A Show That's Very Comfortable in Its Own Skin

So now I come upon a classic dilemma. How do I create a standalone review for the second season of a series whose first season I've already reviewed? Well, first things first, I'll give you a link to the review of the first season, in case you haven't read it:

Scrubs - The Complete First Season

Now for the meat of the review. First off, I'm going to give a brief description of the show and its characters, for those not familiar with Scrubs, and for those who didn't go ahead and read the review of the first season, where those things are covered in detail. Then I'm going to focus on the memorable guest stars of the season, rather than the principal characters.

The Story and Characters

Scrubs centers around the wacky characters in Sacred Heart Hospital. The principal characters are the show's principal narrator J.D. (Zach Braff), his on-again off-again love interest Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), his best friend Turk (Donald Faison), his best friend's girlfriend Carla (Judy Reyes), cranky doctor with a heart of tarnished gold Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), Dr. Cox's ex-wife and current love interest Jordan (Christa Miller), crotchety chief of medicine Bob Kelso, and J.D.'s arch-nemesis the Janitor (Neil Flynn).

Phew.

**Fair warning, if you haven't seen the first season, there are some spoilers ahead.**

At the start of the second season, J.D. and Elliot have some sexual tension remaining from their failed relationship, Turk and Carla are in the middle of contemplating whether or not they want to take their relationship to the next step, and Dr. Cox is trying to decide how he feels about Jordan. That pretty much brings us up to speed for the start of the second season.

The Guest Stars

**Fair warning, if you haven't seen the second season, there are some spoilers ahead.**

One of the charming things about Scrubs is that, as I noted in my review of the first season, the guest stars seem to fit organically into the show. It's not unnatural that they appear, and there's never a dreaded "as himself" appearance. And since the characters played by the guest stars are integrated into the story, instead of just doing a cameo, they frequently appear through multi-episode story arcs.

Heather Locklear as Julie Keaton - Heather Locklear appears in a two-episode arc as a sexy (obviously) pharmaceutical rep. Jaws drop as she goes by, and despite the fact that Dr. Cox hates her profession with a fiery passion (representative of a recurring fundamental compassion displayed on occasion by Dr. Cox), they have an undeniable attraction to one another. Eventually they begin to sleep together, but things are complicated when Jordan, Dr. Cox's ex-wife, returns. Further complicating things is the fact that Jordan is quite obviously several months pregnant.

The wonderful thing about this guest arc is that Heather Locklear's character serves as a wonderful foil to let us deeper into Dr. Cox's character. Ultimately, when faced with the choice between the amazingly sexy pharmaceutical rep and his bloated, pregnant ex-wife, he proves to be the stand-up guy that we know he really is.

Dick van Dyke as Dr. Townshend - Dr. Townshend is loved by everyone in the hospital. He's like the anti-Kelso, even though he and Dr. Kelso are best friends. His easygoing manner sets everybody at ease, and J.D. soon comes to idolize him, just as he always idolizes pretty much anybody charismatic.

This guest role only lasted for one episode, but it let us into J.D.'s head a little bit more. When Dr. Townshend advises J.D. to perform an outdated, dangerous medical procedure, J.D. does the right thing and reports him to Dr. Kelso despite the admiration he feels for the charismatic Dr. Townshend. It gives a little bit of integrity to the often weak-willed, eager-to-please J.D.

D.L. Hughley as Kevin Turk - On the same episode as Dick van Dyke's guest role, D.L. Hughley appeared as Turk's older brother. With as different as he is from Turk, we're afforded an opportunity to learn a bit about Turk's past (evidently he was raised and put through school by his brother).

Rick Schroeder as Paul Flowers - At four episodes, Rick Schroeder's guest turn as male nurse Paul Flowers is the longest in the series up to this point (aside from some who I'd term "recurring" characters, rather than "guests"). He's completely comfortable with what he does, even though it requires that he wear pink scrubs and suffer the indignity of being called a "murse," but when he starts dating Elliot, we come to realize that she's much more concerned with what people think than she wants to admit. Throughout this arc, though, she progresses through those feelings and realizes that she likes Paul despite what he does. He's written off once she discovers more things that she doesn't like about him, but the arc provided some nice character development for Elliot.

Jay Mohr as Dr. Peter Fisher - This is only a one-episode guest spot, but it gives us a peek back into Dr. Cox's past, through the lens of his and Dr. Fisher's enmity for one another. Dr. Fisher is a private practice man, and J.D. immediately looks up to him (he's charming, so of course J.D. likes him) and chalks up Dr. Cox's hostility to the fact that he hates private practice men. But as the story progresses, we learn through some dialogue that that's not all there is to it, and as such we see that there's more to Dr. Cox than we may have suspected.

Amy Smart as Jamie Moyers - Jamie is called the TCW by the staff of the hospital. TCW, we soon learn, stands for "Tasty Coma Wife," since her husband is in a coma. She stars in three episodes, and J.D. gets romantically involved with her while her husband is still alive in the coma. It's the beginning of this arc that's important, and lets us see more of the moral fiber of J.D., as he pushes Jamie away, despite his intense attraction to him, because it's not right since her husband is still alive.

The Final Verdict

I hope this review's format worked. I didn't want to rehash things or just go over the plot for the season, so I thought I'd do something different. I really think this helps illustrate one of the ways in which Scrubs is special, though. Its guest stars are real characters, not just extraneous cameos. They're integral to the progression of the story, and that's a welcome change from Simpsons-esque guest turns that consist of two lines from, say Britney Spears as herself.

I also don't mean to de-emphasize the humor, because above all, Scrubs is side-splittingly funny. But what keeps us watching is the attachment to the characters, really.

The second season of Scrubs is just as good as, if not better than, the first season. I can't wait to get ahold of the third season, and neither should you.

Other TV Reviews!

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Scrubs - The Complete First Season
Smallville - Season One