Scrubs will forever be known as a show that delivered what seemed to be the best finale in the 8th season but then ruined it by leaving several things hanging by the end of its ill-fated 9th season. Due to the plot threads opening up in the final season, we never got to find out certain things we wanted to know about the characters.
In this list, we’ve included storylines and character questions that fans wanted to know, and what the show had us believe would be resolved by the show’s end. Here are some of the stories that fans didn’t get closure to after it was canceled.
Updated on May 8th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Scrubs has been off the air since 2010 but is a lovable show that fans are discovering through streaming services like Prime video and fans who watched it back in 2001 are still watching and rewatching, although they might skip the last season in their rewatch. Although there were storylines dropped throughout the first 8 seasons, the introduction of a new type of environment, focusing on new characters in med school, in Scrubs season 9 introduced even more plot holes and storylines that were never resolved within the entire show.
J.D.'s Relationship With Sam And Kim
J.D. and Kim had a difficult break-up as J.D., unsure as usual, decides to tell her out of nowhere that he wants to break it off and doesn't think that he could ever see a romantic relationship with Kim in his future.
They're obviously odd after this exchange, but the show never fully has them communicate and re-define their relationship and instead just pushes Kim and their son Sam to the side as they barely make appearances after Kim and J.D. break up. J.D.'s still a part of their lives, but it was never fully clear what the relationship was and the show didn't give enough time to this storyline.
Kim And Sean's Relationship
The Scrubs season 9 cast brought back two guest-star characters, Kim and Sean, who had dated J.D. and Elliot in the past and the two reveal to them that they've started a relationship of their own.
J.D. feels threatened as Sean is able to spend more time with his and Kim's son, Sam, and Sam seems to be more comfortable around Sean than he is J.D. By the end of the episode, it seems like everything will be fine as J.D. calms down and sees more eye to eye with Sean, but it's still a new dynamic introduced later on and a loose end of the series.
All The New Characters Introduced In Season 9
Scrubs season 9 attempted to introduce a whole new cast of med students who were practicing in the hospital and being taught by characters from the first 8 seasons including J.D., Turk, and Dr. Cox, but, since the who was abruptly canceled the characters didn't make any sense in the larger show's history.
None of the new characters felt well developed, and most fans didn't care much for them, as they only appeared for 13 episodes and none of them got a satisfying ending.
The Janitor's Final Fate
In the season 9 premiere of the show, the iconic Janitor character made his only appearance of the season, which also turned out to be his final on-screen role. Here, the Janitor found out J.D. wasn’t playing a prank and was really gone from the hospital. After this, the Janitor threw his mop away, dusted his hands, and was never seen again.
While this was meant to be a joke, there was definitely going to be some more of the Janitor’s presence on the show had there been a season 10. It makes no sense for him to disappear either, seeing as we saw him become friends with the group, and even get married.
Where Are J.D. And Elliot?
As was the case with the Janitor’s fate, we never found out what became of J.D. and Elliot. Sure, we got an explanation that they were going on a “Babymoon” but then nothing after that. J.D. was meant to make recurring appearances in Season 10 as well, meaning we’d have found out about his kid with Elliot.
However, we never found out anything about this child, or how J.D. and Elliot were last doing. It was as if they disappeared once they went on their little trip. For two characters who were central to the story, this was a completely empty end.
Carla’s Status
It makes sense for the mother to want to stay at home with her children, but Carla was a mom in season 8 and still kept her job. In season 9, however, Carla didn’t make a single appearance on the show, with the explanation that she’d quit her job.
But that never stopped characters like Elliot, Jordan, and others to keep showing at the hospital before. Plus, Carla was seen to be suffering from depression when she’d had her first child, so are fans supposed to believe she’s completely fine now that she has more than one kid? It was strange how fans never heard of what Carla was up to at home, which was something they wanted to see.
Jordan And Cox's Marriage
First of all, Dr. Cox’s total infatuation with Carla was something that was easily phased out without much explanation. We could ignore that storyline, but what did become of Cox and Jordan’s marriage? In season 8, it was shown that they got divorced since they didn’t like being married, but would soon after start wearing their wedding rings.
In season 9, Cox would openly tell people Jordan was his wife, and they even acknowledged each other as a married couple whenever legal matters were in place. So, are they married or are they not married? Since the show made a big deal about how they liked being divorced, it was odd they were openly referring to each other as husband and wife.
Hooch’s Whereabouts
Hooch being constantly antagonized by J.D. and Turk was a running gag on the series, which eventually spiraled into Hooch getting involved in a hostage situation after another prank by J.D. went haywire.
Last we heard of him he was said to have been fired. However, Cougar Town revealed that Hooch had apparently run off with Ted’s former girlfriend. Still, it doesn’t count as a resolution, seeing as we never got to find out what the circumstances behind this were and where exactly, or how Hooch had been able to start a relationship with Ted’s girlfriend in the first place.
The Future Vision
In what was meant to be the final episode of the series, The season 8 finale showed J.D. looking at his future in the final seconds of the episode. Here, J.D. saw himself getting married to Elliot, having a child, and then becoming father-in-law to Turk’s daughter.
The way this was presented to us, it was made to seem as if it was an accurate depiction of the future; however, we never got to know if it really was what would come to pass. We never got to see an actual flash forward in Season 9, and the way things were then, it would seem a pretty long shot if the vision was accurate. Still, all we can ever do is speculate since it was never confirmed.
J.D. And Carla's Fight
Carla and J.D. always had some tension with one another. Firstly, they would clash over who got to spend more time with Turk; they would also realize this tension when they kissed in an episode when Carla and Turk were having marital problems.
It first started in season 1 where Carla berated J.D. for treating him as just another nurse when he was angry, which resulted in Carla blowing up on J.D.’s face for not being a good friend. It looked like this would be a huge issue, only for literally the next scene to show Carla being okay with him again. It makes no sense why she would drop her anger, neither did he really apologize to her. But this storyline was never brought up again.
Elliot And J.D.’s Brother
It’s a wonder how this was never a problem because it is definitely a very gross fact. As it happened, Elliot had a fling with J.D.’s brother Dan, which somehow didn’t bother J.D. back then. However, since J.D. and Elliot got together in season 8 and ended up marrying, it makes it worse that Dan and Elliot were once an item.
One would think this would come up in season 9 when J.D. and Elliot were having a baby, but Dan being an old flame of Elliot never seemed to be an issue. We know for sure fans do still wonder if there was some awkward conversation over what happened, but Scrubs chose not to bring it up.
The Janitor’s Real Name
This bit at us like an annoying mosquito for all of eight years until the Season 8 finale, where the Janitor apparently told J.D. what his name was. He would reveal his identity to be Glenn Matthews, and J.D. would bid him farewell with that name, only for another character to walk past calling the Janitor as “Tommy”, a name which the Janitor acknowledged.
As was the case with his sole appearance in Season 9, the hope was that the Janitor’s past would be expanded upon in coming episodes, but we never found out in-universe with surety if the Janitor’s true name really was Glenn Matthews or if he made it up.
Everything About Laverne
Laverne was always out of focus compared to the other characters, but what we did know was that she was against premarital relations of any sort. However, her “ghost” told Carla that she and Dr. Kelso would have an affair every now and then, which cast doubt over whether this was true or not. It was something we never found out for sure either.
Along with that, Laverne’s replacement in season 7 was a carbon copy of her in appearance and personality, something that only J.D. could see and he dubbed her as “Laverneagain." While this was funny, it still doesn’t erase questions in our minds as to whether this was supposed to be Laverne’s relative or not, and what exactly was the status between Laverne and Dr. Kelso.