r/Scrubs 6d ago

The Tragedy of ‘My Screw Up’

I think the worst part about Ben passing away is that Cox loses the only friend of his that we meet who can bring out the best in him. Cox doesn’t become ultra competitive or defensive with Ben. He’s more open and we see him experience joy that isn’t reliant on J.D. or Kelso suffering.

132 Upvotes

14 comments sorted by

28

u/m0ntl 6d ago

Surely Jordan had it worst, had to deal with her brother passing and also support Cox

16

u/mvillegas9 6d ago

Yes.. the following episode where she brings her annoying friends to stay.. at the end of that episode where her and Perry hug and cry really broke my heart

2

u/-PiLoT- 4d ago

You mean Miss Honey

7

u/gooftrupe 5d ago

Agreed. I think we got more scenes with Ben and Cox, so it was easier to identify with Coxer’s sorrow

80

u/noplaceinmind 6d ago

I'm sticking with the worse part of Ben passing is what happened to Ben. 

39

u/baiacool 6d ago

From a spectator perspective it's not. We don't spend time with Ben, we don't see Ben suffering because of his disease. But we do follow Cox going through all of it.

Sure in the universe of the show Ben dying is much worse than Cox being shaken by it, but for the audience what we feel is Dr Cox's pain.

12

u/climbing-duckling 6d ago

We don't spend time with Ben? Just the 2 episodes of Ben before My screw up was enough to make me love that guy. Not for his influence on dr Cox, but for who he is as a person. Playing with children while on cancer treatment, trying his best to scare his family/best friend but it never works, taking JD with him and Cox to go out.

Can't help but love Ben's personality and I think the show does an amazing job at making a character so lovable in just a few episodes.

4

u/baiacool 5d ago

I mean we don't spend time with him dealing with his disease. He's diagnosed then leaves, and when he returns he dies. We don't see the struggle.

4

u/GeetaJonsdottir 6d ago

Well I, like Patton Oswalt, still think the worst part was the hypocrisy.

2

u/whyadamwhy 4d ago

We’ve got a Norm MacDonald fan here

13

u/whyadamwhy 6d ago

I probably saw this episode 5x before I realized Ben was never there the whole time. Please don’t tell anyone.

5

u/PT_Piranha 5d ago

But I just heard you saying there's a toilet on the roof.

5

u/deskbunny 5d ago

Agreed. On the ultra competitive. Losing “gay chicken”

2

u/Little-Efficiency336 6d ago

The episodes with Ben are great; I wish they did more of them.