My Thoughts on: The Janitor

Yes its another Scrubs post about Sacred Hearts man of mystery. He is the man without a name only going by Janitor (which is even on his name tag.) Under him is a mountain of lies and pranks. He is the man the leader of the Janitorial staff and founder of the Brain Trust. So lets get out our mops and plungers and get take a look at the Janitor.


So lets try to figure out the Janitor's back story shall we? Well we can try but we have no idea what it is. He has so many different back stories the only one that we know is true is that he was in the Fugitive (The actor who plays him really was in the movie.) Other stories about the Janitor's background include him growing up believing his mother was his sister (Sister-mom) he thought his dad was his brother (brother-dad). He claimed that his mother once snapped her index finger because her husband was late for church. His dad once threw himself down the steps because his wife dented the car. Apparently his mom left his crib out in the driveway when a marble fountain just happened to fall from the sky. He claims to have a deaf sister, an inuit stepmother, a stripper brother, and funniest of all a step brother named Cleet who is older then his father. When Cleet had his midlife crisis he would not stop fighting with his step father and even slept with his mother. I bet your wondering how messed up is this guy just wait there is more of his lies and stories with his current life.


The Janitor is very cryptic about his normal life as well coming up with random lies and stories as the show progresses. He claims to be married to a woman who only has a pointer finger on one hand and thumb pinky on the other (She knitted JD a pair of shorts even though they are just scrubs with hemmed bottoms.) He also claims that he has a son named Timmy who was in a school play that JD made the Janitor miss. Timmy stopped eating as a result of this. The Janitor also took JD's lab coat and stethoscope to go to career day at Timmy's school as a Doctor instead of a Janitor (He called himself Dr. Jan Itor.)


Now there are some things about the Janitor that are true so lets get into this short section. The Janitor is a skilled taxidermist liking to use squirrels actually forming his own army. However he sadly had to trade his Squirrel army for a stuffed dog named Stephen. He is currently married to a lady named Lady (Ladinia Williams) who actually accepts her husband for who he is with all his craziness. As I mentioned earlier he was a former actor having a part in the movie "The Fugitive". He is also a world-class 100-meter hurdler which he proved true while running and hurdling over obstacles in order to tackle JD before he changed the batteries in a tracking device (The Janitor swallowed the chip and JD could track his movements.) Thats it the only things we know are true long list huh.


So after that lets get into the relationships with other characters. Mainly with JD, Dr. Cox, and Dr. Elliot Reed. So lets start with JD this is a strange relationship and probably the longest. The Janitor tortures JD constantly in retaliation to a penny that the Janitor thinks JD stuck in a door causing it to jam. The Janitor will go to strange lengths to torture JD. Actually kidnaping him in one episode (Left him in the water tower for the day.) The Janitor also sneaks into JD's apartment and messes with his stuff on one occasion he even moved JD and his bed to the Sacred Heart parking lot. This resulted with JD being woken up by an ambulance siren and he also found out he was naked. The Janitor has also got JD to the top of the flag pole telling him that he wont get him down until he has spent some time acting as a flag. In the commentary for Season 1 that if the show was not renewed for a second season then it would be reviled that the Janitor was just a figment of JD's imagination (The Janitor only interacted with JD in season 1.) Now at the end of season 8 when JD left the Hospital the Janitor actually seemed upset and waited for him to come back until Turk told him JD wasn't coming back. After hearing this news the Janitor dropped his mop and left the Hospital never being heard from again. Now JD and the Janitor have a lot more history but this is just the condensed version.


The Janitor and Dr. Cox have a very different relationship as it seems they are some what friends. They sometimes go out drinking and will also torment JD together (See the moving his bed above.) However The Janitor does not want to ruin his reputation with the cleaning staff by being seen hanging with a doctor at the hospital. The two of them seem to but heads with one another on several occasions. Neither one seems to fear the other but with the Janitor having his own army of custodial staff. The conflict between the two of them once ended with Dr. Cox being locked in a Morgue drawer. They have also competed over an empty hospital room that was designed for rich people. The two of them seem to be constantly against each other but still seem to get along.


The last main relationship is between the Janitor and Elliot which is kind of odd. The Janitor has a huge crush on Elliot and always has. He has even proposed to her but she didn't even realize it. He has often helped her out when she needs it. He has given her advice as well as help her boost her spirits. She considers him sweet which JD just hates. The Janitor even created an a capella singing group called Hibbleton just so she would not think he was weird showing up for coffee in a suit. The funny thing is despite having a huge crush on her The Janitor does not even know her name often calling her Blond Doctor.


The question everyone seems to ask is who is the Janitor what is his real name. after 8 seasons that answer has still never been given. In the episode "My Finale" JD asks him what his name is and Janitor says Glenn Matthews however two seconds later a orderly calls him Tommy making it seem like a lie. Now he has been called Tom before in the series but most fans believe his name to be Neil Flynn who is the actor who plays him. Since it shows the character in the Fugitive and Neil Flynn did have a part in that movie it would make sense that they share a name. However it has never been confirmed and I don't think we will ever know his real name.

Like Dr. Cox we have a couple of lists of likes dislikes and nicknames and alter
egos. So lets get started with his likes list.

* Taxidermy (especially squirrels)

* "Blonde Doctor"

* Floors (he thinks of them as his children and has given them names)

* Sharks

* Vanning ("My Best Laid Plans")

* Hibbleton ("My Ocardial Infarction")

* His old mop

* Lady

* The adrenaline rush from lying to someone's face ("His Story III")

* Honey Bunny sandwiches ("My Soul on Fire, Part 2")

* Legal Custodians


Dislikes:

* J.D.

* Working

* Scooter pie

* Whales

* Banana Hammocks

* Being called stupid

* Not having his own office ("My New Role")

* Wednesdays

* Audry Hepburn ("My Soul on Fire, Part 2")

* Being called "Jumpsuit" (His uniform is not a jumpsuit, it's a shirt and pants.)


Nicknames:

* Captain Belly Stink-Water

* Chewie (Perry Cox) ("My New Role")

* Mr. Cleanup Man (Dr. Rotinaj) ("My Urologist")

* Frankenstein (Perry Cox) ("My Lips Are Sealed")

* Freakshow (Robert Kelso) ("My Mirror Image")

* Honey Bunny (Ladinia Williams) ("My Soul on Fire, Part 2 ")

* Jolly Green (John Dorian) ("My Drug Buddy")

* Jump-Suit

* The King (Jimmy) ("My Happy Place")

* Lurch

* Mongo (Perry Cox) ("My Own Personal Hell")

* Moppenstein (Sonja Dey) ("Their Story II")

* Night School (Carla Espinosa) ("My Malpractical Decision")

* Rusty (Perry Cox) ("My Saving Grace")

* Sasquatch

* Shrek

* Sir Mops-A-Lot

* Sir Plunge-a-lot ("My Hero")

* Mr. Smart-Guy

* Serpico (Kelso) ("My Choosiest Choice of All")

* Soft Scrub (Carla Espinosa) ("My Unicorn")

* Stretch

* Supercuts (Perry Cox) ("My Best Laid Plans")

* The following "terrible things" ("My Manhood")

o Backstabber

o Josh (acronym for Janitor Of Sacred Heart)

o Zebra-poacher

* Weirdo (Jordan Sullivan) ("My Chief Concern")


Alter Egos:

* Ephraim (Stuttering alter ego)
* Klaus (German alter ego)
* Nigel (British alter ego)
* Roscoe (Fake Brother)


# Unnamed character afraid to go back to prison (Janitor) ("My Saving Grace")

# Dr. Ján Ïtor

# Dr. Elliot Reid ("My Female Trouble")

# Rotinaj

* Dr. Rotinaj


# Glen Matthews (possibly his real name) ("My Finale")

# Tommy ("My Finale")


So that is my thoughts on The Janitor. The man who is a mystery to all and maybe even to himself. His lies keep him hidden from reality and his thoughts are rather strange often wanting super powers are a son with gills. His life is strange and confused but I wouldn't want him any other way. He is one of my favorite characters from Scrubs as well as of all time. So the Janitor is awesome and if you haven't seen the show watch Scrubs can't say how much I love that show.