Scrubs Season 10, Episode 2 Review – “My 2nd First Day”

After an amusing, awkwardly dour premiere, Scrubs feels like its finding a better balance between its two generations, and two emotional tones, in “My 2nd First Day”. However, a more coherent script only belies some of the larger issues with the revival’s first two episodes – mostly that it doesn’t feel it has a whole lot to say about its characters, unless it is revisiting concepts and stories from two decades earlier, stories of the old generation that mostly obfuscate anything new or intriguing the series might be trying with its younger cadre of interns. It’s like Scrubs season one (which I’m still in the middle of revisiting in the Scrubs Second Look) meets Scrubs season nine (although I know the series doesn’t want to acknowledge the latter even exists), though with smaller pockets of personality sprinkled throughout its abundantly familiar narratives.

As the title belies, “My 2nd First Day” is a full-circle moment for J.D.; after spending much of the first season of the series trying to figure out what kind of doctor he wants to be, “My 2nd First Day” is about J.D. figuring out what kind of figurehead he wants to be at Sacred Heart, after taking on the Chief of Medicine position after Dr. Cox’s abrupt retirement (which… still sits weird with me that Gen Z was what took out Dr. Cox, but we’ll shelf that for now). And like we’ve seen so many times before (again, especially in season one), J.D. is in an eternal fight with his soft side, and the performative faux tough guy he briefly takes on when Scrubs tries to present him with an existential crisis. He can’t decide how to approach interns, he seems confused by Dr. Park’s aggressive energy – J.D. being uncomfortable is not a new thing for the series, but there’s at least something to the series trying to explore the generational gap between him and Turk, and the new generation of doctors that are becoming the DNA of Sacred Heart.

The problem is, that conflict is quickly shooed away for something much more on-rails and one-dimensional, when J.D.’s conflicting promises to Elliot and Turk for new medical equipment become a conflict. It’s here where this whole plot arc gets incredibly weird; about halfway through the episode, “My 2nd First Day” shifts away from J.D. to dredge up a flimsy conflict between Elliot and Turk, who apparently have drifted apart since her and J.D.’s split sometime in the recent past. It’s an awkward shift, one that sidelines J.D. in the middle of his supposed journey of self-discovery, for two characters whose definitive notes in the opening episode, are abandoned for something much more superficial, and focused on a relationship that has failed on this show not once, not twice, but no less than three times in its nine-plus season run.

That’s not to say Elliot and Turk’s scene together, where they hash out their feelings around J.D. and how he prioritizes people in his life, isn’t good; it gives two strong comedic performers a brief avenue to tap into something a little more textured emotionally (which paid benefits for Turk in his most vulnerable moments of the premiere, although that whole story is dropped like a hot brick, at least for this episode). It’s somber and thoughtful, utterly outside of the tone of any other scene in the episode – but ultimately, “My 2nd First Day” flattens their conflict in order for a quick resolution, one that nods towards larger character beats (Turk randomly mentions ignoring everything in his life, something Elliot seems to miss) that are ignored to rush to a resolution.

From there, “My 2nd First Day” has a tough job getting back on track as it tries to marry J.D’s journey in his first day as Chief of Medicine, back to the next generation of interns who take up the other half of the episode’s interminably brief 19-minute running time. 10 minutes for Sam the influencer, Asher (who closely mirrors J.D.’s early frustrations with the limitations of his position) and his burgeoning bro-ship with Blake, and the other smattering of interns that are quickly becoming familiar, forgettable faces with paper-thin plotlines tethering them to the arcs of the heralded trio of J.D., Elliot, and Turk.

It’s these stories that disappoint the most, as they build a flimsy community through some really aggravatingly simple bits; Sam makes friends with everyone by spending her influencer money on them, while J.D. goes out of his way to miss his celebratory dinner and help Asher (who is struggling to get pills for a patient who can’t afford them), to avoid the “loss of hope” that forms the core of J.D.’s prototypical ending voiceover (where Scrubs has, for nearly 200 episodes, inconsistently pivoted from ridiculousness to profundity).

The rush of quick resolutions at the end make “My 2nd First Day” too neat and tidy for its own good, blazing through more interesting conflicts and dynamics for its main characters with the same familiar stories – even Stanley, the patient in this episode, has the same conversation about affordability built around him that the patients in the premiere blatantly presented. On some level, there’s an explicit attempt to marry the old with the new on this new season of Scrubs, but “My Return” and “My 2nd First Day” would rather imitate itself than try to strike out in new, interesting directions for its characters – a strangely safe approach for a series that was, in its previous form, willing to do just about anything to get a laugh, or a tear, from its audience.

Though a bit more streamlined and focused than the premiere episode, the distinct structure and pace of “My 2nd First Day” only further highlight some of the obvious struggles the revival is having, to bring any kind of new energy or ideas to the table that don’t involve Vanessa Bayer’s Sibby absolutely owning every scene she’s in. It’s also incredibly an incredibly short episode, which makes its attempts to juggle multiple stories and ideas a foolhardy effort; the result is an episode that is perfectly willing to regress in order to hold itself together, its uneven attempts at breaking new ground mostly feeling like a series unnecessarily trying to tread water before it jumps back into the exact same character dynamics of its main trio, that were getting worn out in the show’s seventh and eighth seasons. For a series that purports to be about change and moving forward, Scrubs seems incredibly intent in embodying, or at least recreating, the images and emotions of its past – which is never, ever going to be as satisfying as seeing it be the experimental, free-flowing goofy series it was at its absolute best.

Grade: C

Other thoughts/observations:

• Not even a mention of Carla in this episode. Look, she was never my favorite character, but at this point, why even bring her back for the premiere if we’re going to pretend she doesn’t even exist?
  
• J.D.: still enjoying his appletinis shaken, not stirred.
  
• Joel Kim Booster is bringing a lot of fun comedic energy to Dr. Park, but he feels like a character operating on a different frequency from the rest of the series. It sticks out in a good way, but it makes some of the other, more moldable character performances feel like they’re living in his shadow.
  
• it’s 2026, so the patients and the interns are broke. One can almost feel Scrubs recoil when it has to consider the realities of what running a profitable hospital looks like in our twisted times.
  
• Elliot’s only stories in the first two episodes are entirely J.D.-centric. Not great, Bob!
  
• “I just don’t know how to be anymore. I guess I just default to ignoring it all.” UM IS NOBODY CHECKING IN ON TURK STILL?
  
• “If I was looking for answers, they’d have to come from me.” We can do better than this, Scrubs!