My Old Lady

"My Old Lady"
Scrubs episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 4
Directed by	Marc Buckland
Written by	Matt Tarses
Featured music	"Dracula from Houston" by the Butthole Surfers[1] "Hallelujah" by John Cale
Production code	S103
Original air date	October 16, 2001
Guest stars
Charles Chun as Dr. Wen Mike Schwartz as Lloyd Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. Tanner Esther Mercado as Mrs. Guerrero Lela Lee as Bonnie the surgical intern Jennifer Naimo as Gina Tanner Jack Thomas as Jim Morrison Cooper Thornton as Tommy Tanner Liliana Mumy as Samantha Tanner Travis Wester as David Morrison
Episode chronology
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List of Scrubs episodes

"My Old Lady" is the fourth episode of the American comedy-drama Scrubs. It originally aired as Episode 4 of Season 1 on October 16, 2001.

The episode's writer, Matt Tarses, won the 2002 Humanitas Prize in the 30 Minute Category for this episode.^[2]

Plot

The three interns have to face death for the first time, as J.D. narrates that, statistically, one out of every three patients in a hospital will die: J.D.'s patient, Mrs. Tanner, is a headstrong but kindly old woman, Turk's is a young man called David Morrison who just needs some company, and Elliot's is Mrs. Guerrero, a Hispanic woman whose condition is deteriorating fast.

Mrs. Tanner is in renal failure, and J.D. has to tell her that unless she goes onto dialysis she will die. To J.D.'s shock, she decides that she would rather die, and he spends much of the episode trying to convince her to change her mind, even writing a list of things he believes everyone should do before they die. However, on reading this list to his patient, she says she has done every single one,^[3] and that rather than wasting his time fruitlessly trying to change her mind, J.D. should try doing a few himself. While J.D. sits with her, Mrs. Tanner dies peacefully in her sleep.

David needs hernia surgery, and despite Turk trying to remain aloof from his patients, he decides to keep David company since his father won't arrive for a few days. As Turk performs David's hernia surgery, he inadvertently finds a lymphoma. Turk performs a second operation to remove the lymphoma, but David dies on the operating table. Turk learns from this experience that it doesn't hurt to show kindness towards his patients.

Mrs. Guerrero speaks no English, requiring Carla to translate. She is steadily deteriorating, and Elliot has to decide whether to use thrombolytics, which could kill her, or to wait and see if she improves, which could also kill her. To Carla's disgust, Elliot runs away from making the decision, and later tells Carla how hard she finds it making decisions. Eventually, Carla helps Elliot decide to use the thrombolytics, improving their relationship in the process. Unfortunately, Mrs. Guerrero dies anyway, though Elliot gains confidence from the experience.

After the three patients die, J.D. narrates that sometimes more than one in three patients die and that's what you have to face while working in a hospital. J.D. is seen talking to his patient's relatives, Elliot is seen talking to Dr. Cox as he reassures her that she did the right thing, and Turk is seen talking to his patient's father, who thanks him for being a friend to his son.

At the end of the episode, as Turk and some other surgical interns are leaving a patient's room, Turk turns around, walks back to the patient, and introduces himself. J.D. follows Mrs. Tanner's advice and takes a moment for himself, lying in the grass and doing nothing.

Cultural references

• The short clip of J.D. with Death parodies a Connect Four commercial from the 1970s, which features similar dialogue, and The Seventh Seal, which features a knight playing chess against Death. In the clip, J.D. had eight red pieces while Death had only six.
• When Turk's patient David asks if anyone has ever heard of The Catch, Turk comes in and says, "Niners-Cowboys, Joe Montana to Dwight Clarke deep in the end-zone, zero time left. Kid, please, don't insult me." To be precise, there were 51 seconds left on the clock when The Catch was made.

Continuity

• This episode marks the first appearance of Lloyd the Delivery Guy, who becomes a major supporting character in later seasons.
• The name tag that Dr. Cox is wearing when he first enters Elliot's patient's room says Paul Cox, even though his name is Perry Cox.

Notes

1. ^ On the DVD version, "Fool" by Tim Cullen is featured instead of "Dracula from Houston."
2. ^ "Humanitas winners". Writers Guild of America, West. 2002-07-02. http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1403. Retrieved 2007-12-16. 
3. ^ When J.D. reads his list to Mrs. Tanner, one of the things he suggests is that she goes to Asia. She responds "五年間ぐらい京都に住んでいました," meaning, "I lived in Kyoto for about five years."

External links

• "My Old Lady" at the Internet Movie Database
• "My Old Lady" at TV.com