This week’s episode “Our Couples” was a little hard to deal with sans J.D., but I was surprised to find that the show held its own without its eight-year main character.

The hospital is coupling off, much to the distress of Lucy, who is petrified of becoming associated with a tool like Cole.

Yes, they are still hooking up, because apparently he’s like a “scab” that she just can’t stop itching.

Now, pretty much everyone knows that they are hooking up and Lucy is doing everything to hide it.

But the thing is, I’m actually becoming kind of fond of Cole.

He’s kind of…sweet…at times, like when he tells Lucy she has a pretty smile.

And then he ruins it by going right back to his insanely annoying ways.

Denise and Drew, on the other hand, are doing much better.

The two of them enjoy seeing the pain of others, like when they mock Lucy. This week, they’ve decided to mess with the security guards by distributing keys to their golf cart to everyone in the hospital. The guards can’t find the carts and instead get scooters.

However, just as the security guards are about to give up hope, Denise tells them to ask for it back, while Drew pushes the cart from behind the bushes and into sight.

Dr. Cox and Turk are grouped as a couple in this episode. The two are constantly trying to one-up each other, and the one who loses (who is generally Turk) has to say something embarrassing in front of everyone about the other.

For instance, Turk has to say “Dr. Cox is hella fox” after he takes his hand off a coma patient before Dr. Cox. But things change when a favorite patient, Arthur, who works selling peanuts at a ballpark, has a malignant tumor.

Dr. Cox orders Turk to do a risky surgery that Turk doesn’t want to do, and the patient ends up dying. There is a poignant moment when Turk leaves surgery and tells Dr. Cox that he doesn’t need to rub it in his face—Dr. Cox’s own guilt should be sufficient.

Later, Turk approaches Dr. Cox in his office and proclaims that they were equally to blame, and that it was the right call to make. The two share a drink, and for the first time, I realized that Turk and Dr. Cox are practically equals.

Back to Cole and Lucy. When Cole is kicked out of study group for always being late and never doing any work, Lucy promises to ask Drew if he can be let back in. But then she never does, and just tells him that Drew refused. When Cole finds this out, he is actually genuinely hurt. He gets even more upset when Lucy freaks out when the whole study group knows that they’ve been sleeping together.

It is Turk who actually points out to Lucy that she genuinely likes Cole. She finally realizes that she does have feelings for him, and publicly announces in class that she wants him to be her boyfriend.

Now that Cole and Lucy are together, Lucy has begun an effort to change him.

Hmm…I wonder how this is going to go.

I almost forgot that J.D. was gone in this episode. I’m starting to really like the new characters, as opposed to how I was to the change in the beginning. It’s still not the Scrubs I’ve always known and loved, but it’s a great show nonetheless.

Charlotte Hagerman can be reached for comment at [email protected]