"My Mentor" is the second episode of Scrubs' first season. Elliot and Carla fight over Elliot telling Dr. Kelso about Carla's mistakes. Turk tries to get a date with Carla. J.D. attempts to get Will Forte to stop smoking.
Synopsis[]
J.D. gets a patient who smokes, Will Forte, who is in for a cancer screening. After talking to him, J.D. goes to the cafeteria, where Turk tells him that he is interested in Carla. As the episode progresses, it is revealed that Will doesn't have cancer. Undeterred, J.D. tries to persuade Will to stop smoking. He thinks that he has been successful and gladly tells Dr. Cox, but then the two of them see Will and the Janitor smoking together. When J.D. then asks Dr. Cox for help with his patient, Dr. Cox refuses.
After asking several people about Dr. Cox and always getting the answer, "He's a jerk," J.D. decides that Cox is just lonely and visits him at home with a couple of beers. When closing the door in J.D.'s face, Dr. Cox hurts J.D.'s leg and takes him inside to treat the injury. Then Dr. Cox's friends come in to watch a football game, and he kicks J.D. out. Before J.D. leaves, though, Dr. Cox gives him his version of sincere advice, telling him that if he keeps "living or dying" on whether or not a patient changes his or her bad habits, he'll never make it as a doctor.
Elliot digs her own grave.
Meanwhile, Elliot has told Dr. Kelso that Carla made a mistake, making Carla very angry. J.D. wants Elliot to apologize to Carla, but after her apology, she makes Carla even madder by telling her what she should have done. Carla rallies the nursing staff totally against Elliot, running her through the wringer. Elliot tries to get Dr. Kelso to help her get what she wants from the nurses, but he tells her she's on her own and says, "I hope you all kill each other."
All the while, Turk wants to ask Carla out, but she turns him down. Going for broke, Turk gives a speech to Carla, telling her to cut Elliot some slack. This impresses Carla, who finally agrees to a date. She then forgives Elliot, while J.D. sees Will leave, lighting up a cigarette immediately after leaving the hospital. J.D. reluctantly decides that Dr. Cox is right. Dr. Cox then chides J.D. for not sticking to his convictions, which causes J.D.'s head to explode (obviously in his imagination, though the signature flash is not shown). Dr. Cox then lectures J.D. about his head exploding.
Recurring Themes[]
More: Fantasies • Flashbacks • J.D.'s girl names • Janitor's pranks and lies
Fantasies[]
Elliot as a band nerd
- The hospital seemingly moves in sync to the song "Good Time" on J.D.'s Walkman. Dr. Kelso asks him, "Are you having a good time?" in sync with the lyrics.
- After The Todd talks naughty about Carla, Turk breaks his neck.
- Elliot is a nerdy band member, the nurses are cheerleaders, and the surgeons are jocks when the cafeteria turns into a high school.
- After Dr. Cox gives J.D. conflicting advice, J.D.'s head explodes.
- After Elliot continuously insults Carla, she is seen digging her own grave while the others see her lay herself to rest.
Janitor story[]
The Janitor remarks, in a depressed tone, that he is 37 years old and a janitor, to which J.D. replies that there is nothing wrong with being a janitor. The Janitor thinks J.D. is being condescending and talks to other people employed in Sacred Heart's maintenance staff about J.D., presumably about his perceived condescending attitude toward them.
J.D.'s Girl Names[]
- Susan (this is the first time that Dr. Cox calls J.D. a girl's name).
Guest Stars[]
- John Ducey as Will Forte
- Randi Kaplan as Patient
- Jack Walsh as Unconscious Patient
Music[]
♫ List of music featured in Scrubs
- "Good Time" by Leroy
Quotes[]
J.D.'s head explodes
- “Aww, be nice to Rowdy. The guy we bought him from used to keep him in a box full of old hats.”— J.D.
- “Sometimes if all you have is old words, all you can do is put them together and hope they say something new.”— J.D.
- “I'd go with the God Complex. But it's hard to choose, you know, they're all so good.”— J.D.
- “I was going to tell how I busted J.D.'s chops the other day for being friends with a girl, and I find it so amazing to see how strong you are, how well you carry yourself, and how I'd give anything just to wake up in the morning to watch you read the paper. But instead, you should hop off your broom for a sec, try and remember what it was like when you first started here, and give Elliot a break. Because she may be a chore, but she is a good person. ... Your ass is looking especially fine today.”— Turk
- “My bones hurt?”— J.D.
- “My bones hurt?”— J.D.
- “You're going to what? Rescue me from loneliness with a three-dollar six pack of light beer? Turns out you can't save people from themselves. We just treat 'em. We're going to treat that kid with the respiratory problem, and when he comes back with cancer, we'll go ahead and treat that too.”— Dr. Cox
- “Well... thanks for the "pick me up."”
- “Well... thanks for the "pick me up."”
- “Hey, smokers, drinkers, druggies, fatties, whatever. All I'm saying is that if you keep living and dying on whether a person changes, well, you're not going to make it as a doctor, that's all. Now come here and give me a hug. ... (J.D. goes in) ... oh, get out of here!”
- “Say anything else to him?”— Dr. Cox
- “No.”— J.D.
- “No.”— J.D.
- “Buuut you wanted to.”
- “Yeah, but you told me not to!”
- “Yeah, but you told me not to!”
- “Geez, J.D., would you be a man? Look, if you can't stick to your convictions, you'll never make it as a doctor. (J.D.'s head explodes from anger) I can't believe your head exploded. If your head explodes, you'll never make it as a doctor. I mean, come on, you look ridiculous.”
- “This is a strange resort, man. I mean, this wheelchair service is great, but that suite I rented... there's another person in it. And for some reason, the bellhop gave me an enema.”— Will Forte
- “Yeah... he's new here.”— J.D.
- “Yeah... he's new here.”— J.D.
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode in which Dr. Cox calls J.D. a girl's name (Susan).
- First appearance of Doug and Rowdy.
- Janitor is singing "Good Time" by Leroy when J.D. passes him in the I.C.U., a clear indication that at this point, he was going to be a figment of J.D's imagination.
- Even though The Janitor at this point is still supposed to be in J.D.'s imagination, he mentions to Turk that he thinks the Janitor is out to get him.
- Dr. Cox's apartment looks like an operating room. This is because most sets, including The Apartment, were modified rooms of the hospital where Scrubs was filmed.
- When J.D. demonstrates an electrolarynx to Will Forte, Will says, "Biddy-biddy-biddy, okay Doc," a reference to the character Twiki from the TV show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
- J.D. says, "Would you like to play a game?" — a reference to the 1983 film WarGames, in which Joshua, a NORAD computer, says, "Shall we play a game?"
- The scene after the opening when J.D. is walking into the hospital is the exact same scene used in the pilot episode.
- The actress who portrays Turk's mother in the picture Elliot picks up is not the same actress who plays his mother in later episodes.
- Will Forte is named after the former That 70s Show producer and Saturday Night Live cast member. It is also the name of an actor who appeared in Clone High, USA, creator Bill Lawrence's show.
- Whitaker Chambers, the C.E.O. of the corporation that owns the hospital, is named after an American writer and former Communist who was a key witness in the famous spy case against Alger Hiss. The case ended in a conviction for Hiss and a medal for Chambers.
- Dr. Cox says, "Unfortunately, Radar, I'm out of gold stars." Radar is always one step ahead in M*A*S*H.
- The opening scene featuring "Good Time" by Leroy was added to the episode later, after someone at NBC introduced the song to the Scrubs producers.
- What Carla tells J.D. about Elliot is, in Spanish, "to watch her little behind, because if she doesn't, I am going to kick all the blonde dye off her head."
- This is one of the only times an exterior shot of J.D. and Turk's apartment building is shown. The shot is generic stock footage of a brownstone.
Title explanation[]
J.D. finds his mentor in Dr. Cox, who actually doesn't want to be his mentor.