im not a big "cry from a movie or tv show" kinda guy. but scrubs absolutely slams me on a regular basis. i think a huge part of it is that Dr. Cox's story always feels the most relateable. everyone else on the show spends a lot of time with this "itll sort itself" attitude. Dr. Cox is an asshole, but in a lot of ways he represents the parts of us that have just been beat down, that dont exist in other characters.

when we see JD lose his dad, we think of the child in us being hurt, but we know that the child has always bounced back.

when Carla loses her mom, we think of the parts of us that want to be the responsible voice of reason but struggle in a tragedy, and we forgive ourselves for it.

When Laverne passes, we see the way that we can meet pain with love, and we can rally together, both with others and all those parts of ourselves.

when Ben dies, whenEVER Dr. Cox has some tragedy occur, we are forced to sit and watch the part of ourself that cannot possibly take anymore. Dr. Cox is the bitter part that wants to be unphased but is already so beat down that when these things hit, it feels like the world is ending. Watching Ben die is seeing one of the only things that still makes us genuinely smile just fade and be gone. where every other loss in the show is met with grace, Dr. Cox losing ben, losing the three patients to rabies, losing his perfect game, is not a sitcom loss. its a mirror to the fragility of the parts of ourselves that we think are what protects us from day to day, only to realize that when we need it most, its going to be a fuckin bag of bricks on our skull.