When you have a series starring Emmy Award-winner Edie Falco as the focal point you know you are in for something special. Special is certainly a word you can use to describe this series about a sharp tongued nurse who is living a double life due to her drug use and affair. Jackie Peyton (played by Edie Falco) is a wife and mother of two young daughters but at work she is addicted to painkillers and having an affair with the pharmacist. Somehow she is able to juggle everything while at the same time being an excellent nurse. An excellent nurse despite her non-typical style of doing the job. Falco is due to her superior talent able to portray this complex character and makes us like her rather than despise her because of her duplicitous nature. The show is alternately dark and funny though always engaging. A series worth watching due to the strong acting, confident direction, clever writing and excellent camerawork.
Episode 1: Pilot: Nurse Jackie has to deal with young and seemingly incompetent Dr. Cooper (played by Peter Facinelli) and training a new student nurse named Zoey (played by Merritt Wever). She also puts her back out again while having sex with her boyfriend, Eddie (played by Paul Schulze), the hospital pharmacist so he gives her some Oxycontin.
Episode 2: Sweet N’ All: The ear that Jackie flushed the day before comes back up and Zoey finds it floating in the toilet. Jackie tells Dr. Cooper she thinks he’s a good doctor. The Percocet belonging to Jackie ends up in her boss’s, Gloria Akalitus (played by Anna Deveare Smith), coffee.
Episode 3: Chicken Soup: Kevin (played by Dominic Fumusa) is worried that Grace (played by Ruby Jerins) is stressed all the time so Jackie tries to reassure him. Eddie tells Jackie he is going to be replaced by a machine. Zoey is having a hard time getting her stethoscope back from Dr. O’Hara (played by Eve Best).
Episode 4: School Nurse: Jackie and Kevin have to go to Grace’s school for a parent-teacher conference. To deal with her double life, Jackie gets another cell phone. Zoey handles her first patient alone and is wrecked when she ends up dying.
Episode 5: Daffodil: Jackie teaches Zoey the differences between the day and night shift. Dr. Cooper and Eddie start spending some time together.
Episode 6: Tiny Bubbles: A nurse that Jackie worked with for 15 years now has terminal lung cancer and asks Jackie to end her life. Jackie and Kevin talk to Grace about going to a private school. Dr. Cooper’s two mothers (played by Swoozie Kurtz and Blythe Danner) come to the hospital when one of them has stomach pain.
Episode 7: Steak Knife: Eddie gives Jackie a bracelet and it doesn’t go over well. Dr. O’Hara is acting strangely. Jackie does not realize it is the one year anniversary for her and Eddie.
Episode 8: Pupil: Jackie has to deal with being four nurses short. Grace calls Jackie from her first day at her new school in a panic.
Episode 9: Nosebleed: With her drug use continuing Jackie’s nose starts bleeding. Jackie goes into work despite the fact Grace does not want her to. Mrs. Akalitis still has the baby boy no one has claimed.
Episode 10: Ring Finger: Jackie and Grace start taking a dance class together. Dr. O’Hara and Jackie are still on the outs. Jackie has a hard time getting her wedding ring off at work.
Episode 11: Pill-o-Matix: Instead of a Pixus the hospital gets the cheaper Pill-o-matix and everyone is trained on it. Dr. Cooper breaks up with Melissa (played by Jill Flint) telling her he has feelings for another woman. Gloria and a famous TV movie critic make a connection.
Episode 12: Health Care + Cinema: Gloria gets stuck in an elevator. Mr. Nutterman (played by Victor Garber) is in a coma because of Zoey’s mistake. Eddie sees Jackie with her family so he goes into Kevin’s bar the next day.
Special Features: All About Edie, Unsung Heroes, Showtime Trailer, Prepping Nurse Jackie, Nurse Stories, DVD Credits