Книга: Joey Hirao, Mimi Choi, Perry Cox, Steven Passer, Jeanmarie Hirao «SAP Security Configuration and Deployment»

Percival "Perry" Ulysses Cox, M.D.^[1] (most commonly referred to as Dr. Cox), is a fictional character played by John C. McGinley on the American television comedy-drama Scrubs.

Dr. Cox has appeared in every episode except, "My Last Words," "My Comedy Show," and "My Full Moon," which are all in Season 8.

John C. McGinley is the only original cast member besides Donald Faison who returned for season nine as a regular cast member.

Character profile

Dr. Cox accepted the position of Chief of Medicine after the former, Dr. Bob Kelso, retired at the age of 65. The position, however, did not come easily. He temporarily held the position until the board found a replacement, Dr. Maddox (Courteney Cox). After concluding that Dr. Maddox is, in fact, worse than Bob Kelso, Dr. Cox teams up with the Janitor and Dr. Kelso to oust her. After Dr. Maddox left, the position was vacant until Dr. Kelso, behind Perry's back, recommended him for the job. Dr. Cox was initially hesitant on taking the job out of fear of losing the connection he has with his patients. Although it took a few days, Kelso convinced him to accept the Chief of Medicine position.^[2]

Dr. Cox is sarcastic and bitter, and has a quick, cruel wit, normally expressed through frequent and sometimes incredibly long rants, in which he has viciously verbally attacked almost every character on the show. He is athletic, often found playing basketball in the hospital's parking lot with younger hospital employees. In "My Friend the Doctor", he shows off by slam-dunking a basketball, but then injures his back when he lands, a reminder that he's middle-aged. Out of vanity, he tries to disguise his injury. In "My White Whale", Cox reveals he was circumcised but his son was not.

He is extremely egotistical; when named by a magazine as the best doctor in the city, he lines up every member of staff beneath him and his wife to consecutively praise him (using the Janitor to enforce their reactions).

According to McGinley in the Season 1 DVD bonus features, Dr. Cox's habit of often touching his nose is a homage to Paul Newman's character in The Sting, although Cox also uses it as a sign of irritation on occasion, rather than just a sign signifying "it's going to be OK", as it was used in the film. Dr. Cox also has been compared to Gregory House (although Cox's character was created several years before House's) by Kelso, who says, "Oh Perry, you are so edgy and cantankerous; like House without the limp." This is further explored in "My House", during which Cox acquires a temporary limp. At the end of the episode, through a series of circumstances, Dr. Cox walks into the room where the other characters are sitting and in a very House-esque way, gives them the answers to everything they have been trying to figure out through the whole episode.

In the Season 2 DVD commentary of "His Story", series creator Bill Lawrence stated that one of Dr. Cox's quirks is that he knows if someone is standing behind him and who it is, without turning around to check. This quirk is defied in "My Finale" when J.D. stands behind Cox as he tells one of the new interns how he really feels; throughout the speech, he gives no sign that he knows that J.D. is behind him, and becomes furious when J.D. hugs him because of what he says.

He is also a very good golfer, regularly besting Dr. Kelso.^[3]

Cox harbors an intense hatred for Hugh Jackman, even going so far as to mention him frequently in his rants about things he hates throughout the series. According to a 2006 interview with McGinley, Cox's reason for hating Jackman may be because Bill Lawrence envies the actor's talent.^[4]

Cox is occasionally seen wearing a Detroit Red Wings jersey. McGinley is a Red Wings fan and a close friend of former Detroit defenseman Chris Chelios, whose name can be seen on the back of Cox's jersey. He has also been seen wearing a T-shirt for Cheli's Chili Bar, a small chain of restaurants owned by Chelios.

Cox is a graduate of Yale University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.^[5]

In Season 7, during a rant to Jordan, Cox mentions that he is a Scorpio

Dr. Cox is often seen drinking scotch and has acknowledged (humorously) that he has a drinking problem. In "My Mentor", J.D. fears that Cox will die of liver disease. In "My Fallen Idol", after making a mistake about a transplant patient that results in three deaths, a guilt-ridden Cox goes to work drunk, a behavior he had berated J.D. and Turk for in one of the previous episodes ("My Dream Job"). His son Jack's first full sentence is "Daddy drinks a lot."^[6]

Relationships with other characters

In Sacred Heart

Dr. Cox is constantly condescending to the residents, giving main character John "J.D." Dorian girl nicknames (e.g. "Tiffany", "Jennifer", "Carol", "Betsy") or as he regularly calls him "Newbie", calling Elliot Reid "Barbie" and calling Turk "Gandhi" and calling Bob Kelso "Bobbo" or "Bobcat". The one person he openly admits to tolerating in the hospital is head nurse Carla Espinosa. Throughout season one, he and Turk compete for her affections, with Cox eventually stepping out of the way when he sees that Turk and Carla are in love. In "My Quarantine", it is also revealed that they went on a date before Turk came to the hospital. Despite his forthright intolerance for Turk in early seasons, Dr. Cox develops a restrained level of respect for him, and at times gets along and relates to Turk.

He berates J.D. from their first meeting ("My First Day") and emphatically denies being his mentor, despite J.D.'s repeated attempts to win his favor. Nonetheless, Cox has shown concern for J.D.'s welfare, such as telling him not to blame himself for a patient's death ("My Lunch"), (reluctantly) comforting him when his father passes away ("My Cake") and telling J.D. the hard truth that he has to accept his pregnant ex-girlfriend's behavior because he'll be an expecting father ("My Rabbit"). Also, he tells the young doctor that he trusts him as a doctor and a person and has taken an interest in him from the start because he seems "to actually give a crap" ("My Last Day"). In the season one episode "My Fifteen Minutes", Cox recommends him as a promising, skilled and hard-working doctor to a review board. In "My Finale", Cox finally admits that he considers J.D. a talented doctor, a good person, and a friend, although he has to be tricked to do it. He also refuses to say this directly to J.D., or to hug him.

He also has a relationship with the Janitor which swings between hostility and reluctant friendship. He engages the Janitor to act on his behalf on occasion; they team up against common enemies and have been known to come into conflict with each other directly (with Dr. Cox ending up bound, gagged and hidden in a morgue freezer as a result).

Family life

Cox's family is from Pittsburgh. He has a sister, Paige (Cheryl Hines), who is a born-again Christian.^[7] In "My New God" Cox is presented as an ardent skeptic.^[8] In "My Half-Acre", Cox says that he does not "technically believe" in God. His political views are varied; He seems to be mostly apolitical with predominant liberal leanings. He has expressed disdain for members of both political parties as well as "registered Independents." In "His Story IV", he voices his opposition to the Iraq War, and is disgusted when Elliot reveals herself as a Republican.^[9]

In "My New God", Cox reveals that his father was an abusive alcoholic, and that his mother would "watch silently while he drunkenly knocked [Dr. Cox & Paige] from room to room." At the end of the episode, he admits to his sister that seeing her reminds him of the childhood he has tried so hard to forget.

Cox was apparently legally divorced from Jordan Sullivan (Christa Miller Lawrence) but the two have lived together in an exclusive relationship since Jordan discovered she was pregnant ("My Fruit Cups"). As revealed in flashbacks, the marriage appears to have started out strongly, but went downhill and eventually ended when Jordan slept with Dr. Cox's then-protegé Peter Fisher (Jay Mohr).^[10] Later into the series, it was revealed that Ted did not submit the divorce papers properly, so Cox and Jordan have been married during the entire run of the show. They immediately resumed the role of husband and wife since they had already reconciled, but they quickly became dissatisfied with being an ordinary married couple, so they agreed to go back to acting as though they were divorced, and simply monogamously in love without the marriage title. In the later years, Cox quietly resumes wearing his wedding ring, and Jordan soon acquiesces to the marriage title after the birth of their second child.

He has two children with Jordan: a son named Jack and, after an unsuccessful vasectomy, a daughter named Jennifer Dylan (J.D.). Jack is played by Andrew Miller and his twin brother (although in a cameo appearance in "My Missed Perception" he is played by Bill Lawrence and Christa Miller's son, William). When Jordan first becomes pregnant with Jack in "My Fruit Cups", she tells Cox that she had been impregnated by a Greek bellboy, wanting him to stay because he wanted to rather than out of obligation to his child. At first, Cox feels nothing connecting him to the then nameless boy, but begins to feel a connection after the child responds to the name Jack, which Cox had been trying to impress upon him for some time. J.D.'s college friend Spencer (Ryan Reynolds) accidentally tells Cox that he is actually Jack's biological father in "My Dream Job,"^[11] and he takes on the role of father with much more sincerity. Cox has a very unorthodox way of raising Jack, often treating him like his "drinking buddy." Nonetheless, Cox loves his son very much and tries fervently to be a better father than his own was. Cox often talks to Jack in lieu of a therapist. He also dotes on his daughter; in "My Hard Labor", he goes far out of his way to have someone else give her a shot so that she will not associate him with pain.

References