Showtime’s new series, Nurse Jackie [Mondays, 10:30/9:30C], may be even darker in tone, and more grimly hilarious than Weeds, the show it follows on the network’s Monday night summer schedule. Jackie Peyton [Edie Falco] is a dedicated nurse who is not afraid to tear a strip off a young intern who thinks too highly of himself; mentor a new RN; lock horns with the bitchy ER administrator, or cheat on her husband. She loves her kids; needs pharmaceutical aid to get through her day [What do you call a nurse with a bad back? Unemployed.]; and somehow seems to be able to make all the various strands of her life wind together – or maybe not… From the six episodes that Showtime provided for review purposes, it’s clear that Jackie is simultaneously incredibly noble and horribly flawed.
At home, Jackie adores her daughters, Grace [Ruby Jerins] and Fiona [Daisy Tahan], and seems very happy with husband Kevin [Dominic Fumusa] – though they worry about Grace’s seeming anxiety. At work, she is frustrated by seeming golden boy Dr. Fitch “Coop” Cooper [Peter Facinelli]; has been assigned a new nurse, Zoey Barkow [Merrit Weaver]; deals with by-the-book ER administrator Gloria Akalitus [Anna Devere Smith], and seeks solace from pharmacist Eddie Walzer [Paul Schulze] in two ways – sex and painkillers. Only Dr. Eleanor O’Hara [Eve Best], the seemingly stoic Brit on staff, shares her sense of humor and lack of sentimentality. Naturally, they’re best friends – despite their polar opposite backgrounds.
Nurse Jackie is a fast-paced show that captures the feel of the ER in a far less glamorous, more blue-collar way than we’ve seen before. Trust me, ext to Nurse Jackie, St. Elsewhere looks glamorous! Creators Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem, who have combined to write four of season one’s twelve episodes, have done their homework. The series, perhaps of its darkness, reflects the reality of working in such emotionally fraught careers and circumstances. Very little of Nurse Jackie feels out of place.
The writing is so good that the series already has a stable of quality directors, including Craig Zisk [who directs five of the season one eps [and the first three]; Steve Buscemi [three eps], who directed some memorable eps of The Sopranos; Paul Feig [two eps], who created Freaks and Geeks, and Scott Ellis [two eps including the season finale], late of The Closer and 30 Rock.
In the Nurse Jackie press kit, Brixius states that “nurses are heroes; they’re like firemen” – so it’s probably not surprising that the television character who has the most in common in common with Jackie might well be Rescue Me’s Tommy Galvin, in that they maybe care too much and have loves that are not being led in the most healthy manner, and that they don’t suffer fools – at all.
For her first gig after The Sopranos, Edie Falco has not only found a winner, she’s found a role that may actually make people forget Carmela Soprano. Nurse Jackie is that good!
Final Grade: A+
Eclipse Review by Sheldon Wiebe
Posted June 7, 2009