Posted in: ABC, TV | Tagged: Scrubs

Scrubs: John C. McGinley on Dr. Cox Shocker, Season 2 Return Thoughts

Scrubs' John C. McGinley on Dr. Cox's return in the season's penultimate episode, clashing with JD on treatment, Season 2 thoughts, and more.

When ABC revived Scrubs for its 10th season, it would be a welcome return for our core trio with some caveats. First, while we got fan favorites like JD (Zach Braff), Turk (Donald Faison), and Elliot (Sarah Chalke) back, they would be guiding a new cast of support staff at Sacred Heart and a new crop of interns. Second, originals like Carla (Judy Reyes) and Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) will only return in a recurring capacity. Third, we're lucky to land favorites like Janitor (Neill Flynn) and Jordan (Christa Miller) to appear at least in the season finale. That being said, McGinley returned as Dr. Perry Cox in season 10's penultimate episode "My Odds" after recruiting his former protégé to take his position as Chief of Medicine of Sacred Heart in the season premiere, "My Return," which finds him checking up on JD's work. Speaking to Variety, the Rooster (Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence's latest AppleTV series) star opened up about the shocking set of circumstances to close the episode. The following contains spoilers.

Scrubs: John C. McGinley on Cox's Situation and How It Relates to JD

When we find Cox returning, we see him commenting on the various scenarios around the hospital while JD, Turk, and Elliot keep the surrounding staff ready the best way they can, sink or swim. Just as things recover at their worst, Cox collapses as JD and Park (Joel Kim Booster) discover what's ailing their mentor, microscopic polyangiitis. "The technical advisor now is a woman named Yarrow [Reid], she is an emergency doctor up in Vancouver. Zach's character is named after a guy named John Doris, aka J.D. Well, that was a real guy who went to school with Bill Lawrence; he and his wife, Molly, were our technical advisors at the time," McGinley said. "You could go to them, and with all great teachers, you can't ask a stupid question. That liberates those of us who are intimidated by people giving us judgment, and Yarrow is cut from that cloth."

McGinley continued explaining his advocacy work, "So no, I don't know anything, all I know about is Down Syndrome and being a caregiver in the special needs community, I don't know anything else. So when this stuff is presented to me, I go to the technical advisor, and I say, make this accessible to me. And Yarrow broke that down for me through repeated Zooms, so before I went up to Vancouver, I had a civilian enough understanding of what this malady, what this challenge was, to be able to play the scene."

As JD and Cox discuss the latter's diagnosis, the innate pessimism from Cox comes naturally, "I think some people are prone to being fatalists, and when you've been inundated and oversaturated with all these challenges and maladies that have gotten on you for the better part of 30+ years, and you try that on, I think that can be a heavy burden and a fragile bargain, and that's scary," McGinley explains. "What's lovely about this episode, and the reason I wanted to talk to you about it, is that it's really amazing to be able to excavate some of Cox's fear. Aside from the Brendan Fraser episode, we don't get to see Cox scared that much because he wears kind of a lead vest to protect himself from others seeing that." Fraser appeared in the show's first season on NBC as Ben Sullivan, Jordan's brother, who is close with Cox and bonds with JD, but succumbs to leukemia.

McGinley broke down his scenes with Braff and Chalke. "But every once in a blue moon, he opens up and that sternum cracks, and we see that heart beating underneath. That's what happens in 108, and the actor got to dive into that; it was on the page, and it was so delicious. And we really took our time with that scene with Sarah where he reconciles what could have been some catastrophic teaching mistakes he made," he said. "And the scene with Zachy in the third act, when I say, 'Yeah, I want you to be my doctor, I was trying to protect you from this, but yes, you're what I wrought. Now it's time. And I got very upset between 'action' and 'cut', organically as the character. It didn't catch me off guard, but it felt like, okay, I must have been carrying this stuff for a long time."

As far as Cox's future and fulfilling the need to get more favorites to return, "I think that Cox will come back a lot more in [the revival's] season 2. There's been a big outcry, that's very flattering. But I also think structurally, I was sharing this with a friend of mine the other day. I don't know if you remember Joe Campbell and his exploration of myth and the structure of myth," he said. "I think Zach's character as the hero in this three-act tale, as it pertains to Joe Campbell, the hero needs consequences and a threat and jeopardy, and without Ken Jenkins and not enough of the Janitor, it falls on; the threat would be failure with the interns this season, and that's great. But he needs a threat, he needs consequence. There has to be jeopardy, and that jeopardy is Cox, however Billy writes it. I think Cox will be more thickly woven into the tapestry of Season 2. I'm completely speculating."

For more, including McGinley digging deep emotionally, Cox's acceptance of letting JD treat him, Miller's return as Jordan, and more, you can check out the full interview. Scrubs season finale, which also stars Vanessa Bayer, Ava Bunn, David Gridley, Amanda Morrow, Jacob Dudman, Layla Mohammadi, X Mayo, and Michael James Scott, airs on April 15th on ABC and streams the following day on Hulu.

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