Zach Braff has a favorite episode of best medical drama TV shows ever. For every wacky daydream that J.D. (Braff) had, there was a difficult moment about the tragic events that occur in a hospital.

There are dozens of very sad episodes of Scrubs. There are the classic picks, like "My Lunch," where Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) inadvertently distributes infected organs to a group of patients, or "My Old Lady," where J.D. has to deal with a patient he likes dying. Then there are the happy-sad episodes, like in season 8's "My Soul on Fire", where the main characters go to Hawaii for the Janitor's (Neil Flynn) wedding and reaffirm their love for one another in unexpected ways. There is one episode sadder than the rest, and it's Zach Braff's favorite.

One Of Zach Braff's Favorite Scrubs Episodes Is Also One Of The Show's Greatest

"My Screw Up" Is A Smartly Written And Surprising Episode

When speaking about his seminal series, Scrubs, in 2012, Zach Braff revealed what one of his favorite episodes was (via IGN). In response to an interviewer asking about "My Screw Up" and saying that many people believe it's the best episode he's ever done, Braff said,

"One of the greatest episodes, I agree. I'm really proud of that one. I'm really happy because my good friend Joshua Radin, who's now exploding and just signed to Sony Records, that was his first song ever, the song "Winter" that ended the show -- which sort of blew him up -- was at the end of that episode, when Brendan dies."

"My Screw Up" is episode 14 of the third season and is the culmination of the Ben Sullivan (Brendan Fraser) storyline in the show. Ben is Jordan Sullivan's (Christa Miller) brother and a photographer, and a goofball with a good heart. While Dr. Cox has a love-hate relationship with his ex-wife, his feelings about her brother are uncomplicated; they love one another, and he may be Dr. Cox's only real friend. Ben's leukemia has gone into remission, but he's since stopped getting regular check-ups. Later, Dr. Cox gets mad at J.D. for letting an unnamed patient die.

Throughout the episode, Ben tails Dr. Cox around the hospital, trying to encourage him to attend Dr. Cox's son's birthday party. After enough cajoling, Dr. Cox decides to go, only to suddenly show up at a funeral. It's then revealed to the audience that Dr. Cox had been hallucinating about his former brother-in-law, and that the patient who died earlier in the episode was Ben. His leukemia had come back. It's an incredibly heartrending moment, and the events of the episode are suddenly put into perspective.

No one else in the episode, after the very beginning at least, interacts with Ben.

No one else in the episode, after the very beginning at least, interacts with Ben. Ben also has an unusual ability to go wherever he would like in the hospital, always showing up wherever Dr. Cox is. What becomes even more obvious in hindsight is how strange it is that Ben is so insistent that Dr. Cox attend a child's birthday party. It's only when it's revealed that Dr. Cox was trying to will himself to confront his friend's death that everything in the episode falls into place.

I Still Can't Watch Scrubs' "My Screw Up" Without Crying

"My Screw Up" Is A Heartbreaking Episode About Grief

When I say "I", I mean the collective "I", as in "we". And when I say "without crying", I mean "without recalling the first time I watched the episode and got upset, though not enough to cry, because I don't usually cry in movies or TV shows, unless it's the opening scene of Up or the final scene of Gladiator". All that being said, it's a very emotional scene, and I find it moving every time I see it. The turn when J.D. asks Dr. Cox, "Where do you think we are?" is sudden and surprising, but fits in perfectly with the episode we've watched.

The song "Winter" by Joshua Radin, plays during the ending funeral sequence in "My Screw Up".

The fact that in this moment, J.D. is completely no-nonsense and seems genuinely concerned for Dr. Cox makes the whole situation that much bleaker. Then John C. McGinley's face brings everything home. Dr. Cox is not surprised, he's just despairing. It's clear that the entire time, he knew Ben was dead, but by creating an apparition of his friend, he could ward off the feelings for a time, at least. The look on his face is the look of a man who expected the pain of grief to come eventually, but still is not ready to handle it.

It's one of the few episodes in the series where Dr. Cox shows his emotions publicly and allows the rest of the cast to give him some small bit of comfort. It's a very sad and powerful episode, and it's no wonder that Zach Braff considers it to be some of the best work he's ever been a part of on Scrubs.