Scrubs, "My Waste of Time": Meet the meta

"Scrubs" spoilers coming up just as soon as I fire my PA announcer...

Once again, we get into the matter of the final season/penultimate season switcheroo with this one, which was so overflowing with meta humor -- J.D. complaining that his long fantasies are never worth it, Jordan questioning how J.D. always uses other people's problems to solve his own -- that it felt like the writers had been saving up all these jokes until the finish line was in sight.

And, while I usually don't like the really long fantasies -- think Doctor Toilet, or most of Floating-Head Doctor -- I think it's ironic that they finally made had J.D. complain about it after the heat-generating fake ball sequence, which was maybe the funniest thing in the episode. Given Todd's ambiguous sexuality and J.D.'s, um, complicated feelings for Turk, the image of the two of them -- and a disgusted Dr. Cox -- all reaching out to get their hands close to his junk still makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Also, the on-screen bug for "Legal Custodians" (get it?) during J.D. and Elliot's conversation was inadvertently made ten times funnier when the tools in the NBC promo department later covered half the screen with an ad for the Kentucky Derby. Ordinarily, I hate that stuff, but here it worked as an unexpected second payoff.

"My Waste of Time" wasn't as strong as Kelso's exit last week -- and I'm taking Bob's cameo here to mean that the producers aren't done with Ken Jenkins yet, thankfully -- as the J.D./Elliot story felt off. Yes, J.D. does pranks, but they're almost always on his friends or people in the hospital who deserve it; the stunt with the drive-through intercom seemed too mean-spirited, especially given the anonymous victim of it. Beyond that, though, I'm uncomfortable with the way the show is once more heading into the breech of a J.D./Elliot relationship. I'm on record as saying the time has long since passed, and that it should be clear to everyone that they don't belong together, but I could maybe stomach it if there were only a few episodes to go in the series. But to have to go through another one of their reconciliations, and then have 18 more episodes? Whether they stay together or not, I'm not looking forward to it.

On the plus side, I liked Dr. Cox and consiglieri Jordan conducting all family business out of the doctor's lounge, and of course Ted asserting himself with both Cox and The Janitor. (Plus, any episode where Ted sings gets bonus points from me.) And the story of Turk's testicle(s) remains painful, but funny.

What did everybody else think?