In its truest form, Scrubs was a show about friendship. It did this better than almost any other show I've watched before. Yeah, even that show called "Friends" wasn't as much about friendships as Scrubs was. Nearly every episode of Scrubs was about various relationships and their difficulties. And it explored a wide variety of these. Best friends, friends with benefits, trying to be the friend of your lovers friend, trying to be friends with your boss, trying to be friends with someone you respect, friendship because of a common enemy, friendship with your enemies, and so many more. And after 8 seasons, we got to see a lot of the situations change. We got to see JD fawn after Elliott, break her heart, have her seek him out, watching both of them almost get married to other people, and then come back together. We got to see many of the characters change, and how they dealt with the various problems that come from that.
And the show was willing to experience everything. Like a good friendship, the large majority of was silly and fun... but it didn't hide from heart breaking incidences. Break ups, job changes, losing friends, and the most heart breaking being death. The episode of Brendan Fraser dying, and Dr. Cox's reaction, brought me to tears. As did the final episode. The show experienced a wide variety of emotions, and then dealt with the consequences of that. Someone didn't die, and the next episode continued like nothing happened (well, except some of the episodes that were out of place in filming...), but the characters had to deal with their pain and grew.
Now, at times, the problems got repetitive. With 8 seasons, it was bound to happen that many of the jokes got repeated. Yes, we get it...JD is white, and Turk is black. We get that a friendship with your ex can be difficult. And at times, the rehashing of some of these plot tools got annoying. Speaking from experience, its really not that hard to be friends with your ex! Still, it often tried to throw new twists.
The show was much like a friendship. I grew attached to it, and the characters. Yeah, there was a down part where the show, much like a long time friend, grated me the wrong way (*cough* Season 4 and 5 *cough*). But like a true friendship, it was worth getting through the hard times and sticking with your friends.
The last episode, the finale, was perhaps the most moving ending to a show I've seen (The Wonder Years being the only competitor). It fit in with the rest of the show, it kept the themes, and it broke my heart. A friend told me that the finale was one of the first episodes she actually watched, and it broke her heart. The finale encompassed the entire show. And the montage at the end is the second time I cried during the show. The dream of the future, something I've experienced every time a big change in my life is about to occur. Imaging your future with all your friends, and just hoping it all will be good. You know things are about to get hard, and yet you force yourself to be optimistic. You dream of your next big gathering, like a holiday party, and that you are all happy together. You have to be happy for whats about to change, because the idea of losing those you love would crush you because you've overcome all your past problems with them helping you through it. The show ends, a change in life, but ends with the dream that things will all work out, and that the friends who have been through it all will manage to over come even this difficulty.
