Last night’s episode of Scrubs marked the exit of a key player at Sacred Heart since the show began: chief of medicine Bob Kelso. Unaware that he was leaving the show, this avid viewer was sure that they would save his job and Kelso would go on terrorizing his employees until the show’s final moments. What the show did, however, was surprise me with an excellent farewell to a hilarious character. As Kelso reminisced to a naieve intern, Elliot and Carla persuaded the entire hospital staff to come to Kelso’s defense and convince the board to save his job. Once they were victorious, however, Kelso quit on his own terms, walking out and taking his portrait with him. It was an excellent farewell to the character who gave us some of the show’s best lines, including my all-time favourite exchange:

Dr. Kelso: In order to save us some time, I shall be calling all the males “Daves” and all the females “Debbies”.

Debbie: [excitedly] Debbie is actually my name!

Dr. Kelso: Then in fairness to the others, you will be “Slagathor”.