I’m mostly caught up on this week’s television watching, except for tonight’s shows. The highlight of this week is definitely Scrubs. The episode reminded me why I fell in love with the show in the first place, but I will continue the gushing safely behind a spoiler tag

Scrubs ‘My Lunch’ 5:20

This is why I love Scrubs: it can make me laugh, and then rip my heart out leaving me a sobbing wreck. It’s the same reason why BtVS/AtS are my all-time favourite shows; the ability to mix genres and ellict multiple responses from the viewer in a short span of time.

The episode initially seems to be about J.D.’s endless quest for Dr. Cox’s friendship, whether The Todd is gay, and the quest for donor organs for 3 patients. It is about all those things, but ultimately it’s about how complicated and undefinable things are. And how we can all fuck up, big time. Yep, this show is classified as a comedy.

First of all, the episode demonstrated that Dr. Cox and J.D. really are friends, which made me – and J.D. – really happy. However, sometimes that isn’t enough.

Secondly, I adored how the question of whether Todd is gay was handled. He does seem like one of those guys who’s overcompensating to cover up his gayness. However, I loved that when he embraced being gay, he was equally as rude and crude, just to men as well as women. I adored when he said to Turk: You and I should have sex. That indicates to me that he knows gay culture very well!

What made the story excellent was the revelation that Todd definitely likes women, and most likely is also into men. Now this could mean that he’s bisexual, but even that seems too easy and simplistic.

Janitor: What the hell are you?
Todd: I'm The Todd.

The episode suggests that sexuality is fluid and not easily definable, because everyone is different and sexuality is ultimately about who a person is not some category. [This is why, if forced to define myself, I use queer because it’s a broader term that incorporates political dimensions as well as sexual ones, and feels less restricting. Oh, and there is that whole L.M. Montgomery-used-it-in-her-novels dimension!] This would really be enough to make me love the episode, but there’s more!

The third thing the episode accomplished was beautifully breaking our hearts. This episode is on par with my two favourites, "My Screw Up" (Dr. Cox deals with the death of a good friend, played by Brandon Fraser, but we don't find out until the end that the friend is dead even though we and Dr. Cox see him in the episode. 3:15) and "My Philosphy" (J.D. bonds with a patient who's waiting for a heart transplant and discuss with her their idea of what death must be like. When it’s clear that she’s dying, he imagines her singing an aria, and then it ends with her flat-lining. 2:13). Just thinking about those episodes makes me cry.

When Dr. Cox breaks down over his dead patient, I was sobbing so hard for his loss and because I don’t recall seeing his character lose control like that. It’s an unbelievably powerful acting moment for John C. McGinley (why has no one given this man an Emmy yet?) because he’s so intense it’s scary.

I had a taping issue at that moment, so rewound and re-watched/re-taped, figuring I wouldn’t be crying as hard (ha!), and discovered that the key moment came afterwards. As Dr. Cox is walking out, J.D. tries to stop him by reminding him of his own statement that If you start blaming yourself for every patient’s death, you’ll never be able to return to work. And Dr. Cox just says I know, and walks out the door. End of episode. So powerful. I’m tearing up as I write this. I'm pleased to see that next week’s episode deals with the fall out from this decision.

Brilliant episode. If I ever made a list of best episodes from this television season, it would be topping the list.

Since I gushed about the incredible awesomeness of Scrubs, I’m only saying a couple of sentences about the other shows. Seriously, I’m actually succinct.

24 ‘1am-2am’ 5:19

Senator Heller DRIVES HIS CAR OFF A CLIFF!!! How insanely cracktastic is that?!

How I Met Your Mother ‘Mary the Paralegal’ 1:19

Alyson Hannigan (as Lily) sniping at Alexis Denisof (as sleazy news anchor) was awesome and so funny!

Also, I was entertained by the term “lawyered.”

Gilmore Girls ‘Super Cool Party People’ 6:20

Rory telling Mitchum Hunztburger off was excellent, and a great mirror to him crushing her dreams last season around this time.

I think that April’s mom, Anna, is being ridiculously old-fashioned about not letting April get to know Lorelei. As if marriage equals a stable relationship. Also, Lorelei is clearly a caring person who helped with April’s birthday and took the time to try and smooth things over for Luke. This is not someone who would treat April badly. And April is clearly an adaptable kid who would likely deal well if Luke and Lorelei split (it would be the fans who would be the wrecks!).

Veronica Mars ‘Look Who’s Stalking’ 2:20

I’m dying to know what exactly is up with Woody Goodman!!

The Logan/Veronica stuff had me swooning and flailing. I was amused by Logan’s “epic” speech, it reminded me of Spike’s views on love. Of course it ended badly, and because I’m weird, it made me root for them and love them as a pairing more.

My crazy theory: Mr. Manning (Meg’s dad) is involved in the bus crash. He may not be entirely responsible, because there are clearly many players involved, but he’s a player. Why do I think this? Because he bailed out Lucky, who’s also involved in some way. Also, the treatment of Mr. Manning reminds me of how Aaron Echolls was depicted (although we’ve seen Mr. Manning less). They both seem to be part of other storylines (eg. Duncan/Meg/baby or Logan’s character development) but are actually part of the key mystery. Oh! And he probably wasn't happy about Meg's pregnancy.

Smallville ‘Mercy’ 5:19

Sure this is a rip off of Saw (which I haven’t seen because I’m a wimp), but it was definitely one of the better episodes this season. John Glover is one of the better actors on the show, so when he’s prominently featured in an episode the quality automatically goes up.

After watching the episode, my friend predicted now that Lionel definitively knows about Clark he’ll die. I think she’s right.

Even though this post is ridiculously long (thanks a lot Scrubs!), I wanted to draw your attention to my new default icon! Thanks to femmenerd, who directed me to book_icons, I now have a bunch of Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery icons (including an Anne/Diana one!). This one is from the cover of the first edition of Pat of Silver Bush (1933). I actually own this book (as well as many other old editions of LMM’s work) and I love the cover art, even though it doesn’t really fit the book.

ETA: There are Veronica Mars season two spoilers in the comments up to episode 2:20 (Look Who's Stalking). There's also some really damn good speculation by ladyinhottpink about the answers to the major mysteries.