“Nurse Jackie”: Top 25
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I routinely whine about Jackie escaping scot-free from the trouble she causes. She’ll blame it on Zoey or humiliate Coop or turn it back on Sam. She evades responsibility with a unique skill. She should play dodge ball. I think she’d be really good at it.
Tonight Jackie had one particular maneuver that impressed me so much, I couldn’t even whine about her lack of consequences.
It happened when Kaitlyn caught Jackie snorting a line in the basement. You might remember Kaitlyn from ballet class or because everyone knows a kid like her. A little snot. Luckily snottiness isn’t contagious, as O’Hara explains. I think it must be genetic. Kaitlyn’s mother, Ginny, suffers from the same condition.
During a play date with Grace, Kaitlyn walks in on Jackie enjoying some pharmaceuticals, and when asked what she was doing with the straw, Jackie barely batted an eye before explaining how nurses dry out their tear ducts so their families won’t see them crying over all the tragedy they see at work. Then she asked Kaitlyn for a hug.
Man, that was good.
While Jackie dealt with Kaitlyn and her tatter-tot hot dish mom, Coop stopped by Eddie’s new job to pick up a $12 box of cereal and show off the magazine article that named him one of the top 25 doctors in New York City. Oh, and to express his deep concern over his close friend’s suicide attempt.
Coop makes sure everyone at All Saints knows about the article. He literally drops it in Jackie’s lap and then parades around the framed copy his moms sent him. Well, until Sam points out that Coop paid a publicist. Sam repeats it so many times, Coop tells him, “You can stop saying that.”
Jackie jumps to Coop’s defense, telling Sam not to talk about a coworker’s personal information. He thinks Jackie’s purposefully giving him a hard time, but obviously she’s prepping for when he finally catches some private information of hers. All with the help of clapping and finger snapping background music. Am I the only person who found that weird?
All in all, it was a quiet work day for Jackie. Compared to her regular shifts, at least. A guy who resuscitated a Great Dane came in with sever face bites and migrated testicles (like birds, as Zoey says), and Jackie stopped a drunk woman from breast feeding. It was a busier day for Akalitus. She dealt with Coop’s Tweeting, O’Hara’s bruised ego and Zoey’s sniffing. All that with only a minor slip in hiding her humanity. Nice work, Akalitus.
Oh, and O’Hara lives in a hotel? Did we know that before? I don’t know if I’d let that keep me from accepting scholarships for my daughters, but it is kinda strange.
Jackie picks up some additional hours which conflicts with Kevin’s drive to pick up new bar stools, so she pawns off finding someone to watch the kids on him. Though maybe she should have taken on that task herself. Since Jackie vetoed Ginny “tatter-tots” Flynn, Kevin only had one other he could ask. His new buddy from the bar: Eddie. The look on Jackie’s face when she walked in on Kevin, the girls and Eddie playing Candyland was priceless. I wonder how she’s going to talk her way out of this one.
-Andrew Hanson
Related:
‘Nurse Jackie’: The world’s greatest smoke detector
Complete ‘Nurse Jackie’ coverage on Show Tracker
PHOTO: Daisy Tahan as Fiona Peyton, Ruby Jerins as Grace Peyton, Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton and Cassady Leonard as Kaitlyn. Showtime Television.