So simple and yet so affecting. To be able to turn a character who is pretty "one-note" for most of the series and make them so sympathetic in a single 2 minute scene is why Scrubs is so great. Love this ending.
And then they ruin it all later by changing the character into someone much easier to like, he became a silly old man, which was entertaining but it ruins the impact of earlier moments like this.
Love episodes like this, giving true depth to characters that you misjudged based on the facade they put up. Like the one where the Janitor spends all day talking to the guy who can't speak.
@@basicfilmblog yep and the sad truth is that you can't help everyone that needs it. That's why he looked the other way when the staff pretty much committed fraud to help out people that needed help, as we saw when he brought in a friend to have her foot checked out.
I'll never forget how this episode changed my perspective of Kelso. After you can see the heartache in his face after he steps down, you knew then and there that after all of those previous seasons and episodes, he had been putting on a poker face to all of the other characters. He absolutely cares about what he does, and it does affect him. By the end of the series, Kelso easily became one of my favorite characters.
The episode where they are golfing really highlighted that Dr Kelso was always going for the "Greater Good" in that he had to make decisions on a macro level for what's best for the Hospital not necessarily for the Patient since if the hospital goes bankrupt/closes then no patients can be helped
When he turned down the board’s offer to come back and retired instead (I think it was season 7), it was like a 2 ton weight came off his shoulders. He was a completely different person after that.
In a later episode, the one he's fired in, he tells one of the new interns that everytime he sees that building that he sees every single person he ever lost. Talk about a brutal job where your actions control the lives and deaths of others. This episode exemplifies this, having to let a man die because the other man who gets the the clinical trial donates enough money to reopen the bus that provides free care for pregnant women. One man's death potentially saves several lives, but it still weighs him down as it would any man or woman.
@@AnsticePalo I love that episode, where he has Boon sit down with him and he tells him about his history with Sacred Heart, all the stuff he's experienced (and messes with Boon a bit in classic Kelso style), and, in the end, tells him that despite all the difficulties and the potential for disaster, he'll love working there, and when Elliot asks if he even cared at all after Bob quits on his own terms, Boon confidently answers that he did. That was one of the best episodes of Scrubs, especially when you have perspective on him in an episode like this one.
I have always liked Dr. Kelso, not how he acts at home but the fact that he truly cared about the hospital. He had to make decisions that hurt people to help people. He didn't mind having people hate him as long as they were okay.
Ken Jenkins isn't a tall man, but Bob Kelso's personal always seemed to add to his dimensions from the force of presence he generated around the hospital. When his foot hits that bottom step, and the weight of his decisions bears down on him.... he looks small.
The amazing thing about Dr. Kelso is that they never intended him to be the villain and Ken Jenkins understood that. He had a shitty, shitty job that basically involved choosing between keeping the hospital financially solvent and between saving patients. Doing that job requires him by its nature to be a dick. He has to be, but He is also a doctor, he took an oath and he does care because we see him care a lot over the course of the series. I think what we see in that scene is a man torn between the profession that he truly loves and the job he clearly kind of hates and he can’t show that to his employees because his role in their lives is to keep the ship stable. The man in charge can’t publicly question his own decision or that stability is gone!
szolnicska okay I know I'm a year late with a reply, but I'm right with you there. I remember the first time watching scrubs and seeing Kelso, I just figured okay here's the bad guy for the show, then as a few seasons went, even before this or the episodes where he talks about or narrates his own inner conflicts or compromises he has to make of his own morality to make the hospital run efficiently and effectively, you can always catch very small details from Mr. Jenkins playing Kelso that he does feel regret from what he's done and such, just those small details show the viewer so much when they catch it. I always thought this show was underrated given how amazing the cast is from Braff, Chalke, Faison, etc etc, sorry I can't remember everyone's names. Heck especially McGinely for me as well as before I saw this TV show I only remembered him as the over the top gay gunslinger in Wagons East. and as the Marine that was set on fire then drowned by Sean Connery in the movie The Rock, which he was great in both for what little he did. Ever since this show I actively find stuff he's acted in and I'm never disappointed. Just to add for Ken Jenkins, everytime he was on screen as Kelso after Kelso retired from the hospital and just hung around, I thought he damn near overshadowed most the cast with how hilarious he was.
@@TommyClemenza I'm late. But, this is the only show I've seen that can make your ribs hurt from laughing one minute, and make you cry the next minute.
anyone else notice that JD is the only one that turns and looks at kelso, even when his whistling game is weak af, it's amazing how this show constantly has small details like this, that you can only notice on re watches, I fucking love scrubs.
I also liked the line before this clip where Cox says "Hope you didn't obsess too much about that, Newbie" JD: *Over the next few weeks*, I couldn't help thinking about...
He isn't faking 'his evil'. It's just that, he has become cynical being in a place where misery and sorrowfulness is so common that it crushes one's soul. He had to either toughen up or give up (like Nick).
It was the burden of the job. It's something that even Dr. Cox came to understand and respect about Kelso when Courtney Cox briefly became of Chief of Medicine. Her character was just evil for the sake of evil and she enjoyed it. Where as Cox came to know that Kelso only had to act evil because the job demanded he be. That the job required that Bob do what's best for the hospital, not necessarily the patients.
You can see his pain, all the decisions he has to make on a day to day basis, all the deaths and heartaches he witnesses all expressed through his sadness.
Horacio Rosas his ‘arrogance’, cocky swagger and so on is his cover. He can’t be the heartbroken guy, he wouldn’t cope, so all the rest is a coping mechanism. Not showing weakness and being a grouch may make them hate him but it means they don’t blame themselves for stuff, they blame him and he takes it. He just doesn’t show it at work, that’s true of thousands of Doctors and others such as Firemen, Police etc. If they broke down at each tragedy they see they’d never go in to work.
@@AngelicusImmortus Yup. We act detached and make dark jokes because it *does* make it easier for us to come back to work the next day. Imagine this: an elderly lady with Alzheimers Disease is brought in by her children and you help get her settled in. A couple days later you need some information from the resident's children and attempt to contact them, only to find out that they have changed their phone numbers and addresses...never to be heard from again. Then everyday looking into that lady's eyes, knowing that her family has abandoned her. Then you clock out at the end of your shift and walk out the door. That's been my week this week.
The truth about Kelso was that he played the role everyone needed. He made decisions he had to that he knew would get him hated but he did it because he had no option. He then realised that by being the 'bad guy' he could keep his staff's mind off the stresses of being in a hospital and focus their bad energy on him. He would show his human side to those who needed it during the show but otherwise he was a rock so that he could keep them working. When he steps off the curb here and Laverne says that he doesn't care she clearly doesn't know what is going on. When you see him at the end he steps off the curb while looking directly at his foot that is doing so. He then doesn't whistle but see's JD and the gang and begins to. Why is this important? Kelso does care, if nobody was around he would probably go past just staring at his feet or he might even cry or get mad but as soon as someone see's him he has to flick the switch and whistling is his distraction from his pain. He's trying to be the complete ass and rock everyone thinks he is so they too in reality can be strong.
One thing I just noticed is that at the end when JD starts with the voiceover saying: "When it's all said and done...". I noticed JD says that based on the actual scene with Kelso going down the steps. JD physically saw Kelso going down the steps and seeing that he was weighed down by the decision he made. You can see that JD was the only one in the group staring at him and he seemed a bit shocked or surprised and even kept looking at him. I know it may have been something simple everyone else noticed, but after over a dozen rewatches and 11 years of watching this show, I just noticed this. Such an amazing moment.
I love the fact that it shows that Kelso's act did do some good. It wasn't him being cruel so he could get a bigger office or a new TV; the donation created a neonatal mobile clinic. His choice is going to help hundreds, maybe thousands of families. ...and it still kills him inside that he had to doom a man to die to do that. And now one will ever acknowledge that.
What's really sad is that Kelso, much like other Doctors, probably became a Doctor to help people, to cure diseases. Little did he know that often times, such as in this episode, you can do one, but you can never do both.He later says he sometimes sees the faces of everyone he has "killed" I like to think that this one patient is especially difficult for him, as he was the one who took him off the drug tests.
Actually he really didn't. In his farewell episode he talks about it. "1985 was gonna be my year. Reaganomics was in full swing, Enid's implants hadn't exploded yet and best of all, they made me Chief of Medicine, so I was the king, right? Wrong-o. I realized fast that in order to keep this old place going, I had to make one unpopular decision after another, regardless of who hated me for it. And that... was a lonely realization, son."
People forget about the epside when Dick Van Dyke was on. That episode also showed he cared about what he does. He fired his friend because he couldn't do the job. It really is nice when certain characters get these small character arcs so you can't hate anyone.
Bob Kelso is a character that arguably cares for human lives the most. He cannot save everyone but makes sure his actions help as many people as possible. He carries the weight of someone at the top that has to make these difficult decisions and it does affect him. Such a wonderfully written character
Well said, imagine having to give up on someones life who you knows going to die but could possibly prolonge or possibly save other lives and save the hospital money and doing this on a daily basis AND taking the responsibility off the other docters to make yourself 'the bad man', got to take its tol
To be the boss you have to make the toughest choices that no one else does. It just shows he still is a doctor that just wanted to help people at heart.
Here you can see the impact of how hard it is to be chief of medicine for Bob Kelso. He's seen as the boss who doesn't care about anything other than his own interests, and we see it at times throughout the series, but at the end of the day, he's the chief of medicine, he makes soul crushing choices. The choice here in the clip was to give the medical trial treatment to a patient who will donate money for the hospital's fundings, or a poor man. He makes the obvious, but devastating choice to treat the rich person in order to keep the hospital going.
This is one of favourite shows because it does not show the world in black and white but as a mixed blend of dark and bright colours. As much as i hate to say this, Kelso did the right thing and Dr. Cox had every right to be disappointed too. I guess that is just how life works.
I think part of the reason it affected Dr Cox so much in the end was that he knew it was ultimately the right choice, and likely because he would have made the same choice if he had been aware of the overall picture too and he hates himself for it
What I always loved about kelso is that he was always a step away from dr cox who was a step away from JD i think these three characters are one in the same at different periods of their career. The hopeful young doctor. The hardened doctor, who still fights everyday but that fight has made him bitter. And the man who has fought to care for his patients for so long that he is just tired now, he is forced to care for the hospital first and all he wants to do is leave it all behind but would have nowhere to go if he did. I am a nurse and kelso is the most common character we have, men and women who are linked to the hospital now, they spend their lives there and they might seem like dicks but in reality they’re the most caring ones in that place they just can’t leave.
I think... this might be my favorite scene in the show. Or at least the one that I keep coming back to the most. Something about just hits me on an emotional and artistic level. Despite being so simple. I can't explain it but I love it.
one of the great things this show does so well, that many others attempt to and fail, is how such seemingly small decisions have huge after effects, kelso letting the rich guy get the treatment for the same ailment that the average joe had, was a death sentence, no easy choice, and yes small in comparison to the whole spectrum of a hospital, but still a man was basically condemned to death for having less means as the other man, tiny "insignificant" things, that have huge repercussions for families and friends, things that matter, but at the same time, allow the treatment to save hundreds, maybe thousands more. maybe im looking to far into it, but it fascinates me, and that look on kelsos face, thats the face of a man who knows his job may and will bring death to people
I kinda think Laverne is a bit heartless because of this. He's the chief of medicine. Thanks to that, he's probably exposed to waaaay more patients dying and suffering than any of the normal doctors, what's he supposed to do, constantly dwell on it all when he's not at work? Think about all those people that died in his hospital? That'd drive anyone insane.
+bigmeknurgle Actually as CoM he'd be exposed to dying and suffering patients far less than the average doctor working on the floor of the ICU. The Chief of Medicine is an administrator; he handles budgets, hiring/firing, negotiating deals with insurance and pharmaceutical companies, etc. It's been demonstrated on the show (I believe in this episode even) that Kelso only interacts with patients to put a positive spin on the hospital, and only when they're rich or connected enough to impact the hospital if something goes wrong with their treatment. It's one of the reason characters like Carla, Laverne, and Dr. Cox "love to hate" him so much. They see him as a penny-pinching desk-jockey who doesn't have to live with the consequences of the decisions he makes. Kelso has to fire a handful of nurses? That's more work for them as far as their concerned (and in all fairness, they're over-worked enough as it is). They don't see how the money he saves by firing those people benefits them in other ways. The sitcom episode they made actually dealt with this; Dr. Kelso gets fed up with Cox second-guessing his decisions, so he makes Cox draw up his own budget and fire someone when he can't make ends meet. It's one of the reasons Scrubs is a more realistic than most medical shows; it actually shows the people and decisions behind all the tedious paperwork health care providers have to endure.
+DWSimmy He wasn't always the Chief, buddy. He's and Enid met there in his youth. Like Dr. Cox, he worked his way up the ladder. And when he was finally at the top, now he's his own worst enemy, Like Cox became - your administrative decisions that you _have_ to make, kill innocents for the benefit of the majority. He can't be the nice guy, because whenever he fudges the rules, it comes back to bite him in financial ways. Less money means people getting fired, having less equipment that could help save lives, and lacking the means to opt-into expensive or experimental treatments. *He makes the wrong decisions for the right reasons.* Not only that, he's *forced to* due to his position. As J.D. said, _"I wouldn't want to make any of the decisions he makes"_
***** He hasn't worked the floor for decades, it's not the same. Dr. Cox mocks him when he tries to act as normal doctor, saying he's too far out of touch to do the job anymore (the episode where he has to treat the overweight lady with the smartphone). At best, they see him as a pencil pushing has been. As for the rest, I don't think we disagree on anything. You can say that "He makes the wrong decisions for the right reasons", I think it's that the choices he has to make are lose-lose by their very nature. When you're as far up the medical chain of command as he is, there are no easy solutions; the problems that have made it up to your level are going to leave a lot of people unhappy regardless of the solution.
I agree with bigmeknurgle, Laverne is always so abrasive, I am a little offended that she actively identifies herself as a fellow Christian. But, I know her character is based on many nurses in her position, with such an attitude.
They really nailed this scene. They did the same thing with the Janitor in His Story III. You think Kelso is just a grumpy old man who doesn't care, but in a few short minutes you realize there is more to him than that. Scrubs is such a great show
I'm also reminded of a moment where He fires(?) an old colleague who hasn't been keeping up to date and is therefore practicing suboptimal medicine. Kelso explains how He has continued to do all the work it takes to keep up with His ever-developing field.
One of the best scenes in the show. His pal was played by Dick Van Dyke (known for being a doctor/detective in DIagnosis Murder for many years). As you say, he calls him out on using old school medical treatments because he hasn't kept up. Kelso shows his true professionalism by not only explaining the importance of keeping up with the latest medical care, even if it's draining, but then for firing his ass, despite being a friend and how much it hurts him personally. Best bit was when his friend is trying to make a joke to distract from his failures and Kelso just stares straight through him.
Such a fantastic show. The way they can recontextualize everything we thought we knew about Doctor Kelso for years in just one brief scene is masterful.
Bob kelso was the most human of them all. I know everyone everywhere wouldent want to make the choices he made, its the human in all of us that fears having to make that choice, guys like Kelso manage and how they do is beyond me
I also liked the episode where Bob challenged Perry to solve the budget deficiency of the hospital. Which would not require them firing a single employee. It's not easy being in Kelso's place.
@@jerodast Yeah another sassy moment of jd was when he first got into cox's apartment and noted "I especially love the shelf filled with personal photos of your friends and family" while the shelf was literally empty
this scene was done so well from the narrating from jd to the song and most of all to the actor he made this scene so much more of a hit in the gut as his face alone just said how much sad and sorrow his character was going through 1 off my fav scenes in this series and easily the 1 that hits you the hardest.
Dr. Kelso was probably the most complex, misunderstood character in the entire show. We often perceive the “top cheese” as cold and hard ass, but the reality is, when you are the person who has to make the final decisions, you can’t afford to be friends with the people you work with. He is actually a brilliant man who knows this, and handles it quite humourously and it just works. His plot-line is very sad and lonely if you read between the subtle lines. He is one of my favourite characters.
Let me give you my take as someone who is in the law buiness. Kelso is doing the right thing. Everyday you see stuff you wouldn't even think possible in the case of intelligent life such as humans claim to be. And yet everyday you are proven wrong in how deep people can sink. And this cruel knowledge feasts on your mind and soul. If you don't find a way to keep those evil spirits locked up somewhere in some box of pandora you are going to die from them.
You can see at the end when he sees the guys walking up to him he has the slightest of tears welling up in his left eye. JD sums it up perfectly, nobody wants to make the decisions kelso has to make and i feel that bob hates being the bad guy
The vast majority of American sitcoms eschew realism for convenience. I am eternally grateful that shows like Good Times and Scrubs chose the opposite path.
I like to compare this bit with something JD says in the episode "My Fallen Hero" about how Cox is a great doctor because even after so many years of being a doctor he still feels the pain of losing a patient.
One of the recurring messages of this show is how Doctors become numb to working in the medical field for so long and seeing so much suffering. Laverne turns to religion, to ease her pain. Most of the surgeons treat patients little more than a mechanic does a car because it is too risky to get attached. Cox become who he is, today. Carla held out the longest but eventually accepted to put herself first. Kelso, over many decades had to learn to become callous and make the tough decisions to sacrifice a patient, every now and again, to protect Sacred Heart. At the end of the day, a hospital is a business and if it can't turn a profit, it shuts down, and it helps nobody, while the doctors are rewarded with poverty.
I think what made Bob Kelso work is that he was almost always accountable for his choices: He took the abuse from the young doctors, only responding by telling them why they were wrong; he let Cox, JD, et al subvert the rules to help people as much as he could without endangering the hospital; and even as a busy Chief of Medicine, he watched the sheet be pulled up over the man he ordered dead. He may have been the "bad guy", but he was incredibly self-aware about who he was, why he was doing it, and how it impacted other people -- and he put a facade over all of it, so nobody else had to carry that weight.
I remember one scene with this. After Cox was becomming chief of medicine he falls into the same thinking as kelso. And kelso talks to JD that he has to be what Cox was for him. There must be an equilibrium someone that makes decisions to hold the hospital afloat and one that fight with him for every patient.
Dr. Kelso also knew that for this specific environment with all the clashing personalities the only way to rally the staff was to give them someone to hate which was himself
Kelso was such a great character, he did act like a bastard but everything he did was for the greater good of the hospital. He’s a nice guy behind the hard ass act
I don't think Kelso was meant to be too proud, like JD says he makes really tough choices that might cost some lives, he is the leader of the hospital he has to put up a brave face and act as enemy #1 so doctors don't break their own spirits.
