Scott Foley's Scrubs Return Skips Over A Major Season 8 Storyline — That's By Design

TV's Scott Foley is back on "Scrubs." And (Nobody Cares) Sean couldn't have picked a better time to resurface.

At the start of Season 2, Episode 3, "My Ex's Ex," Elliot finally sees what Carla saw in the pilot she began dating last season: Dude's a bore. After he texts to ask whether the socks he's thinking of buying are black enough ("Apparently there's something called pilot's black. It's, like, a little blacker than regular black"), she cuts him loose.

In the very next scene, J.D. and Charlie are on a date at the aquarium, where Sean is now working after leaving SeaWorld. "I quit. It turns out, the orcas did not like living in captivity," he explains. "The whole time we thought they were smiling, but that's just how their mouths are shaped." Sean, swimming with the sharks when he first spots J.D., exits the tank to greet Elliot's ex-husband and his new girlfriend with his beautiful, contactless green eyes.

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J.D. quickly fills Charlie in on the Sean of it all: He's Elliot's ex-boyfriend, J.D. sabotaged their relationship, and he may have ruined Sean's life in the process. What he doesn't mention is that the last time "Scrubs" audiences saw Sean, he was dating J.D.'s ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Banks' Kim.

Foley, who recurred during Seasons 1 and 3 of the original series, last appeared in Season 8, Episode 16, "My Cuz," which revealed that Sean and Kim had become a couple. Kim, of course, is also the mother of J.D.'s son, Sam, which seemingly would have made Sean an ongoing presence in J.D. and Elliot's lives. Showrunner Aseem Batra previously confirmed to TVLine that Sam remains canon, even though he hasn't yet appeared on the revival. (Neither has J.D. and Elliot's child, Ollie, who has been referenced only once by name, in Season 1, Episode 4.)

So, why no mention of Sean and Kim's former relationship? "I kind of did the 'Frasier' model [where] they had to jettison things that weren't working and just go ahead with what worked. And I don't mean the 'Frasier' revival. I mean from 'Cheers' to 'Frasier,'" Batra tells TVLine. Of course, another beloved sitcom featuring Sarah Chalke played similarly fast and loose with continuity when it returned: "Roseanne," and later "The Conners," ultimately ran for a combined eight revival seasons, just one shy of the original series' nine-season run — easily the most successful sitcom comeback to date, regardless of what fans made of its revisionist history.

"I'm sure there will always be audience members who are like, 'But they didn't follow that canon,'" Batra continues. "There are some major things we have to bring back up. But other things, like the Kim thing and [Sean] was [helping raise] J.D.'s baby, I'm like, 'I don't want to deal with that. Seems bonkers. I'm going to let that go.'"

Until now, only the events of Season 9 had been retconned for the revival. Sean and Kim's relationship marks the first piece of pre-Med School continuity that Batra has effectively chosen to leave behind. "If it didn't service what we want to do right now, I was willing to say, 'The audience will be a little bit mad, but I want to tell a good story,'" she explains. And with just nine or 10 episodes per season, each running roughly 21 minutes and 30 seconds, "you don't have time to rehash the past. You're just like, 'What is the story right now?'"

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As for Sean and Elliot, their reunion isn't quite as simple as picking up where they left off. She's initially reluctant to accept his dinner invitation, then shows up in her pajamas and mouth guard to tell him the timing isn't right. She wants to focus on her career.

Sean has reservations of his own, asking J.D. whether he still has feelings for Elliot (presumably not wanting to get hurt again, like so many characters played by TV's Scott Foley typically do). Ultimately, it's J.D. who gives Elliot the push she needs, acknowledging something only the two of them know: just how painful their divorce was. Only now, with Charlie, has J.D. found happiness again, and he wants the same for Elliot. She takes that to heart, visiting Sean at the aquarium and agreeing to give their relationship another chance. The two seal their reunion with a kiss.

Batra says J.D. and Elliot's failed marriage actually makes Sean more comfortable reentering the picture. "He probably sees that they're in a different place with one another. And it feels like a safer thing to enter into," she says. And while Kim may no longer factor into Sean's history, Batra isn't ruling out an eventual Banks return: "If she ever came and did an episode, the audience, I think, would totally accept it." For now, though, "we're pretending that [relationship] didn't... happen."