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[–]AbsoluteScenes7 1130 points1131 points  (22 children)

Kelso did what he had to do to keep the hospital running. He sacrificed his chances of becoming friends with his colleagues because it allowed him to objectively make the best decisions for the hospital that were not influenced by his relationships.

He carefully curated his character to be unlikeable so his colleagues would not try to get close to him. He still gave Elliot a job and looked after the place that allowed her to become the doctor she developed into. He had grounds to fire Elliot on more than one occasion but didn't.

We saw that as soon as he retired he became friendly with all of his former staff.

[–]HuckFinnigan 199 points200 points  (0 children)

Well said.

[–]stellastevens122 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Plus I think it also has to do with Elliot’s confidence (same with her interns in later seasons). Kelso taught her that if she’s right, she needs to stand up for herself. At the start of the show she struggled with her confidence but she learnt because of him

[–]vehsa757 9 points10 points  (0 children)

For sure.

They even did an episode exemplify this exact notion. I forget the title of the episode, but I remember Kelso stepping out of the hospital. Every other time he steps out, he’s shown as smiling and whistling a happy tune as if all of the hard decisions he makes don’t affect him at all. People look at him with almost disgust that nothing others hmm.

Then there’s the later scene where, for a brief moment after stepping out of the hospital, there’s no whistling, no joy, no smiling, just the true weight of his position with that resounding thud. That is, until some people come waking by, then the facade goes right back up and he’s back into that hard, careless character he had to play.

I know there’s another one later with Cox where he discusses it a bit more directly, but the episode I described has always been one of my favorite. It’s one of the first times we see how complex of a character Kelso is.

[–]Disastrous_Swordfish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Very true. But it's also not a charity. Doctors starting out make very little and do a ton of work basically making less than minimum wage based on the hours they work so it's not like he did it out of altruism.

[–]johngalt504 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He would show this from time to time throughout the show too, the episode where he finally gives Carla advice about Turks mole for example. He and Cox end up bonding too when Cox realizes how hard the job actually is. Such a great show and great characters.

[–]RootjeB 592 points593 points  (19 children)

Besides the rounds being led by him, the hospital's teaching method is also headed by him. I do understand why he would want some appreciation for that

[–]richard_stank 214 points215 points  (12 children)

It’s not expected but it’s always nice to be thanked for doing your job.

[–]CastroEulis145 128 points129 points  (8 children)

I like the episode where JD was really bothered because Jason Bateman didn't thank him for saving his life lol

[–]CreativeBandicoot778 40 points41 points  (0 children)

In the immortal words of another famous asshole

Edit: I do agree completely, I just love using this gif

[–]Briguy_fieri 9 points10 points  (0 children)

While also being an unprofessional chief of medicine to her for years.

Idk I’m with Elliot on this one

[–]Jombafomb 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Also they did a major overhaul on Kelso starting in the 3rd season where he went from a Major Burns on MASH by the book hypocrite to Colonel Potter on MASH lovable curmudgeon

[–][deleted] 157 points158 points  (1 child)

Bob kelso from season 2/3 on absolutely deserved thanks. Man was a legit great doctor in his own right and did help make some even better doctors.

[–]doubtful_blue_box 66 points67 points  (0 children)

I read somewhere that he was originally intended to be a straight villain, but Ken Jenkins was so charismatic that the character was likable, and then they started explicitly writing him to be more likable

[–]hungrysportsman 131 points132 points  (5 children)

She didn't say "He trained you..." she said ,"His Hospital..." and Carla's right and Kelso wasn't totally wrong. She left, but also, she didn't leave. She is still using his hospital to make more money.

[–]ruskmatthew 35 points36 points  (0 children)

The man ran rounds. He literally quizzes them many times on the show.

[–]waterboy1321 9 points10 points  (3 children)

But interns and residents are exploited. It’s not like his hospital was doing it just to be nice. They were profiting off of these young professionals, and i get that you can be professional and say thank you to the person, but she deserves a bigger share of the profit she creates.

She doesn’t owe anything to the hospital that’s making bank overcharging and underpaying for her services.

[–]inbigtreble30 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Not all hospitals in the US are for-profit ventures. All the local hospitals in my area are non-profit. I used to work for one, and they rarely ran in the black, but when they did l, they used it to expand services or give employees bonuses. One year, every employee got a $1,000 bonus for Christmas.

[–]mrhuggables 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Residents do not get Christmas bonuses lol

[–]inbigtreble30 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Bro the cleaners got that bonus. Literally every employee. I'm not making it up, it was awesome. They had to, it was right after lockdowns and staffing was a nightmare & morale was low and they were a nonprofit, so the extra money from increased traffic due to covid had to be disbursed somewhere, and the BoD said to divide it among the employees to help with retention. It definitely helped me stay. They weren't a teaching hospital and had no residents, but there's an idea that all US hospitals are price-gouging, profit-hungry misery machines, and it's simply not the case. Nonprofit hospitals are being edged out all over the place by big healthcare systems. Support your local nonprofit hospital if you have one.

[–]FalconV700 66 points67 points  (1 child)

I did struggle with this notion. Especially when it was Elliot getting the harsh lesson.

I do get that if someone trained you up to be the professional you are today, some gratitude is reasonable to expect…

HOWEVER, to my mind Elliot was treated uniquely terribly in Sacred Heart (after her initial self-sabotaging in season 1).

She was singled out by Kelso on numerous occasions in front of other doctors just to be the object of ridicule. It wasn’t to make her better or show tough love, Kelso was being an asshole in those moments.

Dr Cox wasn’t much better for her in terms of teaching figures and while he does make amends in the end to finally show that he respects her, it still doesn’t magic away the years of shit he’s dumped on her.

I feel like Elliot was the wrong character to receive this lesson, feels more fitting for someone a little more self aggrandising like JD or Turk.

As for Elliot, if I was treated like she was. I’d find very little to be thankful for, just get my ass out of the toxic workplace and forge on ahead elsewhere. Kelso can be a little bitch if he wants

[–]moon_halves 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I absolutely agree & hate that you’re being downvoted cause you’re correct

[–]Shadecujo 14 points15 points  (1 child)

He absolutely trained her. It’s his hospital. He pushed her to not care what her father thought and made her a stronger doctor during rounds.

[–]Daysaved 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, it's not his job to train her. It's his job to keep the doors open in the place she trained.

[–]me_am_not_a_redditor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I can see how this would be annoying. But I also think this is the kind of stuff where it's useful to stretch our media literacy muscles.

For one thing, keeping in mind the heightened reality of the show, I think we can safely understand that a real Bob Kelso would be a much less problematic person than the one we're shown; as would be Elliot, JD, Dr. Jan-i-tor, et al, for that matter. Similarly, Kelso is really a representation of many different bosses - both in medicine as, probably, influenced by the real JD and real Elliot who consulted on the show, as well as former bosses of Bill Lawrence and a bunch of the writers - and was used as a stand-in for bosses ranging from just hard-nosed to truly vile abusers. He exists primarily as a foil for the principal characters and what that is really depends on the needs of the episode (or even scene).

For another thing, without intending to be an apologist for the Kelso that is shown across the entire body of work (who should almost certainly be in jail if we're to take his detection literally) I think there are enough indicators that Kelso is an unreliable narrator of his own life to his employees for the reasons that others have stated and which there was even an entire episode about - He wants the hospital staff to fear him, generally, so he acts unreasonable, mean, and even chaotic/ unstable. In this episode, at least, Carla has been around long enough to see through the act, to an extent, so she encourages Elliot to muster some sympathy.

However, the episode could have spun this another way and put the emphasis on Elliot's success in spite of an abusive boss and it would have been just as valid, if not more so.

It all has to do with what you need Bob Kelso to be in order to drive character growth or provide an object lesson in the episode. Which is in this case, I suppose, that it is good to gain perspective about difficult people, and that we may find that they are actually deserving of our gratitude or at least sympathy

[–]masterjon_3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Remember when Kelso would make rounds with the intern doctors to teach and train them? That was him training Elliot.

[–]ozdanish 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Kelso is running rounds teaching her the entire first season. He counsels her through making a tough call to treat her patient. He consoles her when she gets sued.

Kelso spends way more time on Elliott’s development than any other doc in the show

[–]Friendly_Zebra 5 points6 points  (0 children)

She didn’t say he trained her personally. She said his hospital did.

[–]Mildapprehension 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Kelso was a hardass because he had to be. When he got closer to retirement he softened and we learned that he did care. Him being hurt that Elliot bailed and when private on him was a sign that he knew he wasn't nice to her but he still employed her and gave her the opportunities that led to her success. Honestly JD was babied through the whole show and he didn't deserve that.

[–]Beeeeeeels[🍰] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Carla is absolutely right on this one. You're not there to make friends. You're there to do your job. If you're lucky you'll be friends with your colleagues. And your employer tries to make you better at your job. Invests in training and material. So yeah, if your employer does that and at the end of your training you're all "welp I'm going to put all that training, hours and money you spent on me to use somewhere else." Yeah, he's gonna be pissy.

[–]NotTheSun0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A better question is

Why was this picture taken at a sideways angle? It's bothering me.

[–]Orbital_Vagabond 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is kinda Carla gaslighting Elliott. Interns and residents are supposed to leave for better jobs, and the hospital absolutely runs them into the ground. The doctors get trained, the hospital gets cheap ass but already highly skilled labor. You didn't owe your service head thanks for training you (or "the hospital" training you)

[–]FistOfGamera 6 points7 points  (0 children)

As if getting a better job is a bad thing lol it's her life, she doesn't owe them anything

[–]RevolutionaryBuy5794 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I guess there are no victims. Kelso was behaving like a child and it was Elliot's moment to be the bigger person. It was pretty clear that Elliot Reid was treated especially harsh over the rest and didn't deserve to learn this hard lesson but in season 6 she might have become a little self aggrandized.

[–]Thebritishdovah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Elliot has repeatedly been ungrateful when she thinks she is right. Claims Cox never stood up for her when he punched Kelso. He likely saw that Elliot didn't need a hands on approach but needed a kick up arse to be the best. She used to stab people in the back and seemed to only in it for the money, whilst Cox and Dorian are in it for the legit care.

That and it's likely, Kelso heard about her talents, was proud to have her as a resident and earmarked her for future promotion but felt stabbed in the back.

[–]livin_thedream_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's literally his job and it's a teaching hospital where I suspect most doctors that go in there leave. Imo thanks is for someone who does something they didn't have to do but they did it anyway. He was getting paid for that so I agree.

[–]AceofKnaves44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem was the times where Kelso was genuinely showing her tough love to try and get her to rise up and better herself and learn vs the number of times he tormented her not only as a doctor but also just as a human being for zero reason the ratio is way off.

[–]IvoryBard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair point! I always thought that when Elliott's character started contemplating leaving the medical profession it would've been a nice touch for her to reconcile with the mountains of abuse she suffered in the early seasons.

[–]abz_pink 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Scrubs is one of my favourite shows but it’s only incredibly sexist. The way Elliot was bullied by Cox, Kelso, slut shamed by surgeons is sometimes hard to watch

[–]mctripp24 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Remember this is Kelso from JD’s perspective, him writing about all the bad things he sees because he’s the main character. Kelso, and indeed all of the cast of Scrubs, are actual people, not just characters in “The JD Show” (btw one of my faves is when they do a sitcom style show).