My Full Moon

"My Full Moon"
Scrubs episode
Episode no.	Season 8 Episode 13
Directed by	John Michel
Written by	Kevin Biegel
Production code	813
Original air date	April 1, 2009
Guest stars
Eliza Coupe as Denise Mahoney Robert Maschio as Todd Quinlan Betsy Beutler as Katie Collins Todd Bosley as Howie Sonal Shah as Sunny Dey Lee Thompson Young as Derek Hill
Episode chronology
← Previous "Their Story II" Next → "My Soul on Fire"
List of episodes

"My Full Moon" is the 13th episode of the eighth season of the ABC Studios television series Scrubs, and 163rd overall. It was broadcast on April 1, 2009.

Plot

Turk is upset that J.D. is away at Disneyland with Sam. Elliot tries to ease his pain by helping him prank the new interns on a night shift occurring during a full moon. The two reminisce about their years as interns, and see some similarities between their experiences and the newest group's.

Elliot has a patient, Robyn, who is re-admitted for the same problems of malnutrition as she was the previous year. ("My Inconvenient Truth") Elliot doesn't believe her when she says that she has been eating more healthily. In the end, Elliot realizes that she has been focusing on the last time Robyn was admitted and didn't believe she could change. Elliot looks inward and understands that people do change because Elliot herself is questioning her career. In the end, Robyn is diagnosed with HIV, which reduces her to tears. Elliot struggles with giving people bad news and reveals to Turk that she doesn't see herself as a doctor for her entire life - wondering whether, once she's got a family to got home to, she would give it up.

Denise and Derek have a patient, Mrs. Emmitt, who needs some fluid removed from her lungs. Derek, who is very full of himself, tells Denise to "witness perfection" as he starts the routine procedure. Mrs. Emmitt tells him that she feels pain, and Derek notices something is wrong. Turk arrives and finds out that Derek has accidentally collapsed one of her lungs during the fluid removal. Denise continues to make fun of him, and the two hook up due to Denise's attraction to people with low self esteem. When Derek later confides in Mrs. Emmitt of what happened, she tells him that she wants a "real doctor" to fix her lung. Turk ultimately helps her, and Derek sets aside his ego for long enough to learn what he thought he knew.

Meanwhile, Elliot assigns Mrs. Powell to Sunny. Mrs. Powell has just had surgery on her gallbladder and before she is discharged they need to make sure that her rectum is functioning. Being a "nervous poo-er", Mrs. Powell is asked to pass gas. Sunny tries to convince her that it is alright, but Mrs. Powell is too lady-like to do so. In the end, she caves in and all is well, but Sunny is left smelling foul, even after three showers, due to "years of repression".

Howie is struggling to determine what a patient has poisoned himself with. Mr. Swick has Capgras syndrome, a psychological problem that makes him believe everybody in his life has been replaced by an identical impostor. Howie tries to play on this to get a confession from the patient. The patient lies and as Howie is about to give him an antidote, he reveals that he lied. In the end, Howie gets the correct diagnosis by slapping Mr. Swick. Howie also is confronted by The Todd when he asks for high-fives. Todd makes it very clear that he is the "high-five guy". The Todd also complains to Turk and Elliot after they scare the interns.

Katie struggles with her own patient, the homeless Mr. Gold, who recently had hand surgery. She tries many ways to get him to stop chewing on his stitches, including an animal neck cone. The patient spits in her face and she cries. She ultimately gives into Turk's suggestion of strapping his arms down.

Production details

• Zach Braff (J.D), Judy Reyes (Carla), John C. McGinley (Dr. Cox), Neil Flynn (Janitor), and Ken Jenkins (Kelso) do not appear in this episode, making it the episode with the lowest number of series regulars to appear, with only Sarah Chalke (Elliot) and Donald Faison (Chris Turk) appearing.
• Unlike most Scrubs episodes, this one has no narration for the majority of it. Elliot narrates the end while Turk narrates for a few brief seconds.

Music

• "Hardly Enough" by WAZ

References