How can there not be a thread for this episode?

There are times when we all feel that Scrubs' wacky, surreal style can descend to mere glibness, and the writers rarely reach beyond the occasional touching moment to mine genuine, powerful emotions. Well, this episode hit me hard. Even as a "Sixth Sense" fan, I never saw the twist, because Ben seemed so alive to Dr. Cox--and that's what made the conclusion all the more devastating.

Oh, and John McGinley is God. That is all.

My god, how I wanted to see this. But Paramount hates me and decides to skip season 3. But I will be getting the season on DVD and I know I'm going to be in tears.

And 'Winter' is probably my new favourite song.

This is one of the best episodes of any TV show ever, I think. The mixture of hilarity and heartbreaking sadness is perfect and unprecedented.

I can't believe how hard I laughed at "gay chicken" and other brilliant jokes ("Way to commit!"), and then how hard I cried just a few minutes later when the twist was revealed. I remember saying here at the time that the episode deserved to win a mountain of Emmys. And the fact that it didn't means that the Emmys are even more irrelevant than I had originally thought.

I agree, except for one thing - I'd strike the "one of" part and make "episodes" singular.

I wonder if this would be a good "hook" episode, though. What kind of impact does it have on a new viewer who doesn't know all the characters?

Hey, I can tell you! This was perhaps the second or third Scrubs eppy I ever saw. While I'm sure it'd hit much harder now, I still felt the emoitional impact of the loss; the Ben/Cox relationship is well communicated in episode and not knowing Scrubs, or the Scrubs method of storytelling at all probably just made the twist even more suprising.
The episode didn't hook me (that was one with a plotline about the Janitor and his uni) but I do think the content works without the context.

Great ep

I love the whole 'Ben' triology.
From JD's fainting to seeing JD tear up at the news that he has lukemia to 'itchy bum' to gay chicken to Dr Cox's tear-filled eyes at the funeral. I cry every time... every time!

I don't know if I'd say it's the best episode of anything ever (mostly because Turk's talking mole crossed the dopey line a bit for me) but the only sitcom I've seen that could produce anything as powerful was MASH. Cheers may have come close once or twice. That's pretty rarified company for a show that's been treated like NBC's red-headed stepchild (which, in a way, it is) and is promoted as nothing more than a wacky comedy. I see a lot of similarities with MASH, really -- the hospital surroundings, of course, but also the great ensemble cast where every character had value, great writing, main characters who had serious flaws, a fairly wacky central character, and the ability instantly to jump from comedy to drama and back again.

Scrubs has also borrowed at least one story pretty openly from MASH -- the one with Dr. Nick, who seems like the perfect doctor until he cracks under the pressure. It's so similar I think you have to consider it an homage, not plagarism.

I'd also rank "My Fifteen Minutes," the episode where they talk to a pschology fellow and JD and we see the progression of JD and Elliot's first romance from start to finish, very close behind this one. That one's truly hard for me to watch. ETA: Oops, my mistake. Why do I constantly get those two episode titles mixed up?

That's "My Bed Banter and Beyond."

I agree with ScotLot - I had only seen a few Scrubs ep when I saw this one and had never seen Ben before but I completely cried when the twist was revealed - both because I really liked the interaction with Cox and Ben and because the twist was so well done. When JD looks at Cox and says "Where do you think we're going?", it always breaks my heart.

The other part I love is that there is a bit of foreshadowing going on in the episode that I missed the first time. Someone says to Ben (I think it's Cox) - "Are you still carrying that darn camera around?" and Ben says, "till the day I die" and then in all of the later scenes, Ben doesn't have the camera.

Sigh. It's pathetic that just thinking about it is tearing me up.

IseutLaBrune wrote:



This episode did earn an Emmy nomination for co-writers Garrett Donovan and Neil Goldman for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. They didn't win, which was a crime. I believe the pilot for Arrested Development won.

"My Screw Up" my personal choice for best episode of the series, followed closely by "My Old Lady" from season one. It was after I watched that episode that I knew that this show was going to be something special.

Me, too. "My Old Lady" was definitely the episode that hooked me. Any show that could convey so much emotion - and do it without making me feel manipulated - was something special. Then, two years later, along comes "My Screw Up", and blows "My Old Lady" away.

The brilliant, criminally under-appreciated Sports Night (or, as I like to call it, My Poor Beloved Sports Night) is the only other comedy fit for such company as this. (And ABC treated it as shamefully as NBC has Scrubs, in my opinion.)

Also, Moley McTurkleson? So appalling.

Wow, I haven't cried this much since M*A*S*H's 'Abysinnia Henry'. I'm pretty exhausted now. The sadness in Cox's eyes showing from JD's news, the foreshadowing, 'Where do you think we are?', Kelso being nice, the song, the blow-up picture, Cox crying... basically everything.

I have to play 'Gay Chicken' and yes, McGinley is God.

Holy shit...

This episode always makes me want to cry, because the look on Dr. Cox's face at the end... there's no praise high enough but I'll try anyway.

Absolutely fricking insanely fantastic.

Easily in my top five episodes of anything... packing a power and punch matched only by the wit and surrealism.

Best Scrubs Episode... by leaps and bounds... the use of Joshua Radin's "Winter" during the funeral scene was absolutely perfect... and yes, Gay Chicken still makes me laugh, even after 2 dozen viewings...

I can't wait for the DVD to arrive to see this one again. I wasn't a regular viewer when this aired, but I saw it and was so overwhelmed. Just loved it. I can't see a grown man cry without bursting into tears. McGinley showing emotion...he just knocks it out of the park.

Just watched this and the first question in my mind was "How in the hell did John C. McGinley not get an Emmy nomination based on this episode?" He knocks it out of the park every time, but here he hits it a country mile.

Anyone catch the sign on the wall behind Ben when he's imitating Elliot? It says "Pay Attention!"

This episode along with "My Old Lady" from Season 1 are perfect examples of how Scrubs can bring the funny and the emotion perfectly. Definitely a Top 5 episode for me.

I came into this episode knowing what was going to happen because I'd heard so much about it on the boards, and I was expecting a very dramatic episode the entire way through. I was surprised at how funny it was- Brendan Frasier (and the rest of the cast of course) really is brilliant. I knew what was ultimately going to happen, but I wasn't aware of the 'twist,' so kept saying to myself 'okay, when is Ben going to die'? The end really blew me away, and it was really cool to watch it with my friends the second time I watched and see all the clues that I'd missed and watch my friends' slow realization of what was happening. All around one of my favorite episodes.

Yet another here to praise the awesomeness that is "My Screwup."

I'd seen a few eps from season 1 and 2, but got into Scrubs in Season 3. I'd just gotten done obtaining the first two seasons and had just caught up in time for this episode and... well, I'll be damned if I wasn't hooked for life afterwards.

I wouldn't say "BEST EPISODE OF TV EVER" because I say that about a lot of things way too often. But it's up there, and it's certainly my favorite Scrubs ep.

When exactly did Ben die? I feel a little dumb asking this, but was it when Cox went out? And when JD said "He died 20 minutes after you left" was that referring to Ben? This episode is one of my favorites even though it took me like three viewings to realize Ben was dead before the end!

Yes, and yes, Michael. One clue is that after Ben dies, he's no longer carrying his camera.

As long as we're all still talking about this episode, I have to express my thanks to the show for getting Tara Reid back for this episode, just for the final scene. I'm not even a big Reid fan, it's just that she's Ben's sister. I know, they could have written around (or even just shot around) her not being onscreen at Ben's funeral, but I'm glad they didn't have to.

How does he die all of a sudden though? Like how does he go from being alive and well to cardiac arrest in twenty minutes? Do complications from leukemia happen like that, I'm not too familiar with the subject. I think the twist is really cool, but I wish they had explained his death a bit better (maybe in subsequent episodes). Or maybe I should just watch it again.

Nevermind.

On the S3 DVD extras, Bill Lawrence says that the episode concept was essentially Brendan Fraser's idea; he wanted to come back as the same character, but dead.

This episode is absolutely incredible. It was one of the first full episodes of Scrubs I had seen, and even though I saw it for the first time a few years ago and have watched it many times since then, I'm still in tears every time I watch it. John C. McGinley is amazing, I completely cried with him.

I love that even before the ending, it's still a great episode. I still try to work "It was a gift! (from me to me!) and "For the man who has nothing to hide...but still wants to." into my everyday conversation. "If we lose him we'll lose our sex appeal! He's the only one with hair!"

McGinley is amazing in this episode. The scene at the end - "Where do you think we are?" - is a kick in the gut every time. I can't believe he didn't get an Emmy.

Also, this is a perfect example of how Scrubs can weave serious and absurd storylines together in a way that they're equally effective. The funny is funny but the drama still hits home.

This is truly a fantastic episode. I love the character of Ben. I love Ben and Cox together. (hee)

This is a wonderful and sad episode, and reading an unemotional and unenlightening "weecap" that doesn't at all do the episode or the show justice sort of ruined my perfectly happy evening.

Whatever you think about the quality of the recap, the trend seems to be to do a weecap of a "classic" or "the best ever" episode in preparation for starting regular weecaps. At least, that's what seemed to happen with the weecap of "slap bet" just before they started weecapping How I Met Your Mother. So, I would assume this was a teaser and that they're going to start weecapping the new season.

That is precisely what this weecap was. And let me take this opportunity to remind everyone that you treat the recappers as you would treat other posters. You are certainly allowed to say that you didn't agree with a recap or a part of a recap, but taking it any further than that doesn't fly here.

Wow, I was very happy to read the weecap of "My Screw Up." This episode is one of the best.



That scene gets me every time. I even choked up a little reading that line in the weecap, just thinking about how hard Ben's death hit Perry. I thought the next episode, "My Tormented Mentor," followed the storyline up well, showing the different ways Jordan and Perry handled their grief.

I didn't really get into Scrubs until this past summer, so when I watched My Screw Up, I already knew what was going to happen ahead of time. Which is a shame, because it seemed so obvious to me that it was Ben (and not the old man with the heart issue) that had died and it sort of took me out of the show...but if I hadn't known about it beforehand I probably would have felt the full impact. My Lunch (the one with the three transplant patients) worked just as well, I think, even though I know that they were all going to die (I sort of watched Seasons 5-6 backwards), so that one ended up being my favorite episode of Scrubs.

I love this episode; it makes me cry every time I see it. I have noticed, though, in recent rewatches that there are things about it I don't like. Mostly it's two things: I could really do without the talking mole, although otherwise I find that plotline very sweet, and I feel that, knowing the truth, JD's behavior doesn't make much sense. I mean, at the end of "My Occurance," when he had to tell Ben and Dr. Cox about the leukemia, he had tears in his eyes. Here, though, other than the ending and the one somber moment when he first tells Dr. Cox about Ben dying, most of what he shows throughout the rest of the episode is indignation that Dr. Cox is blaming it on him. Meanwhile, he's still joking around with Turk and Eliot as if nothing has happened. I would think that JD would have been sadder himself and that he would have made much more of an effort to try to help Dr. Cox through his grieving process (because we know he's incapable of minding his own business). All his normal JD goofiness in this episode just reads very wrong to me every time.

It's still a fantastic episode, though.

Totally agree with this -- when I was writing the weecap, it really struck me how much the tone of the show changed from scene to scene, and it was kind of jarring. But I think it's only more apparent when you know the ending of the episode -- I would imagine if they had made JD more somber throughout, and showed everyone grieving, first-time viewers would have been like, "Why is everyone so upset that random patient died?" Instead, there was that one scene where Carla remarks that it's been an emotional few days, but other than that, you don't really see the rest of the hospital staff reacting until the end.

Seeing Ben's interactions with Dr. Cox makes me wish that Dr. Cox had more friends on the show. I really enjoyed seeing him with someone who knew him as Perry more than Dr. Cox.

Yeah, Cox and Ben were so good together that I lifted my Brendan Fraser boycott, although I didn't run right out to rent Encino Man or anything.

They actually fooled me a little too well the first time I watched this episode. Since I had it in my head that they were going to Jack's party, and I completely bought that the death J.D. told Cox about was the old man's, the first thing I thought when I saw the cemetery was that Jack had died. That would certainly drive Cox bananas. But then I was thinking, wait a second, when and why would that have happened, and would they really go there? So by the time I saw Ben's picture, I was thoroughly confused. It wasn't until the second viewing that I got the chills I still get after at least a dozen viewings.

My girlfriend just saw it for the first time and had a similar reaction, something like "Huh, what?" Then, "Wait a second, do people with leukemia just drop dead like that?" I don't know if they do or not, but that's a good point: right or wrong, I think most of us think of leukemia as a disease that makes you waste away slowly in a hospital bed.

I disliked the mole story too, although in retrospect I can appreciate how it helped to set up the A story and yet distract me so I didn't catch on. The discussion of Carla's last name also made me realize that she still calls her husband by his last name. Isn't that kinda weird? On the other hand, he doesn't look like a "Chris" at all, so maybe it's for the best.

It's funny, I didn't like the B story and I had to watch it twice to fully get the A story, and yet I still think it's one of the most powerful things I've ever seen on TV, certainly in the half-hour format.

Not usually I don't think, at least not in childhood leukemia. One of my friends took a couple of years to slowly die from organ failure (because of the effects of the treatments more than the actual cancer I think) and Ben and other people would probably notice something was wrong way before he got to that stage, even if he hadn't seen a doctor. It's very unlikely he'd be that peppy and "fine". But I suppose like everything it's possible. We're probably meant to assume that he wasn't in remission and the cancer had come back ages ago and just hadn't known because he hadn't visited the shamen or something.



It is a bit weird but not too uncommon for TV couples. You can count the number of times Sydney on Alias called Vaughn "Micheal" on one hand even when they married and had a child, and Cristina on Grey's actively laughed about called ever calling Burke "Preston" when she was about to get married to him and one of her friends called him that away from the hospital. And it's a bit different but even when married to his brother Daphne on Frasier usually called Frasier "Dr. Crane". Turk certainly doesn't look like a Chris.

I think the real question is, does he look like a "Turkleton"? I agree that if JD's reactions had been more in line with what we'd expect, it could have given the twist away - although I didn't notice until much later that JD ought to have been more moved by Ben's death, or at least less focused on Cox's reactions to him. (Maybe it would have worked out fine if JD had been shown bonding with the rando heart patient more?) It doesn't really diminish the episode's power for me, though. A great recap to begin on!

Moley McTurkleson still creeps me out. And "Winter" still gives me a little shiver.

Ben died of a heart attack, though, didn't he? So maybe the cancer just... stressed his heart, and that's why he didn't notice anything until he was dead? That may be a huge fanwank, and I'm certainly no doctor, but it's at least slightly more plausable than the cancer killing him out of nowhere from organ failure, or something.

Not precisely; he died of cardiac arrest -- that is, he died when his heart stopped beating. I Am Not a Doctor, but I believe that cardiac arrest is more or less the generic official cause of death, even if it's brought about by some other disease or event.

I looked up this song on youtube and watched the scene over again and realized I don't need the rest of the show to have tears running down my eyes. Goodness! That scene was perfect. It is a great song though.

He most certainly does.

A bit late but wanted to apologize for any offense not intended: I was attempting to comment on weecaps in general, not this weecapper's style or skill. It just feels a bit odd to commemorate particularly poignant or meaningful episodes with such short recaps.

This episode is just so perfect that no matter how extensively prepared and written, no matter how many rewrites it would go through to be 'perfect,' no weecap can really do justice to everything this episode does in half an hour.

We can try (as we do on the board here), but I hope we are all in agreement that this episode leaves us speechless.

However, I still thank you guys for putting it up as a weecap. Though I didn't watch the episode tonight, even reading about that final two minutes when Winter plays gives me slight chills.

And I thought 'Turk''s full name was "Christopher Turk," wasn't it? Only Kelso seems to think it's "Turkleton"

Turkleton is much more fun to say ;)

They ran this episode tonite on Comedy Central. It was actually the first time I ever saw it (Scrubs is always the show that I catch in reruns more often than new episodes) It was hard to get the full effect since I already knew what happened, but I can totally imagine how it must've felt for those of you who saw it unspoiled. It was still an enjoyable episode nonetheless, mostly because I really enjoy the relationship between Cox and Ben. And I'm with those of you who are wondering why Johnny C hasn't been nominated for an Emmy yet.

They also showed My Tormented Mentor right after. That one had some really sweet moments between Cox and Jordan.

I never tired of watching this episode. I caught it last night on Comedy Central too. I still do not get how Johhnny C has not bee nominated but also how Brendan Fraser was not nominated for his guest performance. Instead of the stunt casting nominations on Will and Grace, Ben's character even when introduced in the first season, is a great example of how guest stars should be used to drive a show's storyline.

This episode was aired on Fox last night. I'd never seen it before, but glancing at the channel guide I knew I really should see it if I wanted to be a true Scrubs fan.

I knew what was going to happen, so the surprise was obviously not so surprising, but it's a great episode nonetheless. Well done, show.

For those of you wondering how this episode comes across to new viewers, I first caught it halfway through on a rerun about 2 years ago when I was watching Comedy Central. I'd never been a Scrubs fan, though I most certainly am now, so I had no idea of the history of Ben or his character--didn't even realize he was Jordan's brother, so I can say with certainty that coming in after Ben has already died, the twist ending sucker-punched me so badly I was bawling for a good 20 minutes after it had ended. I've not before or since seen a show that ripped emotions out of me so fully. Kudos to the actors, especially John McGinley, for a truly indescribable piece of acting.