Nothing like a new dog to come in and shake up the old dog’s bag of tricks… at least that’s the case as far as John Higgins‘ Scrubs Season 2 character is concerned.

In the two-episode premiere of the ABC comedy, viewers finally got a glimpse of the chief resident character, Grant Summers, that the Saturday Night Live alum is playing in the series, and it seems as though he has no issue going toe-to-toe with J.D. (Zach Braff), despite being lower on the totem pole at Sacred Heart. According to Braff, Higgins’ character — who rats to HR on J.D. for trying to commit insurance fraud to help Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) — will certainly be an additional reason for him to doubt his own abilities as a doctor, especially after ending Season 1 without a diagnosis for his mentor.

“I think he probably does have some insecurities: ‘Am I still up to the task? Do I remember everything I need to know? Am I as current?’ You know, we introduce a new character played by John Higgins, who’s chief resident, but he’s very, very smart. And we infer that he’s from the best schools and the best education and the hospitals. And even though he’s below JD, JD is like, ‘Wow, maybe this kid knows some new stuff I don’t know.’”

In the episode where we first meet viewers, J.D. is still desperately searching for answers on how to treat Dr. Cox amid his diagnosis of microscopic polyangiitis, a rare autoimmune disease that damages the blood vessels in the body and can cause organ damage if left untreated. On top of dealing with the initial sting of being unable to find the root cause of Dr. Cox’s health issues, J.D. is also still listening to the self-doubt after coming back into the hospital game after years away and stepping into the role of chief of medicine.

“I think he’s probably got some insecurity because he was being a concierge doctor and he was doing doctor work treating erectile dysfunction and insomnia and, you know, GLP-1s,” Braff explained. “Obviously, we’re oversimplifying it because it’s a comedy, but he wasn’t certainly leading a hospital, an urban hospital that doesn’t have a lot of funding, which is probably the polar opposite experience.”

Enter Higgins’ effortlessly funny, gifted, and down-to-earth (and by-the-book) doctor, who J.D. sees potential in taking under his wing as a mentee. Naturally, things go awry quickly as during his first interaction with Grant, he gives him a deeply uncomfortable nickname (G-Spot), and goes to give him a mentorly squeeze of the shoulder only to grab his cheek instead. Messy to say the least.

Thankfully, they are able to quickly put it behind them, but not for long as they soon go toe-to-toe over Dr. Cox’s treatment plans and insurance denials, which leaves the protagonist feeling his signature sense of distress. At the end of the day, however, Braff says it’s all in the name of making a good comedy that fans can enjoy and find some emotional truth in, which is what they set out to do first and foremost. While J.D. may be in doubt from time to time, he always knows that when he’s at Sacred Heart, the work that he and the others are doing is important.

“J.D. is a great doctor. You know, one thing that Scrubs really hammers home is that for the comedy’s sake, these three [gestures to himself, Sarah Chalke, and Donald Faison], as parts of the story are great at what they do,” Braff shared. “And I think that’s the superhero aspect. You know the theme song is ‘I’m No Superman;’ we’re gonna hopefully make you laugh and hopefully make your eyes well, but it really is about the superheroes that are doctors and nurses in a hospital.”

Hopefully that means they can all find a way to get along and lift each other up, but we also won’t be mad if the writers make some stellar jokes out of the back and forth in the meantime.

The first two episodes of Scrubs Season 2 are now streaming on Hulu and Disney+. New episodes air on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. and stream the next day.

If you’re new to Hulu, the basic (with ads) price is $11.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.

If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.