Jordan Sullivan

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Jordan Sullivan
First appearance	"My Bad"
Created by	Bill Lawrence
Portrayed by	Christa Miller
Information
Gender	Female
Age	late 30s
Occupation	Board member
Family	Quinn (father, deceased), Ben (brother, deceased), Danni (sister)
Spouse(s)	Perry Cox (divorced)
Children	Jack, Jennifer Dylan

Jordan Sullivan is a fictional character on the TV series Scrubs. She is portrayed by Christa Miller.

Contents 1 Profile 2 Background 2.1 Family 3 Relationship with Perry Cox 4 Personality 5 References

[edit] Profile

Jordan is Dr. Perry Cox's acerbic ex-wife and current partner, and an employee of Sacred Heart Hospital, where the show takes place. Throughout most of the show, she is a member of the hospital’s board of directors, and so only appears at the hospital on occasion. As such, much of her role on the show was originally focused on her and Cox’s private relationship, although this has changed in recent years since she became a full-time employee at the hospital. She balances the budget when Ted Buckland is unable to.

[edit] Background

Jordan is first introduced in the episode "My Bad" (Season 1, Episode 6) as a surly board member who is given to series protagonist J.D. to treat as a patient. Soon after, the two sleep together and it is revealed that she is the former wife of Dr. Cox (J.D.'s attending physician and "Mentor"). Although not much is known about her personal background, a few details of her life have been revealed throughout the course of the show. Dr. Cox implies on one occasion that Jordan is five years younger than he is, which would probably place her birth somewhere around 1967. She had an abortion when she was 19 after being impregnated by her then-boyfriend's best friend, whom she says was the first man she'd ever been with in the episode "My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby" (in another episode, however, she claims to have given up a baby while still in high school).

[edit] Family

Her father, Quinn Sullivan, occupied a position in the hospital board of directors, a position Jordan inherited after his death. Although not much is known about him, Dr. Cox implies that he was an alcoholic and abusive towards Jordan's mother.^[1] However, in contrast to this, Jordan says in "Their Story" that her mother and father were actually nice to her, despite what she has claimed for several years as an excuse for her nastiness. Comments made by Jordan in "My Dream Job" and "My Bad" suggests that her mother is still alive, although she has yet to be seen.

She has a sister named Danni (played by Tara Reid), who eventually dates J.D. According to Danni, Jordan has slept with every boyfriend Danni has ever had, although this does not seem to have damaged the relationship between them.^[2] Jordan also had a brother named Ben, (played by Brendan Fraser) who was Dr. Cox's best friend. Ben is diagnosed with leukemia in the episode "My Occurrence". His cancer goes into remission, but he dies of cardiac arrest approximately two years later in the episode "My Screw Up". Both Jordan and Dr. Cox are devastated, and take a long time to recover.^[3][4]

[edit] Relationship with Perry Cox

It appears that she and Dr. Cox have known each other for a very long time, at least since the latter was a medical intern (approximately 20 years ago). Although it isn't clear when their relationship started, it is known that they are already a couple by the time Cox occupies the position of Chief Resident at the hospital. They eventually marry, only to get divorced five years later (shortly before the show's first season) due to Jordan's infidelity (specifically, she cheats on Cox with his then-protégé and former co-worker, Dr. Pete Fisher). Their separation lasts approximately 18 months, during which Cox and Jordan maintain a meaningless, strictly sexual relationship.

They officially become a couple again during the show's second season, after Jordan shows up unexpectedly carrying Dr. Cox's child, Jack, in "My Fruit Cups". Cox is initially unaware that he is the father; Jordan had lied by saying it was the child of a "Greek bellboy" because she didn't want Cox to feel pressured into being with her. He eventually finds out in "My Dream Job", some time after Jack had been born. Since then, Cox and Jordan have rebuilt their relationship and now live together (though they have chosen not to get re-married), and she has shown herself to be a good mother. Though she and Cox constantly bicker -- once, an exasperated Cox tried to hush her by calling her "Jordan Godzilla Sullivan" -- it is occasionally implied that this is merely their own way of showing affection to each other, and on one occasion, was comically presented as an analogy for the sexual component in their relationship; Dr. Cox confides in Carla Espinosa that, because Jordan doesn't wish Jack to be emotionally scarred, she refuses to argue with him, prompting Carla to ask "How long has this been going on?".^[5] Even though Jordan constantly berates and insults Cox, she has also been shown to be a loving partner who craves his respect and approval,^[6] and cares for him very deeply.^[7][8] In the episode "My New Game", it becomes apparent that they signed the wrong papers during their divorce proceedings, and that he and Jordan are still married. This quickly begins to undermine their relationship, so they fix it by having a divorce ceremony. In "My Transition", it is revealed that she was pregnant with their second child, Jennifer Dylan (named by J.D. after his initials), who undergoes pre-natal surgery and was born in "My Long Goodbye".

[edit] Personality

Jordan is one of the few people to top Dr. Cox in vindictiveness, coldness, and overall unpleasantness. She is certainly his only rival for sheer sarcasm, and is seemingly the only person able to effectively retort to Cox's many quips and rants. She calls herself the queen bee of the hospital probably because of her good looks but mean attitude and ability to step on other people. She has stated on several occasions that she is "dead inside" and seems to feel minimal emotions, if any. One explanation for her harsh personality could be that she is, according to the Janitor (who has read her private work file), manic depressive.^[9] She claims on occasion that her behavior is a result of bad upbringing, though she later admits that this is not the case.^[10] Despite her rude demeanor, she has been shown to be incredibly loyal to those she feels close to, and on occasion has helped J.D. with problems such as breaking up with his domineering girlfriend,^[11] and provided helpful advice to J.D. and Kim (his girlfriend at the time) in order to determine the fate of the latter's pregnancy.^[12] In recent years, and despite her vindictiveness, she has attempted to soften her personality after obtaining a full-time position at the hospital and becoming pregnant for a second time, and has since become friendly with Carla and Elliot. She will often explain her reason for doing something cruel as doing it "For funsies." This appears to be her catchphrase.

[edit] References

v • d • e Scrubs Main characters J.D. (Zach Braff) · Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) · Christopher Turk (Donald Faison) · Janitor (Neil Flynn) · Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins) · Perry Cox (John C. McGinley) · Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes) Other characters Jordan Sullivan (Christa Miller) · The Todd (Robert Maschio) · Ted Buckland (Sam Lloyd) · Doug Murphy (Johnny Kastl) · Keith Dudemeister (Travis Schuldt) · Laverne Roberts/Nurse Shirley (Aloma Wright) · Kim Briggs (Elizabeth Banks) · Minor characters Setting Sacred Heart Hospital Music "Superman" by Lazlo Bane · The Blanks · Colin Hay · Keren DeBerg · Joshua Radin Crew Bill Lawrence · Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan · Mike Schwartz · Michael Spiller · Adam Bernstein Notable episodes Episode list · "My First Day" · "My Old Lady" · "My Screw Up" · "My Way Home" · "My Lunch" · "My Musical"