With their internships and residencies behind them, this is the first year that Turk, J.D, and Elliot are all full-fledged attending physicians. Since the series had originally been based on how interns and residents cope during these transitional years, it would be a challenge for the show to continue to be funny and fresh, but it did not disappoint. At this point I must warn you there are spoilers ahead, particularly in the last paragraph.

J.D is now an attending, and much of his story has to do with him realizing that with the perks of this position comes certain unexpected drawbacks, such as the group of interns with which he is entrusted laughing at his very unfunny jokes in order to score points. "My Jiggly Ball" was also along these lines, with J.D. given the task of introducing Dr. Kelso at a dinner. If J.D. doesn't compliment Kelso, he knows he'll be fired. However, if he doesn't tell the truth he knows he'll lose the support of his colleagues. There's also a little more insight into Kelso in this episode, and we find out that his gruff exterior may just be a way of him coping with decisions he makes each day that save some lives at the expense of others. Finally, there is the ever-present issue of J.D. and his romance problems. In "My Half Acre", I thought J.D. had met his match in the dangerously uncoordinated Julie, but like so many other times it was not to be. Although, I have to say this time, the reason for J.D.'s collapsed romance didn't make very good sense to me.

As for Turk and Carla, of course their long-running story is their attempt to conceive a child. Turk goes from secretly medicating Carla with birth control pills to understanding that, to Carla, making a baby is the most romantic thing in the world. They both have doubts and difficulties but eventually, and not surprisingly, they are successful. What is surprising is that because of the cheap pregnancy test Turk has bought, it takes an extra bit of time for the stick to turn blue, and thus Turk knows the truth before Carla. In fact, thanks to Turk and J.D. the entire hospital knows before Carla. When they find out Carla has been looking forward to telling everyone herself, J.D. and Turk have to make sure that nobody tells Carla what they already know.

Elliot starts out the season on a bright note, since she has gotten a fellowship in a neighboring hospital. She is determined to make a fresh start there, and that includes claiming she knows things she doesn't, such as the location of the medical supplies. Thus she is constantly driving back and forth between her new job and where she knows she can find the supplies - Sacred Heart. This job doesn't last long, though, when the most irritating guy at her new hospital unexpectedly cures the disease she was hired to work on. She thus finds herself back at Sacred Heart with her own batch of interns. Unfortunately, she gets involved with one of them. He happens to be the most talented, but her handing off the choicest jobs and the highest praise to him appears as favoritism to all of the other interns until J.D. comes to her defense.

Cox is still around handing out advice seasoned with sarcasm, but this season he is a senior peer to J.D. rather than a taskmaster, and the transition is handled well. Particularly good is "My Lunch" and "My Fallen Idol". Here the roles of J.D. and Cox wind up being somewhat reversed. Three patients are in need of organ transplants when an annoying former patient, Jill, is admitted and then dies of what appears to be a cocaine overdose. Under Dr. Cox's directions, her organs are transplanted into the three patients and all is going well. However, the patients start feeling ill, and the final lab report comes back revealing the real cause of Jill's death.

On the lighter side, the janitor is still around making life miserable for J.D. Will he ever get over that penny in the sliding door? During the course of the season he manages to find a way to get J.D. in trouble without ever coming near him through the magic of modern digital photography, invents a new game whose sole purpose is to torment J.D., and tricks J.D. into commiting burglary by making J.D. believe he is helping the janitor move. Last but not least, Ted, the much abused hospital lawyer, finally has the upper hand when Kelso hits him with his car and Kelso fears a lawsuit.

The only problem with this season is the final episode. We've all been expecting Carla's pregnancy and the birth of Turk and Carla's firstborn to be a big part of the storyline, and it was well integrated into the show. Also, enough time has passed since Cox and Jordan had their child that the storyline didn't seem rehashed. However, the final episode sets up a trio of pregnancies, including Carla's, that just seems like a trainwreck waiting to happen in season six. We shall see.

I was genuinely surprised when the 5. season of "Scrubs" came. I had thought that they would only make the four seasons because of the premise of the series was the main characters being interns and all that. When the fifth season then came out, after my initial surprise I became a bit suspicious. Would this be of the same stuff as earlier seasons?

Yes, it would indeed. Scrubs has grown as a comedy series. It is still somewhere in between sitcom, teen drama and Marx Brothers. It is still the funniest thing in American television since Frasier. Yet, it has changed with the growth and development of the characters. There's a history to the characters and their relationships now, and this fact is made full use of, I think, in this season. They are not interns anymore, but the people are the same. In this season we follow their lives outside the hospital more than previous and there are more personal/family stuff going on, but it is as funny as ever.

Season five continues where season four left off and is just as hillarious as its predecessor. In a word, highly recommendable.

Five seasons later and Scrubs is still holding strong.

Sure some of the plots are pretty out there this time around but the sharp wit and perfect performances all around keeps things going swiftly. Everything we all loved about the first three seasons, the comedy, the reality of working in a hospital, and season four's brilliant comedy, are ever present and they even correct season four's lack of touching moments. The episode My Lunch is enough to evoke emotion I haven't felt since first seeing season one's unbeatable My Old Lady.

Up until now almost every main character was filled out. We know everything about JD, Turk, Carla, and Elliot. One main character that was kind of, but never fully, fleshed out was Dr. Cox. Season five serves as HIS season in many rights (i.e., My Lunch and My Fallen Idol). The Janitor (His Story II) and The Todd (My Lunch) also get a bit more background little by little. Guest stars are, as always, great. Mandy Moore, Nicole Sullivan, Dave Foley, and Gary Busey have hilarious parts and serve as the most notable.

Overall, Scrubs' fifth season is a winner. The bonus features are even great (last season's were a bit lacking). But where is the gag reel? Every previous season has it and it's been continually hilarious, why leave it out now? Running jokes are abound but the best undoubtedly goes to JD's screenplay, Dr. Acula. Lets just hope we don't have to wait so long for season six to arrive.