‘Jackie’: Things Are Looking Up

The third episode of Nurse Jackie was the best so far. Several subplots were deftly juggled, and I got the sense that the harried lifestyle of a nurse and parent (not to mention one carrying on an affair and with a drug habit) entails stress coming at her from all sides at a rapid pace. In particular, there seemed to be a subtle polarity between Jackie’s gracious support for a dying old man refusing treatment and his wife, suggesting a nurse’s pragmatic comfort with cruel existential facts, and, on the other hand, her bafflement with her ten-year-old daughter’s growing and seemingly inexplicable morbid anxiety. Jackie exhibits a rare maturity and competence, but also episodes of bewilderment, dread, and feelings of helplessness. (Does her daughter’s anxiety have something to do with her mother’s problems? It will be interesting to see if this is the case.)

I was less impressed with nurse-in-training Zoey’s again being used as a figure of ridicule. The writing and characterization with her so far are broader, for comic purposes, and less indiidualized. Coop’s character also seems more than a bit absurd. When I have enjoyed this show, it hasn’t been because of its allegedly comedic moments but because of Jackie’s character development and Falco’s portrayal.