Jacob Jardel
Assistant Managing Editor
@JJardel_Writing
You learn a lot about life on a Netflix binge of “Scrubs.”
“Scrubs” was a dramatic comedy of the 2000s that went on for eight full seasons and a ninth most would rather not talk about. It focused on Dr. John “JD” Dorian and the various doctors around Sacred Heart hospital and addressed the facets of medicine, love, life and loss.
It is also, without a doubt, my favorite show for those exact reasons.
In my most recent binge of the show, I finally came to the season eight finale – or, as many call it, the real series finale. JD walked through the halls one last time, reminiscing on the past eight years while imagining the many years to come. It makes me emotional every time.
As the credits rolled and behind the scenes footage showed the cast and crew film their final scenes, I thought about finality. I thought about graduation.
There are few times in life where you can prepare for your golden wrap, the final cut of your final scene of a series or a film. You prepare for your wedding day, the golden wrap on single life. You prepare for retirement, the golden wrap on your working life.
In college, you prepare for graduation, the golden wrap on your academic career.
Having been through one already, I can say that you spend all of your final season on campus prepping for the golden wrap. You plan the right classes, sign the right papers and get all the right things to make the final scene perfect.
But I learned toward the end of my fourth – and supposedly final – season that I was getting at three more years at Cameron to round out my master’s degree. I had three more seasons to plan toward a golden wrap.
One season has passed, and I still have two more to think about the upcoming new finale, the true golden wrap of my series as a Cameron student. Two seasons seems a bit far off, but you have to be able to tie up loose ends effectively and gracefully without rushing it.
You saw the “How I Met Your Mother” finale and the backlash it caused.
But there is one thing I have come to notice about my excessive planning for the golden wrap: I spend a lot of time looking back.
In my entire time planning for my final season and, eventually, the final scene, most of my time has focused on what I plan to leave behind, what I have to say goodbye to when I hear cut on the final scene.
I never took much time to look into the future. Even JD, after walking through the hallway of people he worked for and with over eight seasons, looked into the future he wanted as a doctor, a husband, a father and a friend.
I have yet to do that.
I talk all the time about how I plan to be a sex educator, a therapist, a college instructor – something to help the greater good. But, so far it all stays as just talk. The “PhD” folder on my Google browser remains dusty and seldom touched.
I hate to admit it, but I am horrified of a future without some sense of familiarity.
Cameron is the only academic home I have known over the last few years. Yes, some faces have changed in that time, but it has all remained constant and familiar. It is all still Cameron – different director, same show. This comfortableness keeps me sane.
If you have yet to notice, I fear change. However, I doubt I am the only one.
Every one of us has some sort of fear of change. It can sublimate in different ways: fear of uncertainty, fear of being alone, fear of failure and a million other vast and massive fears that come from the fear of change. Change is the universal constant, ironically enough.
But we all have to remember that change can lead to good things. It helps us learn. It helps us adapt. It helps us expand our horizons. It helps us come out of our golden wraps ready for the next thing to come our way.
So embrace the change as you would an old friend – after all, it is the oldest friend we have, the only one that has stayed the same. Look back on the cast of people you met here and reminisce about the good times. Be well aware and in touch with your favorite.
But, after you do that, look forward to what change has in store for you – the different spinoffs you can start in that continue your career. Get ready for the many new episodes you have yet to film with new casts and crews. Prepare for the memories you have yet to make on set.
In short, make your golden wrap a beginning just as much as it is an end.