Scrubs: JD's Finale

Warning: This post will contain some spoilers for last night's Scrubs season finale, "My Finale."

So as previously mentioned, last night was the season (possibly series) finale of Scrubs. (I love how most people — myself included — are assuming it's the end of the show when we really haven't been given any concrete idea of its future).

The episode continued with the plotline introduced in Tuesday night's episode: JD would be leaving Sacred Heart to go work at a hospital closer to his son. So as expected, the episode largely focused on JD's desire to say goodbye to the people he worked with (and finally get some recognition/affection from Dr. Cox).

I'll be honest — while there were a couple of minor flaws here and there, I teared up.[bxA]

Scrubs has had its ups and downs over the past couple of years. There were times when plotlines got even zanier to the point of being unfunny, and this might have been the result of creator Bill Lawrence's frustrations over how the show was treated during its seven years on NBC. (Still not much of an excuse). But the show did return to form (for the most part) this season, and we got to see the very human sides of its characters once again.

And I think that's why I found myself tearing up during the episode, even though a part of me felt it could have been a little shorter, or could have focused on other characters if it was going to be that long. The characters on Scrubs have always been a little hilarious and over-the-top, but they're also characters I feel I've gotten to know really well over the last eight years. The audience has seen these people start out as fresh-faced interns in a hospital, who eventually move on to take on major leadership roles. We've also seen them start relationships, get married, have children — and while Scrubs is basically a comedy, we've seen them tackle tougher issues like the deaths of family members and patients, and their worries for their children. Cliched as it sounds, every time I watched an episode of Scrubs, I felt as though I was catching up with some old friends.

So I enjoyed last night's finale for the sense of closure I received. Whether or not the show does return in some form (under the same title, or as a spin-off series featuring the new interns), it was our last chance to say goodbye to JD — a character I loved during the early years and was glad to love again this season. His narration and ridiculous fantasies were the heart of the show, and a huge reason why I got hooked on it to begin with. And it was nice to see JD get his closure too from people like Dr. Cox (even if he was "tricked" into admitting how much he liked JD) and the Janitor (Glenn Matthews? Or Tommy?)

I do wish other characters had more screentime. We never saw Doug — who I feel only had one or two episodes worth of screentime this season — and Carla wasn't in the episode as much as I would have liked. But I do admit that her scene with JD was one of the best, subtle emotional moments on the show. When JD asked her why she never gave him a hard time when he started out, her simple response of "You were Bambi — someone had to teach you how to walk" got me to shed my first tear. It also reminded me how special the relationship between JD and Carla has always been even without Turk in the picture.

Purposely sentimental as it was, I also admit I really liked the moment when JD walked through the halls of Sacred Heart one last time and saw the faces of all the people he had encountered over the years. We got to see people like Laverne again, and we even got to see characters like the elderly patient from "My Old Lady" asking him if he "ever went on that picnic." It was a fantastic way to give a shoutout to the sitcom's past episodes without turning it into a schmaltzy clip show.

All in all, it was a good way to bring the Scrubs saga to an end. Spin-offs are fine and well (though I doubt I'd watch them), but I do hope they're done airing Scrubs after this. The show did return to form this season, but there's no need to drag it out either. Bill Lawrence did recently blog about how last night's finale was a series finale no matter what, even if the show does "go on," and while I'm down with his sentiments, I think we had a good eight years. That being said, I guess we'll just have to see what happens...

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Can Heroes truly redeem itself?

Warning: This post will eventually contain major spoilers for last night's Heroes season finale, "An Invisible Thread."

Three years ago, a new TV show about "ordinary people" with superhero powers made its debut. The show, simply titled Heroes, was an instant hit. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing the cast members on magazine covers or talk shows. Internet forums would be packed with excited posters moments after an episode aired. Geeks and non-geeks alike were in love with the show — and for good reason. It was fun, and while it was also action-packed for the most part, it had carefully built-up storylines that had audiences wanting more.

I was in love with Heroes during that first season. It was appointment TV for me, and I even made a point to rewatch episodes online with commentary once they were done airing. But then season 2, also known as the show's second volume, happened. Episodes either dragged or had too much happening in them at once. The introduction of new characters did not go as smoothly as one would have hoped, despite the fact that well-liked actors like David Anders and Kristen Bell had joined the team. And then the writer's strike occurred, giving the showrunners very few opportunities to fix their mistakes. Creator Tim Kring actually issued a public apology via Entertainment Weekly, stating that the show would be better during its third season.

Well, last night that third season came to an end, and I'm sad to say — it's really hard to figure out whether or not the show has any hope for going back to its glory days.[bxA]

Last night's season finale served as the conclusion for the show's fourth volume, "Fugitives." The volume, which was meant to reset Heroes, had its high points, but still remained a bit of a mess. The season finale was no different.

The episode, "An Invisible Thread," focused on characters' attempts to fix a problem started by Nathan Petrelli — a US senator with an ability to fly. Despite being "one of them," Nathan started the volume by telling the President about people with powers, resulting in a government-backed effort to round up these "heroes" for the sake of public safety. Even though Nathan seemed to realize the stupidity of his actions by last night's episode, his motivations still seemed murky to me especially since he was pretty open to the idea of everyone on the planet possessing powers (during Volume 3). Though Nathan was always one of the more interesting characters on the show, his character was poorly written this season, making it very difficult for me to enjoy the finale.

I'm just going to fast forward a bit to the end of the episode, which was really the only part where things actually happened. Nathan is finally killed by Sylar, who now possesses the ability to shapeshift. Nathan's brother Peter, who was in the room with the two of them at one point during a confrontation, has picked up this ability to shapeshift through Sylar. After shapeshifting to look like the President (one of the cooler moments on the show, I'll admit), Peter drugs Sylar. And then in one of the weirdest moments ever on the show, Nathan and Peter's mother Angela teams up with Noah (aka HRG) to get psychic Matt Parkman to turn Sylar into Nathan. Sort of.

Basically, Parkman convinces Sylar that he is Nathan. Sylar therefore shapeshifts to assume Nathan's form, along with his memories. He truly believes that Angela and Peter are his mother and brother, and he is now ready to tell the President to end his manhunt. This is the "brilliant" solution Angela and Noah come up with to end the madness.

On one hand, this means we get less Sylar from now on. I've been waiting for the character to get written off the show (which he should have been at the end of the first season). Even though Zachary Quinto played the part very well, the character — who made things so interesting during Season 1 — had become boring. Making an all-powerful, probably-immortal character stay on a show for so long can really suck the life out of it.

That being said, I fear that this isn't the end of Sylar, as the show indicated during its final moments. The episode (like the show's other finales) ended with a sneak preview of Volume 5, which is supposed to be titled "Redemption." In it, a distracted "Nathan" begins to show bits and pieces of Sylar's personality, which really gives me the sense that we're never going to be rid of this character. And if that's the case, things do not bode well for Heroes.

Heroes was never a perfect show — even in its heyday, it was obvious that the show borrowed heavily from other source material. But the writers used to do a wonderful job of repackaging familiar themes and making Heroes a compelling show. That spark seems to be gone now, even with the bizarre ending at the end of yesterday's episode. Maybe it would have felt more shocking or interesting a couple of seasons ago, or if the writing leading up to the episode had been a lot tighter. Sadly, at the end of the day, it was a lackluster finale.

I'll give Heroes one last try next season to see if the show really does return to form, as its creators have been promising for so long. But if it doesn't, I might just end up giving it up and rewatching the Season 1 DVDs from to time, to remember it more fondly.

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