Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

An Exercise In Nonsense

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

When Nurse Jackie was originally on the air, I didn't have an interest in it. I was never a huge fan of Edie Falco, but this show changed my mind.I have to admit, it wasn't the first episode that got me hooked, it took me a few episode to get the gist of what was going on for me to really start to love it. Each character's depictions truly represented a real life person. All the characters were relatable in one way or another. You could definitely feel for these characters. Even though Jackie did some deplorable things to support her habit, you could really see that her job and her daughters were super important to her. Even though her relationship with her husband it rocky, she will always care about him and her for her. It is very realistic to see the evolution of all the character's relationships between each other.After season one, I couldn't put my iPad down. I watched and watched to see what would happen during each episode. I truly love each character and each episode brought something new to the table.It was a great show, and I would love for it to either be resurrected or spun off some how.

Edie Falco, such a great mob wife on "The Sopranos," here does a turn as "Nurse Jackie" in this series, with each episode a half hour.Jackie works at All Saints Hospital in New York City. She's a wife and mother of two daughters. Her husband Kevin (Dominic Fumosa) owns a bar. Jackie is well liked, in fact beloved, by patients and staff alike at All Saints. There's her boss Gloria (Anna Deveare Smith), Eleanor (Eve Best), Zoey (Merritt Weaver), Thor (Stephen Wallam), Fitch (Peter Facinelli), and her some time boyfriend, the pharmacist Eddie (Paul Schulze).What most people aren't aware of is that Jackie is a major drug addict who pops pills constantly - she steals them, fakes prescriptions, buys them, suckers people out of them, whatever she has to do. She hides them at home. The sad thing is, she's an excellent nurse, a caring person, and a loving mother.As her condition worsens, her life falls apart.We follow Jackie through detox and 12-step meetings and watch her go through a series of friends and lovers. Her ability to lie right to people's faces is shocking, and the way she compartmentalizes her life is striking. When her husband visits her at the hospital, Zooey says to him, "Jackie isn't married." Even those who work closely with her don't really know her.Edie Falco is amazing as Jackie, who has you believing there is nothing wrong with her when she's high as a kite, and when she's clean, makes you suspect she's high. She is surrounded by a wonderful cast, the best being award-winner Merritt Weaver as Zooey, a nursing student who idolizes Jackie. Most of the actors have a background in stage work: Eve Best is from the British theater, Stephen Wallam from musicals, Anna Deavere Smith does remarkable one-woman shows, besides TV, stage and film.I was really sorry to see Eve Best go, with her insane Manolo Blahnik shoes and vivacious British humor.The series is filled with humor, sadness, surprises, darkness, with realistic hospital situations, though the show doesn't revolve around the hospital. Through it all, Falco gives an honest performance in her portrayal of a woman who lives a destructive secret life but puts on a normal face. It's so realistic it's chilling.

Where to start?This intelligent, half-hour Showtime offering has its comic moments, but trust me, this is NOT a comedy."Nurse Jackie," a brilliant ensemble series, is worth your time and attention, for several reasons.1. EDIE FALCO. Need I say more?2. Some of the best writing to be found. Dialogues ring true; situations are (mainly) plausible.3. Incredibly accurate portrayals of both ER life and addiction. As a nurse myself, I can say this is the most on-point show created in terms of authenticity.4. Highly entertaining comic relief from the talented Merrit Wever. The show would not shine as brightly without her. Watch her superb physicality in some of her scenes. Wever is a gem! She deserved that Emmy. 5. Although some episodes/plot arcs were a bit tedious, overall this series is lean and taut.After a tremendous finale (truly perfect, by my reckoning), I felt somewhat emotionally overwhelmed and in need of some discussion with others. But I live in Asia, and nobody I know watches it. So I lurked on a few forums...The most astute observation I came across said this: Jackie's primary addiction was to nursing; her secondary addiction--drugs--only facilitated (in her mind, at least) her ability to pursue nursing, albeit in an obsessive, all-encompassing way.I've encountered nurses like this. I feel it has something to do with entering a profession that is under-validated, undervalued, and less visible than MDs, that finds some nurses becoming too intensely identified with their roles as healers/martyrs/unsung "saints." (Jackie was oft called a saint, and it was an important thread throughout).But here's the kicker: (IMO) This is NOT a learned reaction stemming from their "secondary" roles to MDs; rather, it is a career (and life) CHOICE and DECISION (albeit unconsciously, in most cases) to pursue the saint//martyr role from the beginning. I've seen this choice played out with many nurses and EMTs. Looking at Jackie's obsession through this lens makes me truly appreciate the nuanced writing and acting that brings this subtlety to light.Commit to this engaging series and just muddle through the occasional sub-par bits. It's truly worth it. And watch it with another/others if you can. You might just need some "talk therapy" when it's all over!

Good premise. Decent first season. Then, not unlike too many other shows that start out with a lot of potential Nurse Jackie quickly runs off the rails and never gets back on track. This show suffers from the all-too-typical "caricatures rather than characters" syndrome. There are simply too many one dimensional cartoon characters in this show to even begin to take it seriously. "Coop". Zoey. Thor. All cartoonish immature 1 dimensional clowns. And that's simply unacceptable. So is its schizo nature of taking itself way too seriously then not taking itself seriously enough. And so is the problem of having no one to really care that much about. So in short, this show is neither here nor there, and as such, the net result is a big waste of time.Furthermore the continuity from one season to the next is hands down THE WORST of any TV series I've ever seen. It's like the writers/directors/editors/producers were all on PCP. The gaps and unexplained events from one season to the next are appalling and any semblance of suspension of disbelief is totally destroyed.But possibly the biggest problem with this show is that it SEEMS to be focusing on addiction, when in fact, it's the lead character is a sociopath who is also an addict. Jackie has no conscience whatsoever, and her persistent incorrigible behavior makes it impossible to want anything for her except incarceration. Rarely has one TV character generated so much hatred.My suggestion? Please...pull the plug on this rotting comatose vegetable already.