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Part of me hates how familiar this seems. I hope I can find a way to make this all feel new.J.D.

"Our First Day of School" is the first episode of Scrubs' ninth season. J.D. begins working as a professor at Winston University. Lucy, Cole, and Drew start medical school.

Synopsis[]

Sacred Heart had become so outdated that it has been torn down. New Sacred Heart Hospital has been built on the campus of the medical school Winston University. J.D.'s new hospital St. Vincent's wants him to have more teaching accreditation so he has returned to teach for one semester. Dr. Cox and Turk have moved with the hospital and are now also teaching the medical students. Dr. Kelso's wife Enid has passed away, so he has returned to teach as to not get lonely.

J.D.[]

9x1 JD and Elliot kiss

J.D. begins his first day as a professor, and kisses his new wife Elliot in his morning ritual. He says hello to Turk, and they run to each other in the quad to celebrate the fact that they are colleagues again. While running towards each other, the song Guy Love from My Musical is playing. In his first class he struggles to find his teacher groove, as he tries to be too friendly and hip. He gives out mix-CDs and invites his students back that evening for free beer, but no one shows up. Turk takes him out instead, and J.D. sees his students hanging with Dr. Kelso. After failing to get help from Cox, J.D. realizes he just needs one student to take an interest in.

9x1 Happy Lucy

Lucy stood up to Cox

Lucy[]

Lucy's first day at medical school started out very hopeful. However, after getting off on an odd foot with Denise and getting berated by Dr. Cox, Lucy lost a lot of motivation. Lucy slept with Cole, whom she met in class, to boost her self-esteem, and she firmly believed that he was going to be a good boyfriend. A friendly patient, Ben Coleman, gave her a little more confidence, but it was again shattered by Dr. Cox. As Cole walked through the quad, he dropped a naked picture of Lucy he took. J.D. chased it to Lucy, and the two began talking. She asked him for help with Dr. Cox, and he provided her advice and courage to stand up to Dr. Cox. In the main entry of the New Sacred Heart Hospital, Lucy stood her ground and made Dr. Cox storm out of the room.

Denise[]

9x1 Denise talks to Drew

Meanwhile, Denise was adjusting to her new role as student adviser. She tried to convince Drew to take her responsibilities because she thought the other students looked up to him, but he told her that he wanted to fly under the radar. She still told students to confide in him, and he angrily stormed into her room and the two took a shower together. The next day, Drew made the mistake of asking Dr. Cox to be nicer to Lucy. Cox told him that he would now focus all of his anger and rage at Drew. Cox decided to make Drew wear a #1 sign around all the time, and that he would demand high results from Drew.

9x1 Cole with patient

Cole[]

In his first class, Cole instantly hits on Lucy. She was a little taken aback, but still interested. She ended up sleeping with him and he snapped a photo of her naked. He later dropped it in the quad. Cole also annoyed Turk by telling him that he could never get in trouble because his parents donated all the money to build the new hospital. Turk later wrapped him with a blanket and had the Todd sit on him in the quad.

Recurring Themes[]

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

9x1 Lucy is hunted

Lucy is being hunted.

Fantasies[]

  • Lucy: Lucy immediately begins making out with Cole after he hits on her.
  • Lucy: Lucy is on the run from Dr. Cox, who is dressed as a sheriff with two dogs.

Flashbacks[]

9x1 tandem bike

J.D. and Turk ride a bike together

  • The Janitor walks out of Sacred Heart. (see Janitor Story)
  • J.D. and Turk ride a tandem bike on their first day of med school, while denouncing the cooler kids as "losers" and "nerds."

Janitor story[]

In the last Janitor story ever, Janitor confronts Turk the day after J.D. left Sacred Heart. When Turk convinces Janitor that J.D. is never returning, Janitor drops his mop and walks away from the hospital. He never returned and nobody knows what happened to him.

Episode Running Gags[]

  • Dr. Cox names the med students by a number, and Lucy's number constantly goes down from 19 to 42 to 91.

Guest Stars[]

9x1 Pregnant Elliot

Sarah Chalke as Elliot Reid

9x1 Professor Dorian
Credited but did not appear

Music[]

     List of music featured in Scrubs

Quotes[]

9x1 Denise talks to students

If you're going to kill yourself - I'm looking at you, sad eyes - do it off campus because it is a buttload of paperwork.

9x1 Lucy licks Cole
9x1 Denise talks to Drew II
9x1 Denise talks to students II
File:Scrubs TV Clip - Dr. Professor Cox
9x1 Denise and Drew in the on-call room
9x1 Cox yells at Lucy
9x1 Cole Lucy Drew in morgue
9x1 Turk sits on Cole
Winston U lecture hall
Hey, after class do you want to go somewhere and get weird with each other?Cole

I feel like you skipped a few steps.Lucy


Unfortunately you're all screwed, because to call this particular school a craphouse would be an honest to god compliment. Plus, I'm the only teacher worth a damn around here and I already hate all of you. Would you like to know why? Well it turns out you're not actually medical students at all. You are all murderers and assassins that have been sent here to try and kill my patients.Dr. Cox


If you're going to kill yourself - I'm looking at you, sad eyes - do it off campus because it is a buttload of paperwork.Denise


Why was Michael in my room?Drew

His name's not Michael.Denise
Well, he has a weird Serbian name that I can't say so I'm calling him Michael. He loves it.

I don't. My name is Ilijevic.Ilijevic
Mike, just go.


In my class, you will each be graded by the color of your skin. If you're white raise your hand. F's.Turk


You are a giant douche.Denise

I know. Wanna take a shower together?Drew
Fine.


Dr. Cox?Lucy

ProfessorDr. Cox
Professor Cox?

Actually, it's both.
Dr. Professor Cox?

Yes?


Has anyone seen the crash cart?Dr. Cox

It's over by bed four.Maya
Can you make that out?

I think I heard the words "bear fight" but that makes no sense.J.D.


Hey, what's your name?Dr. Cox, busting in on Drew and Denise having sex

Drew
I'm taking an interest in you." (pause) "Carry on.


And if you do make me cry, it won't be a big deal, because I lied. I cry all the time.Lucy


Whore.Drew

Trivia[]

  • The Season Eight finale "My Finale" aired on May 6, 2009 and Season Nine of Scrubs was officially greenlit on June 19, 2009. This delay led to some significant changes in production:
    • The only two series regulars to return as series regulars were John C. McGinley and Donald Faison. Ken Jenkins agreed to appear in a limited role and Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke agreed to appear in a few episodes to transition the show to a new cast.
    • Series creator Bill Lawrence was under contract to serve as showrunner for Cougar Town so Josh Bycel was brought in to showrun Scrubs with some continual help from Lawrence.
    • Every writer from previous seasons departed from the show with the exception of Bill Lawrence and Andy Schwartz.
    • In response to criticisms that the change would tarnish Scrubs' legacy, Lawrence defended the decision, as it would allow the Scrubs crew to continue work through a recession: "'Legacy shmegacy.' I'm really proud of the show, I'll continue to be proud of the show, but I love all of those people..."
    • Lawrence attempted to convince ABC to continue Scrubs as a spin-off set at Medical School instead of a new season. The network declined due to licensing and syndication reasons. Lawrence continued production of the ninth season as if it were a spin-off, thus the significant story changes.
    • According to interviews and DVD commentaries, Lawrence always conceived of Scrubs as an ER style show with a rotating cast, but due to the immense success of the initial cast no significant changes were made during the first eight years.
  • Filming was moved from North Hollywood Medical Center to Culver Studios where new sets were built for New Sacred Heart Hospital and Winston University. The show also switched from being shot on film to being shot on digital video, giving this season a noticeably different visual style to the preceding ones.
  • The title of the episode is reminiscent of pilot: "My First Day". This is the second episode with "First Day" in the title.
  • This is the last episode of Scrubs to feature Neil Flynn.
  • Sarah Chalke was actually pregnant during this season.
  • With the new cast, the show received a new title sequence, with a new version of "Superman", covered by singer-songwriter WAZ, who was featured before on Scrubs in "My Full Moon" and who is also responsible for the music in Bill Lawrence's other show Cougar Town.
    • The chest X-Ray in the title sequence is no longer backwards. Also, Bill Lawrence managed to sneak in "Med School" like he wanted, in an attempt to position the new season as a spin-off.
    • A custodian/janitor can be seen in the background of the opening sequence used on Hulu but not in the opening that was used on air.


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