(no subject)
Jul. 17th, 2004 07:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabWell, anyway, here's a little profile of the relationships on Scrubs. With some literary analysis and fangirlish squeeing thrown in.
JD/Cox
JD/Cox is obviously the central relationship of this thing, even outside the slashy subtext. Where JD is green and untried and overeager and ambitious, Cox is a brilliant, hostile man on the path to self-destruction. JD learns medicine from Cox (commonly considered the best doc in the hospital, in that marvelously alluring way when someone's smart and competent and the best), and he also learns when it's okay to break the rules, and how tough love teaches him to make the right decisions. JD idealizes Cox because he's a brilliant doctor, but also because, underneath that gruff armor Cox is a hugely sensitive guy, who cares both about his patients and about the people around him. So we have Cox up against JD, and it's JD who encourages Cox to take risks, to allow himself to be helped, to allow himself to be vulnerable. Personally, I think Cox has a LOT more to worry about if JD outgrows *him* (and that there might well be my next fic), because pretty soon old Perry's not going to have anything left to teach JD, and if he doesn't listen to JD he'll be just as emotionally stunted and dysfunctional as he's ever been.
Cox/Carla
The relationship Perry has with Carla hits one of my kinks with the whole long-time-best-friend vibe. Carla's known Cox far longer than any of the newbies, and she's also the only person he completely listens to, and the only person he completely trusts. For a man who risks alienating EVERYONE around him with his snarlish attitude, Carla is enormously important to Perry, to the point where he even believes he's in love with her. She dispels that: "you don't love me, you idolize me," and she's probably quite right. But she's a damned good friend to him, and the only one he'll talk to even when he's the go-to guy for everyone else.
JD/Turk
JD and Turk have that enviable, marvelous best-friendship that not a lot of real people find in a lifetime. They also have the unique talent of completely disregarding race -- one of the things I like best about Scrubs. JD and Turk are buddies, and though they're quite aware that JD is one nerdy honky and Turk has always been street-talking cool, it's just another game to them, because they're just GUYS, they love each other, "it's never been about race with us." And it's just -- they feel like people I know. The way JD reacts to Turk's brother, the way Turk responds to JD's father, these are totally people whose parents took them out for dinner together when they visited college, people who went on roadtrips and stole each others' girlfriends and went into medicine together, with a love of medicine. When Turk proposes to Carla and she finally says yes, JD runs around the picnic table with lit sparklers, because his BEST FRIEND is getting MARRIED.
Carla/Elliott
Carla and Elliott did a very cool thing as they became friends, at that slow, suspicious pace with which girls circle each other, balancing jealousy and curiosity. They're brought together, of course, because JD sleeps with Elliott from time to time and because Carla and Turk are ultimately married, but they don't find stuff of their own to relate on into late into the season. So they have that great relationship for a while that "the girlfriend" has, when she's brought to a party of her boyfriend's friends. It's a unique situation to see on TV, and these guys nailed it. Carla as the wise nurse with a decade of medicine under her belt, up against the fresh-faced Elliott the medical student who doesn't know how to intubate yet. So there's hostility there, and envy, and friction, compounded by Carla's sharp latina tongue and Elliott's WASPy trust-fund innocence. And somehow they manage to bust through that and be friends, not just for Turk and JD but eventually for themselves too. And it's nice, and it's appropriate that when JD tells Elliott he doesn't love her, Elliott confides in Carla.
Everything else, everyone else ties in and connects and reacts to everyone else. Dr. Kelso's relationship with Perry, completely adversarial and abusive, rubs off on JD who now weighs his options before agreeing to go along with Kelso on a plan, because JD doesn't want to let Cox down, wants to let Cox know JD's on HIS side. And Kelso, in turn, harasses Elliott, who is not only one of Cox's students but a fragile one at that -- very smart and competent but so nervous it's debilitating. And then Cox steps in and takes the heat off Elliott, and now we've got Elliott appreciating Dr. Cox.
Even the janitor, who is batshit insane and inches from postal when he's dealing with JD, turns into a delightful friendly guy when he's with Elliott (or "Blonde Doctor," as he calls her), and that's what their relationship is about. Maybe it's because he knows Elliott needs a friend, maybe it's because he knows it'll freak out JD, maybe it's because the janitor really is a nice guy after all. Wheels within wheels, people! Serious wheelness here!
The point is, you're luck on any sitcom if the PRIMARY relationship is nuanced, is solid, has organic continuity. More often than not you get cipher characters interchangeably plugged in for jokes. BUt everyone here's got a DISTINCT personality, and when they play against anyone else, a brand-new relationship forms. It's totally boggling and beautiful to watch.
This has been Operation Gay Chicken Part 1: Some stuff about relationships I was pretty vague on. *g*
JD/Cox
JD/Cox is obviously the central relationship of this thing, even outside the slashy subtext. Where JD is green and untried and overeager and ambitious, Cox is a brilliant, hostile man on the path to self-destruction. JD learns medicine from Cox (commonly considered the best doc in the hospital, in that marvelously alluring way when someone's smart and competent and the best), and he also learns when it's okay to break the rules, and how tough love teaches him to make the right decisions. JD idealizes Cox because he's a brilliant doctor, but also because, underneath that gruff armor Cox is a hugely sensitive guy, who cares both about his patients and about the people around him. So we have Cox up against JD, and it's JD who encourages Cox to take risks, to allow himself to be helped, to allow himself to be vulnerable. Personally, I think Cox has a LOT more to worry about if JD outgrows *him* (and that there might well be my next fic), because pretty soon old Perry's not going to have anything left to teach JD, and if he doesn't listen to JD he'll be just as emotionally stunted and dysfunctional as he's ever been.
Cox/Carla
The relationship Perry has with Carla hits one of my kinks with the whole long-time-best-friend vibe. Carla's known Cox far longer than any of the newbies, and she's also the only person he completely listens to, and the only person he completely trusts. For a man who risks alienating EVERYONE around him with his snarlish attitude, Carla is enormously important to Perry, to the point where he even believes he's in love with her. She dispels that: "you don't love me, you idolize me," and she's probably quite right. But she's a damned good friend to him, and the only one he'll talk to even when he's the go-to guy for everyone else.
JD/Turk
JD and Turk have that enviable, marvelous best-friendship that not a lot of real people find in a lifetime. They also have the unique talent of completely disregarding race -- one of the things I like best about Scrubs. JD and Turk are buddies, and though they're quite aware that JD is one nerdy honky and Turk has always been street-talking cool, it's just another game to them, because they're just GUYS, they love each other, "it's never been about race with us." And it's just -- they feel like people I know. The way JD reacts to Turk's brother, the way Turk responds to JD's father, these are totally people whose parents took them out for dinner together when they visited college, people who went on roadtrips and stole each others' girlfriends and went into medicine together, with a love of medicine. When Turk proposes to Carla and she finally says yes, JD runs around the picnic table with lit sparklers, because his BEST FRIEND is getting MARRIED.
Carla/Elliott
Carla and Elliott did a very cool thing as they became friends, at that slow, suspicious pace with which girls circle each other, balancing jealousy and curiosity. They're brought together, of course, because JD sleeps with Elliott from time to time and because Carla and Turk are ultimately married, but they don't find stuff of their own to relate on into late into the season. So they have that great relationship for a while that "the girlfriend" has, when she's brought to a party of her boyfriend's friends. It's a unique situation to see on TV, and these guys nailed it. Carla as the wise nurse with a decade of medicine under her belt, up against the fresh-faced Elliott the medical student who doesn't know how to intubate yet. So there's hostility there, and envy, and friction, compounded by Carla's sharp latina tongue and Elliott's WASPy trust-fund innocence. And somehow they manage to bust through that and be friends, not just for Turk and JD but eventually for themselves too. And it's nice, and it's appropriate that when JD tells Elliott he doesn't love her, Elliott confides in Carla.
Everything else, everyone else ties in and connects and reacts to everyone else. Dr. Kelso's relationship with Perry, completely adversarial and abusive, rubs off on JD who now weighs his options before agreeing to go along with Kelso on a plan, because JD doesn't want to let Cox down, wants to let Cox know JD's on HIS side. And Kelso, in turn, harasses Elliott, who is not only one of Cox's students but a fragile one at that -- very smart and competent but so nervous it's debilitating. And then Cox steps in and takes the heat off Elliott, and now we've got Elliott appreciating Dr. Cox.
Even the janitor, who is batshit insane and inches from postal when he's dealing with JD, turns into a delightful friendly guy when he's with Elliott (or "Blonde Doctor," as he calls her), and that's what their relationship is about. Maybe it's because he knows Elliott needs a friend, maybe it's because he knows it'll freak out JD, maybe it's because the janitor really is a nice guy after all. Wheels within wheels, people! Serious wheelness here!
The point is, you're luck on any sitcom if the PRIMARY relationship is nuanced, is solid, has organic continuity. More often than not you get cipher characters interchangeably plugged in for jokes. BUt everyone here's got a DISTINCT personality, and when they play against anyone else, a brand-new relationship forms. It's totally boggling and beautiful to watch.
This has been Operation Gay Chicken Part 1: Some stuff about relationships I was pretty vague on. *g*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-07-28 11:45 am (UTC)