ most iconic episodes.

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Best Episodes of ‘Scrubs’

“My Screwup” (Season 3, Episode 14)

My Screw Up is renowned as one of the first episodes any fan of the series will bring up for its ability to strike a comedic and emotionally devastating but honest tone. In it, Dr. Cox’s brother-in-law Ben (Brendan Fraser) returns to town for Jack’s first birthday after going away on a two-year world tour to celebrate his cancer going into remission. Ben agrees to have Dr. Cox check in on him, but Dr. Cox gets pulled in another direction preparing for Jack’s birthday and leaves the testing to J.D.

J.D. is already swamped with patients and gets a page that one of his patients has died, which he informs Dr. Cox of upon his return. Dr. Cox is infuriated, blames J.D. for the death and tells him to get out of the hospital for the rest of the night. Two days later, we find Dr. Cox disheveled, having been on call for 60 straight hours, with J.D. expressing extreme concern. J.D. mentions that Dr. Cox’s wife Jordan wants to see him that afternoon for an event, which Dr. Cox initially refuses but is eventually talked into by Ben.

It’s later revealed, as Ben and Dr. Cox are walking in the park, that what they’re actually doing is walking to Ben’s funeral and that Dr. Cox had been hallucinating his brother the entire time. As J.D. checks in on Dr. Cox, Ben disappears — and Dr. Cox is left to face the reality of the situation. Not even a third of the way through the show’s run, “My Screw Up” delivers perhaps the show’s most devastating twist and one of its most emotionally resonant episodes.

“My First Day” (Season 1, Episode 1)

Most pilots don’t make lists of best episodes because they have so much work to do introducing characters that you don’t really get a feel for what the show is ultimately going to be. But Scrubs, with its comedic cutaways and surrealist visual elements, bucked that trend and instantly created an entirely new type of show premiere, which makes this pilot episode especially unique.

In this episode, we meet J.D. in his new job out of medical school, we see the deep friendship he has with Turk, witness his budding crush on Elliot and follow the uphill battle he faces in earning the respect of Nurse Carla, Dr. Cox, and Dr. Kelso. We’re also introduced to J.D.’s ultimate nemesis: the Janitor.

“My Finale” (Season 8, Episodes 18 & 19)

From beginning to end, My Finale is considered the true series finale of the show. The two-part episode follows J.D. on his last day at Sacred Heart before starting a new job. J.D. tries to get Dr. Cox to reveal his true feelings for him, Turk worries he’s not sending J.D. off with a good enough goodbye and J.D. does a final walkthrough of the hospital set to a montage of the show’s best moments and flashbacks.

The episode gave the original series a worthy farewell that combined all of the elements that made the show so unique — its silliness, its warmth and the brilliant work it did in establishing relationships between all of its characters. It also included a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment between Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence in the final scene.

“My Lunch” (Season 5, Episode 20)

After a former patient of J.D.’s dies due to apparent suicide, he beats himself up for not seeing the warning signs. Dr. Cox takes him out to lunch to assure him it’s not his fault and that there’s some good news to come from it — Jill, as an organ donor, is able to save three of Dr. Cox’s patients.

That good news quickly turns tragic when it’s revealed that Jill did not die of an overdose. She died of rabies. And now all three transplant recipients are infected. Dr. Cox is devastated by his mistake and spirals to the point where it seems he is ready to leave the hospital forever.

“My Fallen Idol” (Season 5, Episode 21)

The direct follow-up to My Lunch, My Fallen Idol picks up in the immediate aftermath as three of Dr. Cox’s patients have died due to an unforeseen mistake. After Dr. Cox shows up to work drunk, J.D. refuses to see him. Numerous colleagues and friends try to pull him back, but it’s ultimately J.D. who breaks through — by admitting that he wasn’t ready to see Dr. Cox as anything other than a superhero, and that seeing him in this state means coming to terms with the fact that he isn’t one.

The episode ends on an immensely hopeful note, as J.D. tells Dr. Cox he’s proud of him — because after 20 years of being a doctor, when things go badly, he still takes it this hard. And that, J.D. says, is the doctor he wants to be.

“My Long Goodbye” (Season 6, Episode 15)

It’s a trend among some of the best Scrubs episodes that they are also some of the most emotional, and My Long Goodbye is no exception. In it, the staff of Sacred Heart says goodbye to Laverne before she passes away following a serious car accident. The episode allows each character to get their moment with Laverne — to thank her for everything she did for them, both professionally and personally.

In the end, it’s Carla’s final goodbye that allows Laverne to let go. The episode highlights the deep camaraderie of a hospital staff, especially when they lose someone so close to them.

“My Way Home” (Season 5, Episode 7)

In the show’s 100th episode, Scrubs paid tribute to The Wizard of Oz, as J.D. is called into the hospital on his day off and tries however he can to get back home — just like Dorothy — while his friends battle issues of intelligence, courage and heart. Carla is looking for the courage to be a parent. Elliot is looking for the brains to deliver a lecture on endocrinology. And Turk is literally searching for a heart to be used in a heart transplant.

The episode is littered with Wizard of Oz references — from the man behind the curtain to a subtle nod to the band Toto — and delivers a loving homage in classic Scrubs fashion in one of its biggest episodes to date.

“My Musical” (Season 6, Episode 6)

A patient with a rare neurological condition begins hearing everyone around her as song and dance numbers, giving the cast a chance to go fully Broadway. One of the best musical episodes in TV history — funny, creative and surprisingly emotional by the end.

“My Last Words” (Season 8, Episode 2)

In My Last Words,” Turk and J.D. are bursting with excitement as they prepare to celebrate their annual steak night tradition. Those plans are upended, however, when they’re asked to check in on George, a patient likely to die that evening. They do what they can to make him comfortable, fulfill his dying request by buying him a beer and prepare to head out, only for George to tell them his family will be with him, a claim quickly contradicted by the hospital lawyer, who reveals George has no family.

Instead of steak night, Turk and J.D. stay with George. They talk through the moments of his life and admit that even though they see death every single day, it’s still a concept that terrifies them.

“My Old Lady” (Season 1, Episode 4)

My Old Lady is perhaps the first deeply emotional episode of the original Scrubs run. J.D. tries to convince Mrs. Tanner, his 74-year-old patient, to start on dialysis so she can prolong her life — but Mrs. Tanner is more ready to go than J.D. is prepared to accept. J.D. forms a deep bond with Mrs. Tanner and begins thinking about his own life in new ways. Meanwhile, Turk learns the power of forming deeper relationships with patients rather than viewing them as borderline cadavers, and Elliot is forced to deal with the inevitable uncertainty of providing care even when it might not work.

“My Old Lady” is one of a handful of episodes to break a 9.0 on IMDb’s episode rankings, and doing so in just the show’s fourth overall episode is a tribute to how fully formed Scrubs was — tonally, emotionally and comedically — right out of the gate.

“My Cake” (Season 4, Episode 6)

In “My Cake,” J.D.’s brother shows up with cake — which means something terrible has happened. J.D.’s beloved father Sam has died. With death arriving on his own doorstep, J.D. must deal with his own grief while managing the at times chaotic grief of his brother Dan. This episode also marks one of the first times Dr. Cox breaks from his typically stern demeanor toward J.D., going above and beyond to cover patients and make sure J.D. is doing alright.

‘My Half-Acre’ (Season 5, Episode 9)

My Half-Acre is one of the best episodes of Scrubs that doesn’t deal much with medical themes. In it, Elliott coaches J.D. on not moving too fast with a new paramour. Dr. Cox is under pressure from Jordan to show more affection to his son and Ted and the Janitor are holding auditions for their band The Cool Cats.

‘My Life in Four Cameras’ (Season 4, Episode 17)

Another homage episode, My Life in Four Cameras puts a multi-cam spin on J.D.’s POV as the hospital deals with an E. coli outbreak. The episode brings a literal and metaphorical new perspective of the show. And the bright sitcom lights do little to lighten the plot as Dr. Cox must convince Dr. Kelso not to make a budget cut that could result in someone being fired.

“My Nightingale” (Season 2, Episode 2)

My Nightingale follows J.D., Turk and Elliot on their first night shift as residents — largely on their own for the first time as the “adults” in the room. The episode also marks a dramatic shift as Dr. Cox turns his affection away from Carla and toward his ex-wife Jordan, setting him in a totally new direction and forcing him to reckon with who he is choosing to become as a person, and what that means for the people around him.

“My Butterfly” (Season 4, Episode 9)

A butterfly floats through the hospital and creates two versions of the same day in a Sliding Doors-style episode, as J.D. contemplates chaos theory and superstition and ponders how small choices can make huge differences.

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