Nurse Jackie

Last season I was just interested enough in this show to keep watching. At least I think I watched every episode. Which is saying a lot because I don’t really like shows set in hospitals. Actually, I loathe them, like most crime shows. I don’t know why; it’s not like I’m squeamish. I suppose I just don’t think of them as entertaining. But there are always a few exceptions to the rule, and Nurse Jackie is almost one of them. If there’s nothing on and I want to watch television and not think about life, I will watch this show. Maybe it’s because there’s a bit of an Intervention style boost to my self esteem that keeps me watching.
The series revolves around Jackie Peyton, who’s acted amazingly well by Edie Falco. She’s a nurse in a New York City hospital, and not exactly a good person. That’s not to say she doesn’t have a conscience, it’s just that it doesn’t seem to extend to her own actions as often as to her patients. In the first season we were introduced to her life: her busy schedule of work, kids, husband, boyfriend, and chemical dependence. It was a whirlwind, but I really couldn’t empathize with her character considering she caused so many of her problems. Pretty much her only positive aspects were her dedication to her patients (the ones she liked anyway) and her not whining about her various predicaments. At least she faced her mess of a life with a level stare and grit.

A lot of the time I more enjoyed watching the other characters work around her, I found they complimented her well. The writing I felt was really good, with amusing and believable conversations. Jackie is curt, and her coworkers are variations of this theme. They either mirror her short tone or speak without direction so that she can cut them off. She’s no nonsense surrounded by a ton of nonsense. She’s friends with a surgeon, Dr. O’Hara (Eve Best), who’s also got a tough and nonsense-less approach to life. Other coworkers/friends include a male nurse who goes by Mo-Mo (Haaz Sleiman), and a newbie assigned to Jackie named Zoey (Merritt Wever). They both make for some great comic relief, and this show needs all it can get. Luckily, it’s just as funny as tragic. Her least favorite coworker is Dr. Cooper (Peter Facinelli), yet another contrasting character with a nervous disposition and many quirks that causes trouble for our anti-hero. The hospital administrator, Gloria Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith), is another most of the time antagonist in the life of Jackie with a part time job as another source of comic relief.

Her family is seemingly pretty cute and ideal, her husband Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) runs a bar and they have two daughters, Grace (Ruby Jerins) and Fiona (Daisy Tahan). One of which is adorably paranoid of everything. I’m pretty sure it’s Grace, but after a whole season and premier I still couldn’t seem to assign names to them. She appears to love them very much, so sometimes I’m kind of baffled as to why she does the things she does. Like her affair with pharmacist Eddie (Paul Schulze), which is presumably just for extra drugs for some ‘back pain’ she’s suffering from. Perhaps that’s supposed to be the part of the show illustrating the consequences of addiction. Essentially, the whole show could be that. Adventures in the show's first season included typical hospital-show like hijinks of crazy injuries and mix-ups, interspersed with Jackie’s ever increasingly complicated life juggling her coworker boyfriend and family issues. The culmination of last season’s events were brought about by the replacement of Eddie the pharmacist with an automatic pill dispenser, and his revelation that Jackie had a secret family life.

This premier picked up pretty much where the last season left off. For a little while there it seems like Jackie is going to go back to being involved with her family, and is working on covering up her past indiscretions. Then she goes to work and almost gets shot by a random loony, and finds out the boss is on to the loss of pills from the drug machine. Other events include her intervening to get a patient’s insurance company to cover her surgery costs, and her former boyfriend Eddie being brought into the ER after an overdose. This episode in particular had a lot of pretty good laugh moments. Though I’m sad at the lack of Mo-Mo and his replacement by drugged up temp guy Sam (Arjun Gupta). Despite the current almost happiness, there are hints that the same crazy train wreck Jackie is still there. The end of the episode pretty much cements the continued tone of high drama and dark comedy. Which still makes this show a pretty decent way to waste a half hour. And makes me feel better for not having such a super complicated life. And extremely glad that I’m not a nurse.