Scrubs/Tear Jerker

• The "JD's Future" montage set to Peter Gabriel's cover of The Magnetic Fields' "Book of Love".
  • Very much the happiest Tear Jerker of the series, especially with the implication that it really will happen. It was the perfect way to finish off, buuuuuut...
• The scene with Carla saying her parting words to Laverne in My Long Goodbye set to A Bad Dream by Keane.
  • All of them however fall short when compared to "My Lunch" probably one of saddest episodes in Live-action series period.

J.D.: Remember what you told me? The second you start blaming yourself for people's deaths... there's no coming back.
Dr. Cox: Yeah... You're right.

• "My Lunch" falls short when compared to "My Screw-Up", especially once it's revealed that Ben Sullivan was the patient that died earlier.

J.D.: ...where do you think we are?

• "My Old Lady" will never fail to make viewers bawl like babies.
  • "My Old Lady" is the only piece of film media that has ever made this troper cry.
• "My Fifteen Seconds": After spending as little time as they can with Jill Tracy, J.D. and Cox realize that she tried to poison herself. The rush to the hospital and ask her how things have actually been going lately. The way she answers is particularly saddening.

Jill Tracy: Actually it has, uh, (choking up) been a couple of rough months.

• • Jill's appearance in "My Lunch" can also count as this...
    • On a related note, the ending of My Lunch, as all three of Cox's patients die, and he walks out of the building cursing himself. The use of The Fray's "How To Save A Life" only makes it more effective. And this leads directly in to...
• "My Fallen Idol" when Carla tells Dr. Cox that JD isn't coming. His reaction is slightly surprising; he's going to take a drink of his scotch but once Carla tells him the news about JD, he stops and seems sad. Considering how Cox treats JD most of the time, this is very moving and it shows you how much he cares about JD.
• In "My Last Chance", when the happy go lucky ambulance worker Denise breaks down and admits that the son she's gone on about is actually dead. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when she mentions she thought the crew that tried to save him were amazing, and they inspired her to go into that line of work.
• In "My Missed Perception", there's a patient who's in so much pain his wife mentions he couldn't even make it off the couch to go to the bathroom. It looks like Turk and Elliot are going to give up on him, until they catch the couple before they leave the hospital; and tell them that they're going to do everything they can to find out what's causing the pain. The looks on the patient and his wife's faces say it all.
• The ending of "My Cold Shower". After finding out Elliot's going to get engaged to Keith, every cast member has brief, absurd, comedic fantasies about how their married life with Elliot would be. Then when JD watches Elliot accept Keith's proposal, realises he's still in love with her, and we snap to a similar fantasy where it's just Elliot and JD sitting together on a couch, then to JD later crying in the shower.

JD: "You know what? I'm really happy that you're my wife."
Elliot: "Me too."
JD's inner monologue: It should've been me...

• George's death in "My Last Words". JD and Turk end up spending their entire night with him because he hasn't got anyone else to be with.
• The ending of "My Princess". Dr Cox is telling his son Jack a fairy tale based on his day at the hospital, and ends it by telling him that the maiden, or patient, lived happily ever after. He then runs into Jordan who has been sat outside eagerly listening.

Jordan: So what happened to the girl? Did she make it?
Cox: Let's just say that's the way I'm telling it.

• The ending of "My Jiggly Ball". To explain, the episode revolves around J.D. being forced to write an introduction speech for Dr. Kelso at an awards banquet and desperately trying to find something good to say about him. Throughout the episode, Kelso is at his coldest, removing a terminally ill patient from a Drug trial in place of a rich patient who will make a donation to the hospital. Cox calls him on his callousness, asking him how he can not care about another person. Laverne notes Kelso's coldhearted attitude, saying that when he steps foot outside the hospital, he can be entirely happy despite people dying. The tearjerker comes at the end when J.D. notes that Kelso may be coldhearted but he would never want to have to make the same decisions he does. The final scene, where Kelso leaves the hospital and look of pure sadness and self-loathing crosses his face, is heartbreaking, made worse by the fact that he then starts whistling happily when the gang see him. The song ("Sideways" by Citizen Cope) and Ken Jenkin's brilliant acting absolutely sell it and show just how hard it is being The Spock.
• The episode "My Catalyst" has one of the show's most heartbreaking endings. When J.D. is about to confront him, he finds Kevin obsessively washing his hands, revealing that his last surgery ended two hours ago but he can't bring himself to stop washing and go home. He is absolutely enraged at his body for failing him and himself for not being able to function properly, but tells J.D. that he isn't going to be someone who makes someone else shoulder their problems. The scene is immeasurably sadder by the fact that Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's Disease has all but forced him to retire from acting and is slowly destroying his body, but there is nothing that can be done about it.