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OK, tonight's gonna be great - my co-pilot here is a blubbering man-child and the interns have been here just long enough that they think they know what they're doing.Elliot

"My Full Moon" is the thirteenth episode of Scrubs' eighth season. Elliot has to break bad news to a patient and questions if she really wants to be a doctor forever. The new interns run into a patch of bad luck after they get pompous.

Synopsis[]

8x13 Turk Elliot

Turk and Elliot talk about Robyn.

Elliot and Robyn[]

Turk is upset that J.D. is away at Disneyland with Sammy. Elliot tries to ease his pain by helping him prank the new interns on a night shift occurring during a full moon. The two reminisce about their years as interns, and see some similarities between their experiences and the newest group's. Elliot has a patient, Robyn who is re-admitted for the same problems of malnutrition as she was the previous year. ("My Inconvenient Truth") Elliot doesn't believe her when she pleads that she has been eating healthier. In the end, Elliot realizes that she has been focusing on the last time Robyn was admitted and didn't believe she could change. Elliot looks inward and understands that people do change because Elliot herself is questioning her career. In the end, Robyn is diagnosed with HIV, which reduces her to tears. Elliot struggles with giving people bad news and reveals to Turk that she doesn't see herself as a doctor for her entire life, hoping to leave the emotional stress when she gets married.

8x13 Derek Denise operate on Mrs

Derek and Denise work on Mrs. Emmitt

Denise and Derek[]

Denise and Derek have a patient, Mrs. Emmitt, who needs some fluid removed from her lungs. Derek, who is very full of himself, tells Denise to "witness perfection" as he starts the routine procedure. Mrs. Emmitt tells him that she feels pain, and Derek notices something is wrong. Turk arrives and finds out that Derek has accidentally collapsed one of her lungs during the fluid removal. Denise continues to make fun of him, and the two hook up due to Denise's attraction to people with low self esteem. When Derek later confides in Mrs. Emmitt of what happened, she tells him that she wants a "real doctor" to fix her lung. Turk ultimately helps her, and Derek sets aside his ego for long enough to learn what he thought he knew.

8x13 Mrs

Mrs. Powell

Sunny[]

Meanwhile, Elliot assigns Mrs. Powell to Sunny. Mrs. Powell has just had surgery on her gallbladder and before she is discharged they need to make sure that her rectum is functioning. Being a "nervous poo-er", Mrs. Powell is asked to pass gas. Sunny tries to convince her that it is alright, but Mrs. Powell is too lady-like to pass gas. In the end, she caves in and all is well, but Sunny is left smelling foul, even after three showers, due to "years of repression".

8x13 Mr

Mr. Swick

Howie[]

Howie is struggling to determine what poisoned his patient, Mr. Swick, due to his having Capgras syndrome, which makes him believe everybody in his life has been replaced by an identical impostor. Howie tries to play on this to get a confession from the patient. The patient lies and as Howie is about to give him an antidote, he reveals that he lied. In the end, Howie gets the correct diagnosis by slapping Mr. Swick. Howie also is confronted by The Todd when he asks for high-fives. Todd makes it very clear that he is the "high-five guy". The Todd also complains to Turk and Elliot after they scare the interns.

8x13 Katie puts collar on Mr

Katie constrains Mr. Gold

Katie[]

Katie struggles with her own patient, a homeless Mr. Gold, who recently had hand surgery. She tries many ways to get him to stop chewing on his stitches, including an Elizabethan collar. She ultimately gives into Turk's suggestion of strapping his arms down. The patient spits in her face after that, and she cries.


Recurring Themes[]

     More: FantasiesFlashbacksJ.D.'s girl namesJanitor's pranks and lies

8x13 Turk as mechanic

Turk imagines he is a mechanic.

Fantasies[]

  • Turk is a mechanic working on a patient as if they were a car, and gives advice in a jumpsuit to a patient's family member.

Episode Running Gags[]

8x13 interns

The interns during a full moon.

  • Elliot writes "Elliot has a slammin' tushie" on every chart in the hospital. Howie ends up with one of these charts.
  • Turk and Elliot do the "Hivvie," a dance inspired by HIV.
Look I came from home because I couldn't sleep, Howie I decided I'm not comfortable with you giving high fives, even when I'm not here.Todd

But I just totally nailed the diagnosis.Howie
The fact that i'm not making a tremendous sex joke about who or what I've nailed tonight should tell you how serious I am

Guest Stars[]

8x13 Robyn

Corena Chase as Robyn

Music[]

     List of music featured in Scrubs

  • "Hardly Enough" by WAZ

Quotes[]

8x13 Todd fives Howie

Todd scolds Howie for hi-fiving.

8x13 Elliot Derek
8x13 Mr
8x13 clipboard
8x13 Todd t-shirt
8x13 Derek Denise kiss
8x13 Derek Denise on-call room
Oh, that's adorable. You have a crush on yourself. I'd be careful, though. The guy you're in love with is a douche.Denise


When I was a kid my mom would tell me that farts were demons crawling around in your belly and if I ever let one out it would give my grandma cancer.Elliot


Don't try to make this OK. This is not OK. This is the worst thing that's ever going to happen to me in my entire life. So you need to find a way to handle it better. Because I get to handle it however I want.Robyn


You know, I never answered your question earlier about if you and I will ever stay being a doctor. You will. You have this amazing ability to find joy in everything you do. Whether it's an operation you've done a hundred times, or even teaching... But as for me? I know you think it was a big victory about me finding out what was wrong with Robyn. Those moments are kinda like eating a piece of chocolate. I enjoy the satisfaction for about 10 seconds and then it's gone. See, the thing that sticks with me is the anguish on a patient's face when I give them crappy news. I hold on to that forever. You're a surgeon, you occasionally get to fix people. I figure out what's wrong with someone and then most of the time I can't do anything about it. I just wish them luck dealing with it... or try to keep them alive for a little longer. So you wanna know if I'll always be a doctor? I'd have to say, I don't know. I'm a doctor now, I will be tomorrow. But, I can tell you that if I'm ever lucky enough to get married, to have some kids, to maybe not need the money... I think I'd walk out of here and never look back.Elliot

Trivia[]

  • Zach Braff, Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn, and Ken Jenkins do not appear in this episode, making it the episode with the lowest number of series regulars to appear.
  • The episode is also the first to not have a narrator. The title "My" suggests J.D. would narrate, but Zach Braff did not appear. This, in addition to J.D. not (fully) narrating "Their Story II", marks the longest stretch in which J.D. had not narrated broadcast episodes for the first eight seasons.
  • There was some controversy over Elliot's statement that she might leave medicine if she ever got married and had kids, which was perceived by some fans as anti-feminist, although it was based on the actual life of the show's medical consultant, Dolly Klock.
  • J.D. is mentioned in this episode twice when Elliot tells Turk he and Sam went to Disneyland, and when Elliot and Turk mock J.D.'s post-fantasy voice.
  • With J.D.'s absence, no character has appeared in every episode of the show.
    • J.D. previously did not appear in "My Absence", but is still heard and involved in the plot via cell phone, making this episode his first true absence.


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