Elliot Reid

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Elliot Reid (portrayed by Sarah Chalke)

Dr. Elliot Reid is a fictional character played by Sarah Chalke in the American sitcom Scrubs.

Profile

Elliot is a close friend of J.D. and fellow attending physician, although the boundaries between friendship and relationship have often been crossed (see J.D. and Elliot). But she has also had many other relationships on the show, most notably with Keith and Sean (See here.)It was a running joke in the show that she and J.D. slept together at least once a year during each of the first three seasons, however this has seemingly ended in order to avoid cliché storylines. Her rich parents always provided everything for her throughout her life, which she accepted despite growing a slight hatred towards them. This caused her to feel somewhat nervous upon having to suddenly depend on herself while working at the hospital, and even more so when her parents cut her off financially in season 2.

Family History

She is the only daughter of Simon and Lily Reid, and her father is Chief of Medicine at a private hospital in Greenwich (1.19 "My Old Man"). She once attributed 98% of her behavior towards 'getting her dad to love her', although this may have changed when she stood up to him in season 2 due to him pressuring her about her career choices. He once had an affair with a female butcher. Elliot's mother often pressures her about her looks and love life and also had an affair with the Reids' Latino poolboy, Jorge (as well as many other implied extramarital trysts).

Elliot has four brothers, one of whom is named Barry and appears to be gay. Elliot indicated that she found Barry's Playgirl magazines once and that Barry used to dance for Japanese businessmen, prompting the Reids to send him to 'hetero camp.' She also has a brother named Bradley, who she used to play 'The Wonder Twins' with. She mentioned in the pilot that all the males in her family are doctors (including her father, grandfather and her brother).

The family also had a Latina maid/nanny called Consuela, who Elliot was very close with. Elliot has indicated that she sometimes filled the role of her mother and used to give her 'cheer up hugs' when she was sad. Elliot's father told her that Consuela died, but Elliot later discovered that she was deported for putting knives in the fork drawer of the Reids' kitchen.

Elliot also has a Great Aunt Sally and a demented Great Uncle who wears an eye patch and says 'Honka Honka' when he poops. JD once met them when they visited the hospital, which became an inside joke between them.

Peculiarities

When first introduced, Elliot is portrayed as a hyper-competitive, talkative loudmouth who puts her foot in her mouth at every conceivable opportunity (she once asked a fat woman "So, when's the baby due?" and accidentally insulted Turk's Jehovah's Witness mother by describing them as crazed, annoying busy-bodies).

She has cold hands (which she attributes to bad circulation), doesn't like to be touched (implied to be because she is a WASP from Connecticut), votes Republican, speaks German and French (which Sarah Chalke does in real life), and is insecure about her eyebrows, her "camel" butt and her bangs. She also has panic attacks, and describes herself as being claustrophobic, germ-phobic and phobia-phobic. Her one house rule is that she cannot be talked to while on the toilet, and cannot be talked to by anyone on the toilet (a rule which Carla broke a number of times while staying with her). The masculine sounding name Elliot fits in with her upper class Northeastern American heritage, since there is a tradition among some such families of christening daughters with such family names. She also mentions in the pilot that her parents expected a male child.

According to J.D. and various patients, her bedside manner is too cold and machine-like. She served as Chief Resident during her third year of residency, with J.D. as Co-Chief Resident. At the conclusion of Season 4, it was announced that Elliot received an endocrinology fellowship at a different hospital, requiring her to leave Sacred Heart. However, this new fellowship only lasted five days and she managed to get a job back at Sacred Heart during Season 5. She has hangups about sex and relationships which are often attributed to her mother's bizarre adulterous affairs. She constantly uses the pseudo-curse "Frick!" whenever she is upset, and has even used modified versions such as "Double Frick!", "Frick on a Stick!" and "Frick on a Stick with a Brick!" on occasion, as well as having hangups regarding saying even the clinical names for reproductive body parts (i.e. referring to female genitalia as a "bajingo" or "Hoo-Hoo" and the penis as "peepers", "peep", "schwing-schwong" or "Slinky-Doo") and sometimes has trouble saying "sex", instead referring to it as "intercourse". She once developed an unhealthy attachment to washing-machine masturbation.

A running gag in season 5 is Elliot's sexual fantasy about owning a cider house and catching a Mexican apple thief, who then chases her to the tasting room whereby they make love so loud they can be heard all the way in the distillery. Other running in-jokes involve the notion that she bears a resemblance to Gary Busey.

Elliot has an impressive yet peculiar intelligence in hip-hop slang and rap lyrics. She and Molly (Heather Graham) out-witted Turk in an instance of hip-hop slang instigated by J.D. as he misinterpreted 'low-lows' for 'ho-hos' referring to Dr. Dre's 'Still D.R.E.'

Miscellaneous Notes

• She is able to fit her entire fist in her mouth, a fact found to be highly interesting by the male staff of the hospital.
• It has been noted several times that she has extremely strong legs (hence her reason for often being the bottom half of 'The World's Most Giant Doctor'); she also has strong fingers: J.D. once describes her as having "the fingers of a rock climbing jazz pianist." J.D. also says that that "Her fingers are like biceps."
• She has a mole on her butt, but she describes it as being the cute kind, not the hairy kind.
• She credits her ability to fight (as seen when her and Carla almost tear each other apart in 4.14 "My Lucky Charm") towards growing up with an orchard and having to protect it from apple thieves.
• She apparently lost her virginity to a guy named Chas at a frat party in a crawlspace, while another guy was asleep in the adjoining room (this was correctly guessed by Jordan the first time they met)

Nicknames

• Barbie (by Dr. Cox)
• Blonde Doctor (by Janitor, before My Best Laid Plans when he started saying 'Elliot')
• Stick and Twinkie (by Jordan Sullivan)
• Nilla Wafer and Blonde Stick (by Nurse Carla Espinosa)
• Marshmallow (by Nurse Laverne Roberts)
• Bank Farter (by colleagues during fellowship in different hospital),
• Mole Butt (by J.D. and Turk) and Roller Moler (by the kids at school)