Carla Espinosa

Infobox character | name = Carla Espinosa Turk


first = "My First Day"
last =
gender = Female
age = 38 (36 as of "Her Story II")
occupation = Nurse
title = Charge Nurse
family = Marco Espinosa (brother), two unnamed sisters, Aunt Marie, Mrs. Espinosa (Aunt Marie's sister and Carla's mother, deceased)
spouse = Christopher Turk (husband)
children = Isabella Turk (daughter)
portrayer = Judy Reyes
creator = Bill Lawrence

Carla Espinosa is a fictional character in the American comedy-drama "Scrubs", portrayed by Judy Reyes.

Profile

Carla is the head nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital,cite episode |title=His Story IV |episodelink=His Story IV |series=Scrubs |serieslink=Scrubs (TV series) |credits= |network=NBC |station= |airdate=2007-02-01 |season=6 |number=7 |minutes= ] in which the main action of the show takes place.

She is prone to overreaction and constantly feels the need to tell friends and co-workers how to go about their lives (most notably the series' main character, J.D.) and this advice is often unwanted, but she nearly always turns out to be right. She is also a bit of a gossip. She calls her constant need to tell others what to do "her crack" in the fifth season. Despite having some problems of her own, no one dares make fun of her; when anyone does, she generally overreacts and ends up humiliating them; this regime is briefly altered in one episode, where Carla allows her friends to make fun of her, resulting in them all doing so. For her faults, in the end nearly all the characters follow her advice and are happy to do so.

Family life

Carla was born in the Dominican Republic but moved to Chicago whilst still a child. All her family is from the Dominican Republic, despite Turk's frequent and incorrect assertions that she is Mexican or Puerto Rican. It is revealed in Season 5 that she is 36. It is also revealed in the episode "His Story" that Carla's father ran out on the family when Carla was a child.

Carla starts dating Christopher Turk in the show's second episode, "My Mentor". They have been together for almost the entire run of the show, and constantly prove to have a solid relationship. Carla marries Turk in the season finale of season 3, "My Best Friend's Wedding". She and Turk go through a trial separation in season 4, after Carla discovers that Turk is still talking to his ex-girlfriend without telling her he is married. She moves in with Elliot for a while. Following some couples' therapy and some frank discussions with Turk and J.D., however, the couple reunite and immediately begin trying to conceive. Initially, they are unsuccessful, but finally get pregnant toward the end of the season after several episodes are spent on Turk and Carla worrying about their respective fertility. Carla gives birth to a baby girl, whom they name Isabella, in the episode "My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby". J.D. becomes the godfather of the child.

She has two sisters (one of whom gets her eye brow waxed off by Elliot during the preparations for Carla's wedding) and a brother named Marco (Freddy Rodriguez) who hates Turk, and who for years pretended he was unable to speak English in front of Carla. Her mother, who also hates Turk, dies in the episode "My Drama Queen".

Relationships with other characters

J.D.

Carla's pet name for J.D. during his time as an intern was "Bambi", though it is rarely used anymore. She claims that of all the interns she has worked with, J.D. is the only one whose approval she actually cares about, to the extent that she feigns an interest in black-and-white photography so he would think she is more intelligent.cite episode
title = My Nickname | episodelink = My Nickname| series = Scrubs
serieslink = Scrubs (TV series) | network = NBC | airdate = 2001-10-27
season = 1 | number = 10 ] She is highly protective of J.D. and when Doctor Cox tore into him during his first year, she was quick to come to defense and tell off the senior doctor. Unfortunately this led to Doctor Cox publicly embrassing J.D. again, which in turn led to J.D. blowing up at Carla. This led to a heated yet brief fight between the pair.

While Carla sometimes complains that Turk and J.D. are a better couple than she and Turk, there has been no real rivalry between Carla and J.D. for Turk's attention, and both seek to encourage Turk to do the right thing as a husband and friend, respectively. Furthermore, it seems that at times J.D. is a closer friend to Carla than Turk, as he happily gossips with her "like one of the girls".cite episode
title = My Roommates | episodelink = My Roommates| series = Scrubs
serieslink = Scrubs (TV series) | network = NBC | airdate = 2005-02-22
season = 4 | number = 18 ] J.D. and Carla once shared a drunken kiss, which led to some tension between each other and Turk, though this was thankfully resolved after a point.

Elliot

Despite Elliot's best efforts, Carla doesn't feel particularly close to her at first, although they have since become best friends. Series creator Bill Lawrence has said on DVD commentaries that this mirrored Reyes' and Sarah Chalke's real-life relationship.

While they are close, however, their relationship is not without friction; Carla sometimes resents Elliot's neurotic perfectionism and (unintended) condescension about her family background. Eliot in turn is often annoyed by Carla's bossy and controlling nature. In "My Lucky Charm", the two get into a vicious "catfight" (much to the delight of the male employees) over what had started as a disagreement over who an attractive male visitor likes better.

Elliot is a bridesmaid at Carla and Turk's wedding, before the ceremony, Carla says that she feels closer to Elliot than she does to her own sisters.cite episode
title = My Best Friend's Wedding | episodelink = My Best Friend's Wedding | series = Scrubs
serieslink = Scrubs (TV series) | network = NBC | airdate = 2004-05-04
season = 3 | number = 22 ] During one episode, she fantasized (along with all the other main characters) about marrying Elliot and commented that she thought life would be simpler if she were.cite episode
title = My Cold Shower | episodelink = My Cold Shower | series = Scrubs
serieslink = Scrubs (TV series) | network = NBC | airdate = 2007-05-03
season = 6 | number = 19 ]

Dr. Cox

Dr. Perry Cox has always had a soft spot for Carla, as she is not afraid to stand up to him. Cox claims that Carla is the only one who 'gets him' and is often very protective of her. During the first season, it is revealed that Dr. Cox is madly in love with Carla, but since she is with Turk, he does nothing about it. Although it was revealed that at one point they did go on a date together that did not end as Dr. Cox would have liked, but it did lead to them becoming the friends they are. When Carla confesses how fearful she is of being a parent in "My Way Home", Cox happily tells Carla that he knows she'll be a terrific mother.cite episode
title = My Way Home | episodelink = My Way Home | series = Scrubs
serieslink = Scrubs (TV series) | network = NBC | airdate = 2006-01-24
season = 5 | number = 07 ]

References