I hadn't seen any Scrubs for a long while. I had started buying the series dvds when they were coming out but stopped with season 4. I decided to wait to pick them up after they had fallen in price. That was precipitated by seeing the pricing pattern that developed over the first 5 or 6 years that dvds were coming out and the desire to spend more money on LEGO. Now thanks to a Half Price Books 40% coupon I picked up season 5 and got to watched it for 6 bucks, plus tax. It's got 24 episodes on three discs and I had seen a few of them before in syndication. Originally the episodes were broadcast from January to May 2006. That was pretty much just after I had given up trying to keep up with shows as they were broadcast. There were too many dvds to watch. I could never remember to watch broadcast episodes at the right times. I just missed a lot of stuff I was often interested in. Of course watching a series on dvd is preferable to broadcast, what with no commercials, which made waiting seem like a good idea. For the most part I enjoyed the 5th season but I really like the cast of actors and the characters they play. It just helps so much to have clever scripts and visuals to enjoy.
Zack Braff and Donald Faison play two best friends who had been interning at the Sacred Heart teaching hospital. In the 5th season they have moved up to attending doctors with Zack a GP and Donald a surgeon. Zach goes through the season commenting on his life and life at the hospital. We hear his internal monologue and see his fantasies. He's got a bunch of interns to take care of plus all the regular stuff that happens in a hospital, some sad and some happy, it's a humourous melodramatic mixture. Then there's Zack's love life. Lots of comedy potential there. He's dating a woman at the beginning of the show and as soon as they buy some property and build a porch they break up over commitment. That pouch later attracts middle aged gay men who like hanging out on it. It's a nice porch. For a while Zack lives in a tent on his porch. It's a show with heavy continutity that moves people through several story arcs of varied lengths that can continue from season to season. That porch is in later seasons and later in the 5th season Zack gets something going with Elizabeth Banks that lasts into the 6th season and beyond. Donald and Judy Reyes are trying to have a baby so there's lots of fun stuff going on there. I just love Donald Faison. He can act, he's really great at physical comedy, and I find him a delight to watch. He has great chemistry with Zack, they are best friends in real life, and their scenes together really make me laugh. Laugh out loud at times.
That's good cause some of the stories are kind of sad. People are always dying from one thing or another. One episode has a woman die, her organs are harvested and transplanted, and the recipients get sicker. They find out that the dead woman had rabies. It's totally unexpected and sadly everyone dies. It breaks John C McGinley's tough doctor Cox even thought it was not his fault. Rabies is very rare and there was little time to do tests for something you would never expect. John dives into depression and Scotch and stays that way for a couple of episodes before he's back on track. McGinley's created a really complex tomented character that I might not like to hang out with but do enjoy on tv. Sarah Chalk plays another doctor who worked at Sacred Heart but she left last season to work on a fellowship which ends the second show into the season. She winds up going back to Sacred Heart and starts dating a young intern. That will continue into next season before that goes all to hell. There's always pain mixed in with pleasure in the show. You don't get a laugh for nothing with this show. The cost is worth it for the excellent writing and wonderful comedic moments. Hard to do a hundred shows and keep the quality up but they manage to get something good in each week story wise and there are plenty of jokes. I'm looking forward to finishing off the series thanks to a batch of 40% off coupons.
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