Second Look: Scrubs Season 1, Episode 8 – “My Fifteen Minutes”

Scrubs Season 1, Episode 8 “My Fifteen Minutes”
Written by Eric Weinberg
Directed by Lawrence Trilling
Aired November 15, 2001 on NBC

Amidst the many punchlines and cutaways of “My Fifteen Minutes” lies one of the busiest, most ambitious episodes of the young series, an episode layered with almost too much plot and ideas to pull it all together in time for the third act. And while it makes for a somewhat uneven watch as it tries to juggle plots for all four of its leads, especially considering the varied mileage Scrubs has had with Elliot, J.D., Turk, and Cox, “My Fifteen Minutes” is able to channel all that energy into an episode full of memorable jokes and some quietly important character development – even though the episode doesn’t ultimately lead to many new places for its characters, how “My Fifteen Minutes” is able to reground itself at important moments is an exciting sign for a comedy still less than 10 episodes old (and one without relying on any patient-related stories, to boot).

“My Fifteen Minutes” starts with its characters in very different places; it’s time for intern evaluations at Sacred Heart, and right in the midst of preparing (or getting lunch at a strip club, your choice), J.D. and Turk save a news cameraman’s life. This sends all three of its characters down paths, that while grounded in some serious self-evaluation of their values and goals, are surprisingly unique and isolated from each other – which allows J.D., Turk, and Elliot all some much-needed time to develop independently of each other, but also puts some constraints on all three stories and how far they’re able to dig into their characters.

The best of these is Turk’s; after reluctantly agreeing with Dr. Kelso that they should use the news opportunity to help promote the hospital, Turk finds himself the unexpected centerpiece of a typical early 2000s campaign to “modernize” medicine for a younger, more diverse audience – which really just amounts to parading Turk around like a token black person, something he’s been dealing with since his alma mater put his face on the front of the brochure twice. While Scrubs, with a script from Eric Weinberg, isn’t really in a position to dig deeper into the racial undertones of Turk’s story, it smartly makes the story more about Turk and his perception of self, and whether he’s comfortable compromising who he is and what he believes in, simply for some short-term advancement and some nebulous potential world where it might benefit him later down the road.

It’s a strong bit of character work for Turk, and one he experiences mostly without Carla – who, unfortunately, is stuck with Elliot in one of the more abrasive stories of these early episodes. I sometimes forget how underwhelming Carla’s character development is throughout the series – and its often because Scrubs, when it is looking to utilize her as a entryway for another character’s story, relies on her as a negative presence in the lives of those around her, in ways that would sometimes feel lazy in the show’s mid-to-late seasons. Here, her conflict is a bit more interesting, even if it feels like its rehashing stories it’s already told in previous episodes, when Elliot catches her out with a friend after abruptly canceling her plans with Elliot (who, to her credit, was a bit overzealous and failed to cross the very low bar of not saying anything vaguely racist the moment she met a black woman).

I don’t really like how the plot frames Carla – Carla’s insulting behavior is never really given the definition it needs, so when the script openly sides with Elliot’s feelings of rejection, it kind of leaves Carla in the wind. This isn’t the first or last time Scrubs would do this with her, but in an episode that’s trying to bridge the personality gap between the two, it lays her cruelty on a little thick. However, it makes for an unexpectedly strong episode for Elliot, one where her neuroses become a great source of humor (her Mary Tyler Moore spin when she steps outside the cab still cracks me up), and she’s allowed to stand on her own two feet, not letting Carla off easy for her betrayal (at least at first), and later enjoying a quiet moment, one where she finally starts to feel like she’s fitting in with Sacred Heart. It feels like a statement for the series, a sign that the show’s finally got a better understanding of what kind of character Elliot is – and, more importantly, establishes a point of strength for her after a half-dozen episodes of focusing squarely on the negative results of her neuroses.

Had “My Fifteen Minutes” just focused its attention on Turk and Elliot, it would already stand out as one of the better episodes of Scrubs‘s freshman first act; but it also layers a J.D. story in there, with Cox refusing to fill out his evaluation of J.D., instead putting the onus on J.D. to do the evaluation himself. From the beginning of this plot, the structure is fairly obvious – Cox would resist for eighteen minutes, until the soft spot we already know Cox is developing for Dr. Dorian surfaced behind closed doors – which does make the first few scenes of “My Fifteen Minutes” feel a bit perfunctory inside of an already-busy episode (he also has a running bit with the Janitor over missing cleaning materials, which is fun but ultimately a distraction).

However, it’s the first cutaway of “My Fifteen Minutes” that ultimately sets the course for the episode, in where J.D. pictures himself as Robin in his own power fantasy.

Though recent episodes have shown a growing confidence for Dr. Dorian, the growth from “My First Day” to the end of “My Super Ego” have come in fits and starts – Cox’s challenge to him in “My Fifteen Minutes” is really for him to take stock of those changes, to understand his strengths and weaknesses, and how they affect his ability to be a doctor, one with an coherent identity and a sturdy respect for himself. He’s got the talent, sure, but as Dr. Cox points out (and as Turk learns about himself when Kelso starts posting his semi-racist signs promoting diversity at the hospital), being singled out – or attempting to be singled out for approval – really means nothing; it just means someone was in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. And if you can’t look in the mirror at the end of the day and be honest with yourself as a human being, can you even enjoy those moments? More importantly, do they really have any meaning, if you’re not comfortable with yourself?

These questions fuel both Turk and J.D.’s stories – which eventually are resolved by a too-tidy voiceover monologue in the closing moments, but still work in concert with each other to form the trio of stories and the ideas of self explored in “My Fifteen Minutes”, and to draw contrast between Turk and J.D. in their time so far at Sacred Heart. The intellectual disconnect observed between them is important; J.D. lacks the confidence Turk has, be it with women or performing his services as surgeon. That’s why Turk is not afraid to express himself honestly around Kelso, and also why J.D. can’t do the same around Cox, trying to goad him into giving a rushed evaluation, just so he could be reminded that yes, he’s talented, and yes, he may one day actually be a great doctor.

Immaturity may still define them both, but their growth at Sacred Heart certainly hasn’t been linear, which is no more clear than when J.D. writes a white-washed version of his performance, which leading to the subsequent dressing down by Dr. Cox in the dimly-lit back room of Sacred Heart, where Cox points out that J.D.’s insecurities make him “so mad, I want to hurt myself”, a scathing, unresolved comment that adds a bit of poignancy to their (somewhat predictable) arc in this episode.

Despite being a slightly overstuffed episode taking an oversimplistic view of a few of its character, the ambitious storylines of “My Fifteen Minutes” act as effective litmus tests for its characters and their personal journeys, and to help engage viewers with a few important internal conflicts future episodes and seasons would further compound (like Ted’s miserable nature, my personal favorite). Though its thematic symmetry is a bit ramshackle (and requires throwing at least one character under the bus for it to come together), “My Fifteen Minutes” is a solid close to the first act of Scrubs‘s first season, and an encouraging sign the series was starting to find the harmony between its lighter and heavier elements, even as it experimented with its form a bit.

Grade: B+

Other thoughts/observations:

• Ted reminisces of his early days at the hospital: “I had hair… and a wife, and a family.”
  
• Let’s just not talk about the whole Tricia and Daryl subplot, where Elliot awkwardly recites a bunch of racial stereotypes… only for Daryl to get stabbed later in the episode.
  
• The Batman/Robin/Alfred cutaway is well-remembered, but I also love J.D. doing his best Randy Savage impression.
  
• Elliot, getting ready to tear up the town: “Maybe I’ll have a cigarette, get a little crazy.”
  
• Kelso’s “when you pull the string, it’ll say ‘I don’t like these pictures of me'” is so fucking good.
  
• High Five Count: One – Ted gets a high five! Unfortunately, Todd is not seen in this episode, leaving the official Todd High Five count at 6.5 (and 7.5 total for season one).
  
• Up next: Turk gets inside J.D. in “My Day Off”.