20 Years Later, ‘Scrubs’ Officially Fixes JD’s Biggest Mistake

Season 2 of the Scrubs revival is finally here, and already the show is fixing its past mistakes. The Scrubs revival Season 2 release schedule has kicked off with a bumper double-episode premiere, which has reunited us with Zach Braff’s John Dorian and an array of hilarious characters, both old and new. Much like Season 1 of the revival, though, the show has changed things from its original run.

While there has been a lot of discussion about a potential replacement for JD in Scrubs, I’m more interested in seeing the character’s growth and development in the years since the show first ended. JD has always been a great sitcom character, albeit flawed and infuriating at times. However, the JD we’re seeing now feels like a new man, and I’m even more sure of this after seeing what he does in Season 2, Episode 2 of the Scrubs revival, “My Mentee.”

J.D.’s New Mentee Grant Is a Much Better Choice Than Season 5’s Cabbage

As we reunite with JD in Season 2 of the Scrubs revival, we find that not a lot has changed. Just like he always has, JD is seeking out some sort of mentor relationship, and in “My Mentee,” JD sets his sights on Grant Summers, the new Chief Resident. First, JD ignores new character Dustin, who, hilariously, is the most obvious choice because of his internal monologue. But no matter how many quality candidates are in front of him, JD still chooses Grant. Initially, this made me fear that JD was about to recreate the same major mistake he’d made in the past.

During Scrubs‘ earlier installments, JD was desperate for Dr. Cox to be his go-to guy and teach him as much as possible. But as time passed and he became more senior, JD went from mentee to mentor, and in Scrubs Season 5, he took Jason “Cabbage” Cabbagio under his wing. Even though Keith was clearly the frontrunner in the group of interns, JD overlooked him (and this was even before what felt like the hundredth twist in JD and Elliot’s Scrubs love story, when Keith and Elliot started dating).

From the get-go, Cabbage was the last thing you wanted from a medical practitioner. He made constant mistakes, lacked common sense, and struggled to pick up basic skills his peer group tackled with ease. Cabbage’s incompetence eventually caused the death of Mrs. Wilk, a patient who was preparing to head home before the intern infected her after picking up a used glove off the floor. Cabbage was fired from the program as a result, and he ended up working in Sacred Heart’s coffee shop after that. JD’s soft spot for Cabbage blinded him to the reality of the intern’s capabilities, but with Grant, it seems to be a different story.

JD may be oblivious to the other potential mentees he could take on, especially as he’s not really paying attention to the other Scrubs legacy characters and who they’re mentoring, but at least this time he hasn’t picked the worst of the bunch. Grant is Chief Resident, and even though we haven’t really seen him in action just yet, it’s clear he’s far more capable than JD’s Season 5 mentee.

Really, Grant doesn’t need a mentor. He seems to have his head screwed on, and he already knows what kind of doctor he wants to be; his reaction to JD’s request to help with Cox’s insurance issue proves this. His character has a little Dr. Cox about him, but not enough to call him a true replacement; if anything, Grant might be the most unique Scrubs character we’ve seen in a long time.

It’ll be interesting to see how JD and Grant’s relationship progresses going forward. With the excitement of multiple original Scrubs character comebacks on the horizon, and plenty of unanswered questions from Season 1 and the show’s original run, anything can happen.