My Way Home

	My Way Home;
	Directed by Zach Braff; Written by Neil Goldman; Written by Garrett Donovan; Air Date - January 24, 2006 on ; Transcript - Images Watch this episode!; DVD • iTunes • Syndication
Season Five Episodes :
	My Intern's Eyes ; My Rite of Passage ; My Day at the Races ; My Jiggly Ball ; My New God ; My Missed Perception ; My Way Home ; My Big Bird ; My Half-Acre ; Her Story II ; My Buddy's Booty ; My Cabbage ; My Five Stages ; My Own Personal Hell ; My Extra Mile ; My Bright Idea ; My Chopped Liver ; My New Suit ; His Story III ; My Lunch ; My Fallen Idol ; My Déjà vu, My Déjà vu ; My Urologist ; My Transition ;
	Episodes: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 w • 9

From Scrubs Wiki

“A hospital can sometimes feel like a magical place, where people's hopes and dreams are often far from ordinary. Whether they're looking for brains... a heart...or courage. As for me, I was just gonna keep on following that yellow line...and hope I'd eventually get back home.”— J.D.

[edit] Synopsis

On his day off, J.D. gets called into work by Keith. It turns out that Dr. Cox told Keith to call J. D. to let him see what it's like to be pestered over little things. Laverne's Gospel choir is also present, singing a song called "Payback is a Bitch". Elliot is basking in the warmth of being seen as a Endocrinology expert to her interns. In reality, however, she is hiding notes, books, and pages around the hospital with the answers on them. Turk attempts to convince a family to take their brain dead son off life support so the hospital can perform its first on-site heart transplant, which Turk will be allowed to assist in if he is successful. Meanwhile, Carla jumps at the opportunity to look after Dr. Cox's young son Jack. Jordan is accidentally trapped in her office, which a malfunctioning heater unit is making incredibly hot.

However, the crew finds challenges awaiting them. J.D. just wants to head home and is constantly waylaid by requests for assistance; Elliot is forced to conduct a seminar with several Endocrinology specialists, Turk's dishonesty with the coma patient's family damages his credibility, and Carla can't stand having Jack around. Eventually, however, Elliot gains her "brains" to go to the meeting after J.D. helps her realize she knew Endocrinology all along, Turk convinces the coma patient's parents to pull the plug after being completely honest with them and gets his "heart", Carla discovers her "courage" to be a good parent after she is told how having a child makes you forget the bad things, and J.D. finally gets to go home.

[edit] Plot Points

J.D. is called into the hospital on his day off, and attempts to leave to get back home.
Turk needs to convince a family to donate their son's heart, so that Turk can perform the transplant.
Carla realizes that she doesn't enjoy looking after children, and worries about when she has her own.
Elliot attempts to come across as an Endocrinology expert, but struggles to do it all from memory.

[edit] Extended DVD Version

The extended DVD version of this episode features approximately 10 minutes of extra footage. Some differences in this DVD episode are:

In the opening scene in the bathroom, J.D. comments on Elliot's curling utensils and has an extra line showing he's annoyed as he's always paged when eating.
The Janitor initially does not get J.D.'s sneakers, but lures him into a trap and gets his sneakers anyway.
J.D. high-fives Todd without knowing what he's high-fiving, and Carla is disgusted by what J.D. highed-fived, as he high-fived sex with first cousins: the Todd is going to a family reunion next month and he's "going for it".
Dr. Cox goes into more detail about the annoying things J.D. paged him for when he was an intern.
Laverne and the choir's "Payback is a Bitch" song is sung differently, as both J.D. and Keith dance along instead of just Keith in the aired version.
J.D. has a longer monologue the first time he tries to leave the hospital behind the fat guy.
J.D. comments on his fantasy of Turk knocking over the bassinets.
Turk laughs longer when Jordan admits to fantasising about Rudy Giuliani. Following her fantasy, Carla's hair is messed up as she fantasises about him and Turk reminds her that they are democrats.
Dr. Cox has a longer rant when J.D. high-fives Elliot.
J.D. smeared the mango body butter on focaccia (not a bagel as mentioned in the aired version).
Dr. Kelso has some extended lines, explaining hospital staff did not find a donor card (so the surgical residents therefore must convince the family to donate). He also has a staring contest with the inflatable doll Todd gives him, naming her "Ming Lee".
Ted annoys J.D. more as he tries to close the man's chest. He reveals his band is not called the Worthless Peons any more, they were sued by a Dutch metal band. They're called Fog Cats now.
Ted's band sings "Maniac" for longer, showing more scenes of Elliot hiding text in various places.
Elliot takes another mental picture of Dr. Cox (with "red eye reducts" [sic]). As he leaves, he accidentally dislodges a pieces of text Elliot has hidden without noticing, Elliot quickly picks it up and walks away.
Turk actually reveals to the Bolgers that their son did not wake up (instead of them not unsure about donation and Turk lying about his kidney donations, this scene appears later and is extended in the DVD version)
J.D. has another extended monologue as he tries to leave the hospital for the second time. The Janitor protests when Carla gives him Jack, explaining that he's doing lines. The drug rehabilitation session in the room next door has multiple people look into the hallway and the Janitor explains to them again, lines of paint, leaving them all disappointed. A (presumed ad-libbed) line by Jack states that he wants to do the paint, the Janitor replying he cannot do any worse than he has done.
An extra scene with all the surgeons at the zoo looking for the Bolgers, but the Todd changes the plan after he hears that a monkey was playing with himself.
Turk tries to convince the Bolgers to donate later in the episode, and then lies about his own kidney donations, with Mr. Bolger asking Turk questions about his donations and Turk attempting to cover up his lies until he admits he has "donated" three kidneys, as well as receiving kidney transplants.
J.D. works out Turk's head-shake-sad-walk-away, finding it to be pretty good.
Turk and Mr. Bolger have a slightly longer conversation, with Turk explaining the implications of this heart transplant to the surgeons at Sacred Heart.
J.D., trying to be careful what he high-fives, does not high-five the abolition of slavery with an African-American orderly. J.D. also comments about feeling scotch tape when he finds Elliot has taped text to his belly (The line "You are good" replaces this in the aired episode). The same orderly returns after he catches J.D. high-fiving Elliot after she answers his question correctly.
Jordan's melting scene is extended.

In addition, multiple scenes and dialogue are extended or altered

[edit] Recurring Themes

[edit] Fantasies

Turk is in the Sacred Heart nursery, and picks up his baby from the bassinet, but knocks over whole row of bassinets with babies in.
When Carla says "There's a monkey at the zoo who can do that. I mean, you know, when he's not playing with himself," J.D. pauses before he responds, and tilts his head as if he is going into an unseen fantasy.

[edit] Janitor story

The Janitor paints yellow lines down the hospital corridors to show the exits, and blue, green and red lines point to other important areas of the hospital. He is also given Jack Cox by Carla and is forced to look over him, but paints him all green so he looks like the hulk.

[edit] J.D.'s Girls Name

Dorothy - Dr. Cox calls J.D. "Dorothy", a reference to the Wizard of Oz character, Dorothy.

[edit] Wizard of Oz references

This episode is notable for integrating many references to the Wizard of Oz, including:

The plot concerns four of the main characters searching for the same things for which the four characters of the Wizard of OZ were searching. Carla is searching for the courage to be a parent, Elliot was searching for the brains to give a lecture on endocrinology, Turk was searching for a heart to be used in a heart transplant, and J.D. simply wanted to find his way home.
The characters follow a yellow line on the hospital floor, an allusion to the Yellow Brick Road.
When the episode begins, J.D. is listening to a band named Toto, which is the same name as the dog in the Wizard of Oz.
At a point when Carla encounters Dr. Cox, he is standing behind a curtain and is visible only as a silhouette. He says, in a mysteriously booming voice, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." This is similar to the scene in the Wizard of Oz when the Wizard was revealed to be merely an ordinary man.
Dr. Cox refers to J.D. as "Dorothy".
The Janitor spray-paints J.D.'s shoes red, an allusion to the ruby slippers.
Dr. Cox refers to Jordan as the "wicked witch of the east wing." In a later scene, Jordan appears to be melting.
The brain-dead patient who provides the heart for the heart transplant is named Ray Bolger, the same name as the actor who played the Scarecrow in the film.
The Worthless Peons sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "We're Off to See the Wizard."
From the point where the yellow line on the hospital floor is visualised as a yellow brick road, the rest of the episode is shot in a highly saturated, bright and colourful way, similar to the 'Technicolor' way in which The Wizard of Oz was filmed.
At one point the janitor, with a screwdriver in his mouth, asks Carla for the oil can in a way similar to the rusted tin man
Cox refers to Elliot as a straw haired scarecrow.
At one point, The Todd is explaining his visit to the zoo, and how he saw 'Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My'. This is the line the Wizard of Oz characters sing as they walk through the forest.

[edit] Music

"Africa" by Toto
"Maniac" by Michael Sembello (performed by The Blanks)
"Over the Rainbow" by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg (performed by The Blanks)

[edit] Quotes

“You don't understand. I didn't dump him on the Janitor because I was busy. I dumped him on him because he was working my last nerve and I wanted to smoosh his face.”— Carla

“J.D., I have to admit this to somebody: I don't like kids!”— Carla

“What are you talking about? You're the most maternal person I know.”— J.D.

“Well, I'm a nurse, J.D. I'm trained to fake it!”

“Did you...eat my mango body butter?”— Elliot

“No!”— J.D.

“I shmeared it on a bagel”— J.D.'s Narration

“Hey you, Where's my son?”— Dr. Cox

“Oh, he's playing with the birds out on the ledge.”— Janitor

“What?”

“I'm kidding, come on. He's green.”

“Relax! She's only fantasizing cause you don't satisfy her!”— Jordan

“Sir, I was watching that.”— Turk

“Well, why don't I just tell you what happened: Uncle Phillip gets Webster the dog despite George and Ma'am's objections. It was a good one.”— Dr. Kelso

[Doug starts hitting J.D., who is in a body bag, with a fire extinguisher]

“OW! OWWWW! OW!!!! DOUG! Why are you hitting me!?!?”— J.D.

“'Cause I thought you were a dead guy coming back to life!”— Doug

“Then why were you hitting me?!”

“Dead people should be dead!”

“Look at me and Jordan. Y'know how we hate everyone? Well, that goes double for children. It's true. They're loud, you can't understand them... They're like tiny cab drivers.”— Dr. Cox

[edit] Trivia

When Doug hits J.D. with the fire extinguisher, it is obvious he is squishing the "fire extinguisher" and that it is not real.
Dr. Cox refers to Jordan as "The Wicked Witch of the East Wing", but in The Wizard of Oz, it was the Wicked Witch of the West who melted. The Wicked Witch of the East died when Dorothy's house fell on her.
In "My Choosiest Choice of All", the Janitor said that he had problems distinguishing colors. However, in this episode, he didn't seem to have problems. But then again, the Janitor has always been a constant liar.
This episode has increased image saturation to mimic the saturated Technicolor style of the Wizard of Oz.
When Carla and Turk are talking to each other about how their kid would be like, you can see that J.D is just doing like he is typing on the keyboard.
Dr. Kelso says that Mr. Bolger's donated heart will be used for the first Heart transplant at Sacred Heart. J.D. held a human heart during his time in surgical rotation in My Kingdom. When he dropped the heart, he remarked that they were done with that one anyway, thus proving that this is not Sacred Heart's first Heart transplant.
The ukelele-accompanied arrangement of "Over the Rainbow" sung by the Worthless Peons is a version by Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (This version is a medley, remixed with "What A Wonderful World.")

[edit] Images