My Butterfly
Encyclopedia
"My Butterfly" is the 16th episode of season three and the 62nd episode overall of the American comedy-drama
Scrubs
. It originally aired on March 16, 2004 on NBC
.
The premise of the episode is an example of the butterfly effect
, wherein a minor, seemingly innocuous change can drastically alter a chain of events.
not finding a girl's lost stuffed animal, Carla forgetting Turk's lucky do-rag
, and a patient's aortic dissection
not being discovered until the last minute. After the patient's death, J.D. thinks about how things may have turned out if the butterfly had landed on a nearby man instead of the woman. In this parallel situation, things seem to be better, as the do-rag and the stuffed animal are found. Also, Dr. Cox and J.D. catch the aortic dissection early. However, the patient still dies in surgery.
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
. It originally aired on March 16, 2004 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
The premise of the episode is an example of the butterfly effect
Butterfly effect
In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions; where a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state...
, wherein a minor, seemingly innocuous change can drastically alter a chain of events.
Plot
A butterfly landing on a woman's chest sets off a chain of events. This results in ElliotElliot Reid
Dr. Elliot Reid is a fictional character played by Sarah Chalke in the American comedy-drama Scrubs. She has appeared in every episode during the first eight seasons except two Season 8 episodes, "My Last Words" and "My Lawyer's in Love"....
not finding a girl's lost stuffed animal, Carla forgetting Turk's lucky do-rag
Do-rag
A do-rag, also spelled doo-rag, du-rag, durag, is a piece of cloth used to cover the head. According to the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster the term derives from do as in hairdo.- History :...
, and a patient's aortic dissection
Aortic dissection
Aortic dissection occurs when a tear in the inner wall of the aorta causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart. The dissection typically extends anterograde, but can extend retrograde from the site of the intimal tear. Aortic dissection is a medical...
not being discovered until the last minute. After the patient's death, J.D. thinks about how things may have turned out if the butterfly had landed on a nearby man instead of the woman. In this parallel situation, things seem to be better, as the do-rag and the stuffed animal are found. Also, Dr. Cox and J.D. catch the aortic dissection early. However, the patient still dies in surgery.