The new chief of medicine turns out to be as callous as Dr. Kelso, J.D. gives up on his intern class after they let him down, and Eliot is too self-absorbed to realize that Keith is still hurt from their breakup.
- Alpha Bitch: Dr. Kelso's replacement (played by Courteney Cox) introduces herself the same way Kelso did, as friendly, but turns out to be just as ruthless as he is.
- Apathetic Student: Ed doesn't give a shit but at all.
- Deadpan Snarker: Denise tells a patient that "It's ironic that 'cancer' begins with 'can', because at this stage there's nothing we can do about it."
- Foreshadowing: Ed is completely checked out, even looking at porn during rounds.
- Friendship Moment: As JD has stepped into Cox's role as the attending physician treating the new interns and getting frustrated with the difficulties therein, Cox reaches out and treats him as a colleague, providing him with advice and commiseration.
- Gaussian Girl: JD of course gives Dr. Maddox this treatment in her intro.
- It's All About Me: New intern Katie is a show-off and suck up.
- Properly Paranoid: Cox assumes the new Chief is a jerk because the job attracts jerks. He's right.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Kelso leaves and gets replaced by Maddox. Like Kelso, she thinks about the money, but at least he cared about what was actually best for the patients, if on the larger scale, where she just treats one of them as a piggy bank to run test after test on.
- Suicide as Comedy: Why does Ted's briefcase only have a smiley face button and a revolver? "One's in case I get sad, the other is in case I get really sad."
- Ultimate Job Security: Finally averted by the Janitor, who gets fired by Maddox after he trips JD.
