Dr. Cox
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Dr. Percival "Perry" Cox[1] (most commonly referred to as Dr. Cox) is a fictional character played by John C. McGinley in the American sitcom Scrubs.
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[edit] Profile
Dr. Cox is a senior attending physician at Sacred Heart Hospital. We learn that he is 40 years old in a 2003 episode of Scrubs, which probably places his birth somewhere around 1962. He is of Irish descent (as stated by Carla in episode "My Friend the Doctor"). He is the sarcastic, bitter mentor of John Dorian (J.D.) the show's main character. Dr. Cox routinely rants at and/or belittles J.D., though his apparently rough treatment of J.D. is intended as conditioning for the rigours and horrors of hospital life, as well as an outlet for Cox's frustration in his personal life. He is secretly proud of J.D. and thinks he has the potential to become a good doctor.
[edit] Relationship with Other Characters
[edit] Jordan
He is divorced from Jordan, played by Christa Miller Lawrence, but the two have since come back together after the birth of their son Jack. While Jordan led Cox to believe that she was impregnated by a Greek bellboy, during labour she admits to J.D. that Cox actually is the father. Ted reveals that the pair were not in fact divorced due to a paperwork error. However, after initially welcoming this, the two got properly divorced as the revelation was beginning to sabotage their good relationship. Cox was best friends with Jordan's brother, Ben. In Season 1, J.D. confirmed that Ben had leukemia, and Dr. Cox was emotionally devastated with the cardiac arrest of his brother-in-law, that he went into denial and could not confront the reality of his death until he finally accepts that Ben dies, minutes before his funeral in the season 3 episode "My Screw Up." Jordan is currently pregnant with their second child. See also: (see Cox and Jordan).
[edit] Dr. Kelso
Dr. Cox's devotion to medical ethics is unquestionable, which regularly involves him in severe conflict with the bottom-line watching Dr. Bob Kelso. His clashes with Kelso have cost him promotion within the hospital and have often put his career in a precarious position. In their many disagreements, Kelso takes the practical side with Cox taking the ethical side. But, as Kelso describes in episode 5.21 "My Fallen Idol", the two respect each other and Kelso acknowledges the necessity of Cox's position in their many arguments.
[edit] J.D.
Since J.D. started at the hospital as an intern, Cox has been his mentor—though he refuses to admit it. He constantly belittles J.D. and refers to him either as "newbie" or any girl's name he can think of (occasionally going with themes, such as pop stars or famous dogs), although he originally refers to him as just J.D. Still, he is actually quite proud of J.D.'s progress, albeit annoyed with J.D.'s campish personality. Occasionally, when it comes to crucial medical situations, J.D. defies his mentor which Cox clearly disapproves but respects (even watching J.D.'s back throughout the entire situation). He also shows hints of respect towards J.D., even though he is clearly angry. Like in the episode My Mentor when J.D. turned off the T.V. that Dr. Cox was watching, making Cox obviously angry. After J.D. left, he sarcastically refers to Doug, who was sitting behind him, as "Cpt. Courage", possibly implying that he silently applauds J.D.'s guts for turning off the TV in the first place. Cox once also confessed to his psychiatrist that he followed J.D.'s advice on a work-related matter, and the shrink was stunned that someone in Cox's life could "get through" to him, proclaiming J.D 'is nothing short of a genius' (in the next scene J.D. bursts into a rendition of Kung Fu Fighting while apparently alone in an elevator). It is also implied that, in My Fallen Idol, J.D. saved Cox from depression and severe drinking caused by the death of three patients.
[edit] Carla
He refers to Carla as the only person in the hospital who "gets him." Through the end of the first season and beginning of the second he claims to be in love with her, though she says he's really not. Once he got back together with Jordan he continued to use Carla as the only person in the hospital he would confide in. It was revealed in the fourth season episode "My Quarantine" that some time before Turk started at the hospital, Perry and Carla went on a date. The date ended with Carla kissing Perry on the forehead.
[edit] Elliot
Cox and Elliot do not normally get along well, mostly due to Cox's abusive style of teaching. Also, Cox usually refers to Elliot as Barbie, after the popular blond-haired doll. But there have been examples of him helping Elliot or respecting her as a Doctor. In "My Blind Date" he relied on her as a replacement 'go to guy' when JD was busy. In "My Big Mouth" and "My Moment of Un-Truth", he helped her as a doctor, and in "My Ocardial Infarction" Cox claimed that Elliot was a better doctor than JD. He also helped her with her personal life in "My Sex Buddy" and "My Faith in Humanity". In "My Dream Job", he went as far as punching Dr. Kelso to defend her. But in season 5, "My Déjà vu, My Déjà vu", Elliot and Cox hated each other, with Elliot alleging that Cox had no respect for her in spite of her respect for him. Cox mended that rift by admitting that he needed her help with a patient.
[edit] Turk
Turk and Cox were rivals for Carla's attention in season 1, due to Cox's feelings for her and Turk's relationship with her. But after Cox got over Carla, they remained as competitors for other reasons, such as arguing over the treatment of a patient in "My Big Brother" or arguing over achievements in "My Drive-By". In "My Rule of Thumb", Cox and Turk clashed about treatment of a transplant patient who had broken the rules, but Cox eventually acknowledged Turk to be correct and even passed a positive judgment to Carla about Turk, her fiance. Cox often refers to Turk by the nickname "Gandhi."
[edit] Family History
Cox's family is from Pittsburgh. He has a sister Paige, played by Cheryl Hines, who is a born-again Christian. His father was an abusive alcoholic and his mother did nothing to prevent this behavior. When questioned why his sister is so religious, he says "maybe the TV was broken so she picked up a Bible and found it to be just a darn good read or maybe it has something to do with our mother's ability to watch silently as our dad drunkenly knocked us from room to room." Perry's abusive and traumatic childhood could help explain his intimacy issues and his marriage to bipolar Jordan. He and Paige have a hostile and difficult relationship, ostensibly because neither can appreciate the religious and scientific viewpoints held by the other, but it was ultimately revealed that Paige's presence reminded Cox of the troubled childhood that he consistently tried to forget.
He has a son, Jack, by Jordan who is currently pregnant again--he had a vasectomy, reversed it and then had another vasectomy, but it didn't take.
[edit] Peculiarities
Cox is sarcastic, unpleasant, and narcissistic. However, he is a fantastically skilled doctor (even winning an award) and generally very successful with women. He can be kind-hearted beneath his gruff exterior despite his specific comments to the contrary ("I'm not that guy"). He also will stand up for what he believes is ethical, often jeopardizing his career in the process. When in a good mood, he addresses J.D. as "Newbie" or "kid", and when in a bad mood he prefers girls' names or, in one episode, classic dog names. He also usually calls Turk "Gandhi" and calls Elliot "Barbie". Doug is referred to as either "Pee Pants" or "Nervous Guy" by Cox. Cox shows the same lack of respect for his superiors—he calls Dr. Kelso "Bobbo," "Bob-cat," "Beelzebob," etc., and frequently insults Kelso's financially-minded attitude to running a hospital. As well as his loathing for Dr. Kelso, his failure to rise up the professional ladder has also been attributed to his determination never to accept career assistance from others (which he has compromised only a few times). In addition to his medical ethics he has a softer emotional side that is occasionally revealed. He has feelings for Carla, who is one of the few people in the hospital he can stand, and who "totally gets" him. When Carla is hurt by Turk's unwillingness to communicate with her, Cox protectively exacts revenge on him, exclaiming that "Nobody hurts Carla and gets away with it." These feelings were never resolved, but also have not been mentioned for some time. Dr. Cox is also a very good golfer, regularly beating Dr. Kelso.
Cox's bitterness about his static career and frustration in his personal life is released roughly once a year when he flies off the handle about some minor event at work and goes out on a drinking binge, coming back the next day as if nothing had happened. He attends therapy on a semi-regular basis.
He has an unnatural hatred for Hugh Jackman, and frequently wears a Detroit Red Wings hockey jersey (as well a New York Giants football jersey, both references to Chris Chelios and Jeremy Shockey, real life personal friends of McGinley). Because he's from Pittsburgh, he's a raving Steelers fan; his favorite player is Jerome Bettis. He can sometimes be seen wearing a blue and yellow Down Syndrome awareness bracelet. McGinley's real-life son has Down Syndrome, and McGinley even served as the spokesperson for the 2006 Down Syndrome Buddy Walk.
Just like Chris Turk, he sometimes talks to God when he is alone, even though he's an atheist ("Now, I know you say you love us all equally. But you don't, do ya? I'm onto you, Big Man!").
Dr. Cox is often seen drinking scotch and J.D. thinks in one episode that Cox will die of liver disease. In Season 5, after making a mistake about a transplant patient that resulted in several deaths, Cox went to work intoxicated.
In the Season 2 DVD commentary of "His Story", Bill Lawrence stated that one of Dr Cox's quirks is that he knows if someone is standing behind him and who it is, without turning around to check.
Dr. Cox has been compared to Dr. House (another television doctor with a simular personality) by Dr. Kelso with Kelso saying, "you're just like House, only without the limp."
[edit] Notes
- ^ There is disagreement among Scrubs fans about Dr. Cox's real first name. In episode 2.20, Cox and his wife Jordan were discussing names for their new born baby, with Cox rejecting 'Quinn' and instead suggesting 'a heterosexual name, like Jack.' Jordan responds by saying 'You're right, Percival, Quinn is a foofy name.' This led some Scrubs fans to believe that Cox's first name may actually be Percival, with Perry as a nickname. In episode 4.22, Elliot also referred to Dr. Cox as Percival. But others argue that the use of the name only twice in vague circumstances may not be enough to prove Dr. Percival 'Perry' Cox to be his true name. Also, in episode 5.5, Dr. Cox mocks his sister by saying that "Paige is a stupid name", with her responding that "Perry's worse".
- Besides Jordan Sullivan, Cox has had a few other romantic interests during the run of the series, listed here.
| Scrubs |
|---|
| List of Scrubs episodes | List of relationships on Scrubs | Sacred Heart Hospital |
| Characters |
| J.D. | Elliot | Turk | Carla | Dr. Cox | Bob Kelso | Janitor | List of minor characters of Scrubs |
