'Scrubs': The Janitor gets his Lady

Leave it to "Scrubs" to handle a wedding -- in an exotic locale, no less -- with a mix of sweetness, laugh-out-loud humor and genuine weirdness that takes just about all of the Very Specialness out of the episode and makes it just a very nice half-hour of TV.

This week's episode picks up where we left off -- which is to say, with half of our three principal couples cheesed off at their other halves (the Janitor and Lady are just fine, though). To review: Elliot is angry and disappointed that J.D. can't express love in a way that she finds up to snuff, Turk is wondering if Carla will ever get off mom duty to pay attention to him and Jordan and Perry are going at it over his faking work to prove a point.

Last week, it set up that J.D., Turk and Jordan were on the side of the righteous, but tonight, the show persuasively presented the other side. Yes, Elliot's demand for an equally grand expression of love is a little silly, but J.D.'s patronizing attitude toward her -- especially after spending $436 on the replica "Brady Bunch" tiki -- is pretty crappy too. As for Carla being in mommy mode all the time, she rightly points out that in addition to Izzy and the child she's carrying, she has another baby to take care of: Turk.

Best of all, though? The fact that Dr. Cox was the more sensitive soul in his dust-up with Jordan. He's had it with pretending that they don't like each other, because "A) we're over 12, and B) we actually do like each other. In fact -- brace yourself -- we love each other." Jordan's shocked/angry/frustrated reaction: priceless.

So by the time the wedding actually rolls around, just about no one outside the Janitor and Lady was up for it. And after listening to the world's worst officiant (played by series creator Bill Lawrence), the Janitor almost can't take it either. Fortunately, though, he just sends Van ("Stretch it out. Vaaannn") away ... and then delivers a really heartfelt, sweet and rather unexpected speech to his new wife. The Janitor has almost always been a purely comedic character on "Scrubs," but it's a testament to how good Neil Flynn is that his speech about appreciating and loving how much Lady appreciates his "quirks and my crazy stories and my lies about my mother" was just lovely.

The Janitor's vows inspired our other couples to make up too: Carla dons a bikini and heads into the water with Turk (loved his George Jefferson walk as they hit the waves), and Jordan begrudgingly admits she likes Perry back. But J.D. really stepped up, with what's probably the most meaningful expression of feelings he could come up with: "I love you more than anything in the whole world. Elliot ... I love you more than Turk."

Whoa. If that's not proof (in addition to being hilarious), then I don't know what is.

Amid all that emotion, the episode still had plenty of very funny moments, from J.D.'s "What's up, Blaqua-man?" and Cox catching J.D. saying a practice "I love you" to Turk to Turk's "mermaid" sighting (and especially Carla's reaction when he saw the same girl on land: "Oh my god -- this is the father of my child") and Todd scooping some ranch dressing off Ted's nose. It was just a well-balanced, well-paced and good episode.

Some other highlights:

• I never really thought of Outkast's "Hey Ya" as a romantic song, but Sam Lloyd's acoustic version of it was really quite lovely. Sam's a capella band, The Blanks (known as The Worthless Peons on the show), can be found here.
• Lady stressing over how she looks: "Do I look like Audrey Hepburn? [Elliot: Yes.] Crap! He hates Audrey Hepburn!"
• Followed by this: "I just want to look good for my honey-bunny. That's my nickname for him. He also loves it because it's his favorite sandwich."
• Foiled again on the Janitor's name, first by Todd's high-tide five and then by Ted's intense sunburn pain. Although actually, we didn't miss it: Bill Lawrence told me in our interview that he was saying "Chicago Cubs" in honor of Flynn's hometown when he got drowned out.
• A Bahama Mama combines equal parts light, gold and dark rum, Malibu, orange and pineapple juices and a splash of grenadine. More than a couple of those, and I might just sleep at the bar too, like Kelso did.
• Jordan: "Remember when my dog died, and you told me he went to doggy hell? And then you said my mom was gonna go to doggy hell too when she died." Cox: "Because of her dog face." Jordan: "Right! I wanted to do you right there in the vet's office."

How'd you like the second part of "Scrubs'" island adventure? Do you think the show pulled off the exotic wedding?

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