Laughs triumph over love story
October 25, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
TV couples who draw out long romances never figure out how to truly wrap it up after they slap it up. Oh, these on-again, off-again affairs. Will they? Won't they? Seesaw. Hee-haw. Pshaw.
Enough already.
Tonight's debut of the seventh and final season of "Scrubs" is as funny as ever. But it's a well-crafted comedy despite the up-in-the-air romance between J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke), not because of it.
Chalke delivers a great "too soon" monologue. "Beard face" works. "Pig whore" works. The "dong" T-shirt works. All the actors are hitting their finely written lines.
And creator Bill Lawrence starts the season's long goodbye with a more down-to-earth approach than last year, when "Scrubs" went super goofy to mixed results.
Tonight's boil-down: J.D. and Elliot almost make out, which causes Elliot to question if she should marry her fiance Keith. Hmm, you think?
Meanwhile, as they say, J.D. is pondering why he doesn't want to go home to his pregnant woman. Gee, I wonder.
And Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) falls in like with a male patient, whose symptoms are a half-mystery.
It's a relief "Scrubs" begins with laughs, since I was beginning to agree with Brian and Stewie's "Family Guy" song at the Emmys, when they harmonized that "Scrubs" "reminds us that a sitcom doesn't have to make us laugh."
But still, I wish Lawrence would issue a statement today, now, telling fans whether J.D. and Elliot will be together forever by the end of the season, as I'll probably still not care by the series finale.
You already know their dance won't stay in limbo, if only because Turk (Donald Faison) gives J.D. a good theory as to why he's stuck in his doomed relationship with Kim:
"You knocked her up on your first date, and before you could get to know her, she betrayed you. And now you don't have strong feelings for her, and the only reasons you're together is because a kid's involved."
That's so ponderous. Remember the good old days when J.D. and Elliot just had crazy weird sex, and it was funny? How about going down that road too much, instead of the clashy love road?
Besides, J.D. and Elliot will always wonder whether they're true loves, because they're flakes.
There is one good thing about this love line. It's a fitting parallel to "Scrubs" itself. I used to love "Scrubs," then I fell out of love with it, and now it's good enough to be friends with again. Not sexy friends. But a peck on the cheek wouldn't be objectionable.
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
TV couples who draw out long romances never figure out how to truly wrap it up after they slap it up. Oh, these on-again, off-again affairs. Will they? Won't they? Seesaw. Hee-haw. Pshaw.
Enough already.
Tonight's debut of the seventh and final season of "Scrubs" is as funny as ever. But it's a well-crafted comedy despite the up-in-the-air romance between J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke), not because of it.
Chalke delivers a great "too soon" monologue. "Beard face" works. "Pig whore" works. The "dong" T-shirt works. All the actors are hitting their finely written lines.
And creator Bill Lawrence starts the season's long goodbye with a more down-to-earth approach than last year, when "Scrubs" went super goofy to mixed results.
Tonight's boil-down: J.D. and Elliot almost make out, which causes Elliot to question if she should marry her fiance Keith. Hmm, you think?
Meanwhile, as they say, J.D. is pondering why he doesn't want to go home to his pregnant woman. Gee, I wonder.
And Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) falls in like with a male patient, whose symptoms are a half-mystery.
It's a relief "Scrubs" begins with laughs, since I was beginning to agree with Brian and Stewie's "Family Guy" song at the Emmys, when they harmonized that "Scrubs" "reminds us that a sitcom doesn't have to make us laugh."
But still, I wish Lawrence would issue a statement today, now, telling fans whether J.D. and Elliot will be together forever by the end of the season, as I'll probably still not care by the series finale.
You already know their dance won't stay in limbo, if only because Turk (Donald Faison) gives J.D. a good theory as to why he's stuck in his doomed relationship with Kim:
"You knocked her up on your first date, and before you could get to know her, she betrayed you. And now you don't have strong feelings for her, and the only reasons you're together is because a kid's involved."
That's so ponderous. Remember the good old days when J.D. and Elliot just had crazy weird sex, and it was funny? How about going down that road too much, instead of the clashy love road?
Besides, J.D. and Elliot will always wonder whether they're true loves, because they're flakes.
There is one good thing about this love line. It's a fitting parallel to "Scrubs" itself. I used to love "Scrubs," then I fell out of love with it, and now it's good enough to be friends with again. Not sexy friends. But a peck on the cheek wouldn't be objectionable.
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