David Gridley and Amanda Morrow on Scrubs' "My VIP" Episode — Vulnerability, Mannequins, and the Vancouver Cactus Club

Two of Scrubs' newest interns take center stage in the sixth episode of the revival, "My VIP," which finds Blake (David Gridley) working to show more vulnerability with his patients while Dashana (Amanda Morrow) races to track down a patient determined to avoid surgery. I spoke with Gridley and Morrow ahead of the episode's premiere about the thematic overlap between their characters, what it's like filming in that unsettling mannequin room, and the Vancouver restaurant that became the cast's de facto living room.

Alex: This new episode has your two characters dealing with different challenges, but at the core, they're both navigating patients who are putting up walls. Did that overlap ever start to feel a little meta — like something you deal with as actors, too?

Amanda: I would agree that there are definitely some crossovers, especially in terms of Dashana and Amara and friendship. I very much have those friends where they're like, "No, you got this. You can do this thing." They push me to step out of being a rule follower. A lot of the times I'll be like, oh wait, okay, you're right. Thank you. Having your friend there being like, "No, you can do this thing. Go do it." That is something I deal with in my life. So, being able to put that into my work of empowering Amara — it feels like there are definitely similarities there.

David: Yeah, I think there are a lot of times, as far as a theme of not seeing what's happening — especially when it comes to auditioning — with the accountability of what I think I'm putting out. Like with my wife being a backboard: "Oh, you think you're doing this, but you're missing it completely. This is what's happening." That does happen very frequently in acting, and it's important to have somebody to call out when you're missing the mark or just not even picking up on what you're doing wrong.

Alex: The set looks like so much fun. Amanda, you get to play in that mannequin room in this episode — I have to imagine there was a lot happening in there when the cameras weren't rolling.

Amanda: Oh, most surely. That mannequin room is terrifying with the lights off. When we first had to rehearse in there, the lights were very dim, and all of the mannequins are very realistic — especially when they're just shadows. So it was a lot of Layla [Mohammadi] and I playing with the mannequins. And there's one point where I reference a mannequin and say, “He gets it.” That mannequin was actually one that was in the hallway — it wasn't in the room we were filming in. I saw him and was like, "What is my brother doing in this hallway? He should be out there with the rest of the folks." So we were able to put him in the room and make a moment out of it. Our props folks are just incredible.

Alex: David, you had some memorable stretching in this episode.

David: Oh man, yeah. I saw the clip they used, and I was like, I can't believe they went with that one. There was much more modest stretching I was doing, and then I threw in a few deep lunges, and I think that one stuck, which is great. Working with Ava [Bunn] was an adventure for sure. At this point in the show, there are so many inside jokes — all of our scenes together, we were cracking up. It was hard to get through. It was a lot of fun.

Alex: This is such an ensemble cast, and each episode pulls everyone in different directions. When you're not in a scene, are you pulling away to your trailer, or do you want to stay and watch everything?

David: I think we all loved being on set. It was coupled with watching everybody perform, but we also just got so tight — the love we have for each other, we just really wanted to hang out. There were a lot of times we actually got in trouble in holding, making too much noise, and getting kicked off set. I feel like that happened more often than not.

Amanda: Very much so. It was a lot of, "Oh, I'm off, but you're going to be here for a couple hours. Well, I guess we should all hang out." So it would be all of us bouncing around to different folks' trailers or hanging out on and off set. It was a very welcoming set, but we would stay.

Alex: This episode ends with everyone hanging out at a bar. Did you guys have a Vancouver spot that became the go-to after wrapping?

David: Oh, yeah — wrapping a day, every day.

Amanda: Nightly.

David: Nightly. The old Cactus Club... It became just a one-word text to the group. "CC." Cactus Club. We're there.

Amanda: Exactly. Down in five, down in ten. We all lived in the same building, so it was very easy to get downstairs and to the club. I want to preface — it was a restaurant. It was a restaurant, not an actual club. Though they did have a DJ on the weekends.

David: They did.

Alex: Now that the show is airing, are you all on a group text watching together?

David: We all got the group texts for sure, and we'll chime in almost weekly, checking in on everybody. It is weird to see the final product, because you have such a different perspective when you're shooting it. But it's really validating — if you ever felt insecure about anything that was happening, it kind of solidifies things. "Oh, that was the direction. Oh, that's what they wanted." A lot of times, you just trust the process and hope for the best, and it's cool to see it all come together and just be entertained by it.

Amanda: Especially getting to know the new tone of the show. The old show was so broad, and this new tone is continuing to have that same Scrubs heart and feel, but in a more grounded way. We were thankfully shepherded and shown by Zach Braff — who directed our first episode — what that tone was. But watching the show weekly, you really get to understand what the editors are choosing and why, to be able to deliver that new tone. And also, my family will just text me the day before because they'll watch it as it airs, and then I'll watch it on Hulu the next day. So they'll remind me of what I did.

"My VIP" aired tonight on ABC and begins streaming tomorrow on Hulu. New episodes of Scrubes premiere Wednesdays at 8/7c.