Isn’t it most people’s nightmare that we put our trust and life in someone and they are an addict fighting plenty of demons? This is the case with Jackie Peyton, who is a nurse at All Saints Hospital. Rare is the professional who can perform their duties with skill and accuracy while high as a kite. Luckily for the patients at this hospital Jackie can do just that. That doesn’t mean that slowly but surely there are cracks appearing in her personal and professional life. It seems to be just a question of time when her demons will overtake her.
Most television series based in hospital settings have brought us nurses that are basically saintly. They are there for their patients and continue being practically perfect people at home with their families. Turning that portrayal of nurses on its ear has been Nurse Jackie. Starring Edie Falco (who we previously knew as Carmela on The Sopranos) in the title role, Jackie Peyton works as a nurse at New York City’s All Saints Hospital who is able to work in this demanding profession despite her substance abuse problems. Falco is so good she received multiple Emmy Award nominations for her work on the show.
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.
For the most part, Jackie is one of the more human characters on television today. Jackie is a great nurse but sometimes an awful person. She has flaws, some crazy big ones, though you know at the end of the day her heart is mostly in right place.
Throughout the series Jackie has had her demons to fight with the biggest of her problems being her battle with drugs. Part of her problem continues to be her denial that she has a problem. Most of the disgusting things she has done to others is in her effort to hide her addiction or gain access to drugs. At the end of the day, Jackie wants to be a nurse. Her boss Gloria (played by Anna Deavere Smith) is not as convinced.
Special Features:
-All About Eve
-Nurse Jackie Main Title Montage
-Comfort Food Audio Commentary with Edie Falco, Linda Wallem, Liz Brixius, and Richie Jackson
-Perfecting an Inappropriate Touch
-Monkey Bits Audio Commentary with Edie Falco, Linda Wallem, Liz Brixius, and Richie Jackson
-Gag Reel
