My Screw Up
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| “My Screw Up” | |||||||
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| Scrubs episode | |||||||
 Dr. Cox et al mourn a death in the family |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 14 |
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| Written by | Neil Goldman Garrett Donovan |
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| Directed by | Chris Koch | ||||||
| Guest stars | Brendan Fraser (Ben Sullivan) Tara Reid (Danni Sullivan) Randall Winston (Leonard) Ned Bellamy (Dr. Green) Frank Encarnacao (Dr. Mickhead) Warren Munson (Mr Taylor) |
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| Production no. | 315 | ||||||
| Original airdate | February 24, 2004 | ||||||
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| List of Scrubs episodes | |||||||
"My Screw Up" is the 60th episode of the American sitcom Scrubs. It originally aired as Episode 14 of Season 3 on February 24, 2004.
It features Brendan Fraser's final appearance as Ben Sullivan. The character had previously appeared in the first season episodes "My Occurrence" and "My Hero".
The episode is a homage to The Sixth Sense.[1]
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[edit] Plot
Jordan, Danni and Ben return to help prepare a gathering for Dr. Cox's son's first birthday. Turk and Carla clash over removing Turk's mole, and changing Carla's last name after they marry, while one of Ted's band members quits. Dr. Cox angrily blames J.D. for a patient's death and dismisses him, but Ben calms Dr. Cox down and talks some sense into him, and he eventually forgives J.D.
[edit] Homage to The Sixth Sense
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This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (April 2008) |
On the special features on the season three DVD, Bill Lawrence says that this episode is a homage to The Sixth Sense. The film, starring Bruce Willis, is famous for its twist ending, when it is revealed that Willis's character has been unknowingly dead throughout the film. In the film, Willis interacts only with a boy who can "see dead people"; no other characters ever acknowledge Willis's presence. The film allows the audience to assume Willis is alive.
Similarly in "My Screw Up", after Ben's death, Dr. Cox continues to interact with him, but is the only character to do so. The deceased "patient" is never mentioned by name, allowing the audience to assume it is a recently introduced old man. This misdirection continues when Cox later tells Ben, "As a rule of thumb, I don't attend parties where the guest of honor has no idea what's going on." This is consistent with Cox's established disdain for having a birthday party for his 1-year-old son Jack, but actually refers to Ben's upcoming funeral. Ben spends the rest of the episode trying to convince Cox to attend the event. In the final scene, Ben convinces Cox to forgive himself. Once Cox does so, Ben "disappears", and the setting is revealed to be Ben's funeral.
The audience is provided some "clues" as to what is really happening:
- In the beginning of the episode, Dr. Cox asks Ben if he's still carrying his camera around, and Ben responds, "Until the day I die." After J.D. has broken the news to Cox that an unnamed patient has died, Ben no longer appears with his camera.
- After Ben has died, he is always shown wearing the same clothes.
- J.D.'s monologue talks about guilt and denial when Ben first dies, and acceptance as the episode concludes. Denial and acceptance are the first and last stages of grief, respectively.
- Cox's distress at the death of the unnamed patient is disproportionate for a stranger. In past episodes (e.g., "My First Kill"), Cox exhibited a more professional reaction to patient death.
[edit] Continuity
Footage from this episode was later re-used in "My Urologist", with Dr. Kim Briggs digitally worked into it (replacing Carla) to verify she was there for Ben's funeral.
Brendan Fraser was supposed to appear in "My Long Goodbye" as Ben because Carla asks Dr. Cox if he had ever seen a ghost, however, Fraser couldn't appear because he was currently filming a new movie. As such, Jill Tracy from "My Lunch" appears instead.[2]
The use of Ben as a figment of Cox's imagination parallels a future episode when Laverne is near death and appears only as a figment of Carla's imagination.
[edit] Cultural references
- In the locker room where J.D. shows off his "Shower Shorts", on the locker behind him stands "Peace Sam". Sam is the name of J.D.s father, played by John Ritter, who died September 11, 2003.
- Upon seeing Danni, Jordan's sister, played by Tara Reid, J. D. quickly mentions that he destroyed the video they made when she last visited. The video features Danni hitting J. D. in the crotch with a golf club, a mockery of many entries submitted to America's Funniest Home Videos. J. D. mentions sadly that now he'll never get to meet Bob Saget, even though Saget left the show in the mid 1990s.
[edit] Featured music
- "Winter" by Joshua Radin
- The song playing during Dr. Cox and Ben's "gay chicken" game was the introduction to "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin" by Colin Hay. The song was sung by the cast in the episode "My Philosophy".
[edit] Reception
- It received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series. In 2008, Empire placed Scrubs 19th on their list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" and cited "My Screw Up" as the show's best episode.[3]
- "My Screw Up" is one of the highest-rated episodes of Scrubs (9.8 out of 10) out of all of the series' episodes on TV.com. It shares top place with the episode "My Lunch" (9.8 out of 10) and is then followed by "My Way Home" (9.7 out of 10).
[edit] References
- ^ [http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20050120 50 Best episodes of 2004
- ^ Scrubs TV Show Series on NBC: Find Videos and Season Episode . NBC Online Site
- ^ The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Empire. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
[edit] External links
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