Daydreams of Scrubs

Ah, the dream sequence…from the blurry soft focus, to the “dream bubble”, to absurd musical elements, this classic technique has been used, with varying degrees of success and skill, by the best and worst of television shows since this fine medium began.

Scrubs, one of the funniest and unique comedies on the air today (we hope!), has often been identified in correlation with this cinematic technique. And for good reason: one of the show’s signature features is the protagonist’s daydreams. In fact, the dream sequences have become so iconic that the show has begun to mock itself for their excessive use. In one episode, JD, the show’s lead, recommends daydreaming to his peers in a particularly reflexive manner: “Did you try daydreaming? Just tilt your head to the left side, and get lost in thoughts.” In other episodes, characters remark upon his habit. For example, Todd, a supporting character, at one point laments JD’s drifting away and complains that he will have to wait for JD to snap out of it with a weird comment.

Traditionally, the dream sequence has been a brief instalment that is separate from the rest of the narrative, usually taking the form of a flashback, vision or a literal dream. At times, critics have considered the dream sequence a short cut that cheapens the story by allowing audiences to gain instant understanding of the motivations and true persona of the characters involved without the writer having to subtly incorporate the elements into the plot. By simply adding a quick dream that gives all the necessary background, a plot can be moved forward or a ridiculous situation justified.

The dream sequence is usually distinguished from the main narrative through an obvious change in the focus, a shift in music or even an actual dream bubble over the character’s head. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air would often use this technique to ridiculous ends. In one episode, Carlton’s hero, Tom Jones, appears in this manner, as his guardian angel, via Frankie Avalon’s role in Grease, to offer the troubled teen some much needed advice during a musical interlude. Other shows visually depict a character sleeping or waking, before, after or during the dream sequence, as Joss Whedon does in “Restless”, the Season Four finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The entire episode is an extended dream sequence, through which Whedon explores the characters’ personal insecurities and foreshadows future events.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of more non-sequiter dream sequences, popularized by shows like Scrubs and Family Guy, and used to the extreme by Robot Chicken, a show made up entirely of the random interludes that other shows would feature only periodically.

An important distinction should be made regarding JD’s dreams on Scrubs: they are actually daydreams. This means that he is conscious while experiencing them. As much as they appear to come to him unbidden, he is in more control of the dreams than characters who are asleep. As such, you’d expect his dreams to be more sensible, but the opposite is actually true.

JD’s daydreams are often absurd and random, containing references to past events and pop culture. YouTube has several hilarious montages of viewers’ favourite daydreams, including classics such as JD dancing with one of his patients to “99 Red Balloons”, and Turk doing exploratory surgery inspired by Indiana Jones. A particular favourite of mine is the homage to West Side Story, complete with a snapping gang dance-off and a heartbreaking rendition of “A Surgeon and a Doc Above it All.” Scrubs' dream sequences riff off of everything from Star Wars to wrestling, in order to create random and hilarious daydreams.

As amusing as they are, the daydreams actually work against the stereotypical “short cut” criticism of dream sequences. JD’s daydreams do not always further the plot or advance any real understanding of characters. Instead, they often exist merely to entertain. The writers are arguably making their own jobs more difficult with the additions of these dream sequences, because after such a ridiculous interlude it can take a more concerted effort to get the episode back on track.

Some of the dreams do take the more typical approach to narrative by depicting JD’s motivations, as well as his feelings about other characters on the show. In an early episode, when Turk denies having feelings for Carla and Todd makes a typically sexual innuendo, JD pictures Turk breaking Todd’s neck. There are also dream sequences that reinforce the audience’s suspicions of JD’s feelings and perceptions, including the various jealous fantasies that he entertains regarding Elliot and her paramours.

Even during its more standard dream sequences, however, Scrubs does not necessarily follow traditional form. Regardless of the episode, the show’s daydreams invariably veer towards the fun, quirky and absurd mentality that makes Scrubs such a unique and entertaining show to begin with.

© 2008 Shannon Wood; licensee (Cult)ure Magazine.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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