Nurse Jackie is a good comedy because it is based on real life and nothing is more funny, horrible, tragic, {adjective here} than real life. Jackie is a great nurse who is not open to personal relationships even though she has the compassion of 100 people (making her a great nurse). She treats herself like crap while her patients get her best. Problem is she is hooked on pills. Pain killers seem to be the drug of choice but she isn't super particular just has the tolerance of a horse. She chomps down 80-100 mg oxy pills like a kid does gummy bears. She chews and snorts them to get the maximum effect from the dosage. Challenge is that this makes her an addict which comes with all the character flaws of an addict; lying, stealing, etc., doing anything to prevent running out of drugs. I think they go a little light on the severity of detox the few times she does. She has herself convinced that she does a better job when high, not an unusual self perception for an addict. The show has a lot of plot lines that take us through a well written story of her life and the supporting cast; mostly her co-workers at a city hospital's ER (which throws in its own set of funny and gross situations). Bad doctors accidentally killing people or being prevented from killing them through the nurses help. Some of the doctors grow and become good while others don't, but it is part of the humor.
Jackie bottoms out, losing her family, children and almost her job; the thing that is more important to her than anything but her drugs. That pushes her to get sober and then use again in the hell of faking sobriety. They don't really inject a lot of 12 step BS. in the show. But that is because Jackie does go through detox for a couple of weeks and say she is in recovery but doesn't actually participate in recovery to where she even knows how the program works. She is though a master manipulator and the show entertains as she jumps through ever increasingly difficult hoops to keep her supplied with drugs and working. She has one person she seems to truly care about, but even that is questionable. When he throws himself under the bus to protect her from prosecution she reacts by rejecting him because it messes with her drug source.
The show evolves over the seasons but the underlying story is that of an addict getting increasingly worse providing a lot of laughs in the process. You can't help but love her flaws and all because you are seeing life through her eyes. The end is tough. Having again dodged a bullet successfully keeping her nursing license by completing a probation program disaster strikes. A dealer who had his stash stolen runs into the ER with a gun looking for it. A doctor talks him out of believing the thief is there and he runs off. But Jackie realizes the likely culprit is a reoccurring character that comes into the ER with a heroine OD because it explains why the dealer would think the thief was there. In this final episode and scene Jackie realizes this guy would do such a thing and runs into the men's room finding our junkie with the huge stash he stole. She takes it from him ,saves him and sets him up in the ER. This occurs during a celebration for the ER treating their last patient and locking their doors (as the hospital is shutting down having been sold to be converted to condo's). She slips into the bathroom and snorts a big pile of the heroine she stole from the addict. At this point she appears to walk out of the party in a euphoric state and go join a large group of people in times square in meditation appearing like the show was ending with her getting worse and moving on... but then suddenly we are back in the ER where all her friends are trying to revive her as she really came out from snorting all the heroine and collapsed. The show then ends with her staring into the camera as we fade to credits unsure if she got revived or died from an OD. Something for fans to debate. I took it as her dying. Either way it signaled the end. Either her life ended or her addiction ended because she couldn't have O.D.'ed and continued on to her next job as a nurse as she would have lost her license after a heroine OD and her life would have been forever changed thus killing the character. Little difference as she either died or the character died thus ending the story.
Great show with a lot of realism that goes where most don't with an ending leaving questions that regardless of the answer lead to the same ultimate end for those who understand the path of addiction. Good writing and a painful subject turned into great entertainment taking a horrible subject and making us laugh as we go along for the ride. Unusual and I'm sure for many who don't know the realities of addiction much of it likely lost on them. But the show is top notch regardless of the viewers knowledge. Though based on the popularity enough people have been touched by the disease to know enough to get it... and getting it is worth the trip!
Jackie bottoms out, losing her family, children and almost her job; the thing that is more important to her than anything but her drugs. That pushes her to get sober and then use again in the hell of faking sobriety. They don't really inject a lot of 12 step BS. in the show. But that is because Jackie does go through detox for a couple of weeks and say she is in recovery but doesn't actually participate in recovery to where she even knows how the program works. She is though a master manipulator and the show entertains as she jumps through ever increasingly difficult hoops to keep her supplied with drugs and working. She has one person she seems to truly care about, but even that is questionable. When he throws himself under the bus to protect her from prosecution she reacts by rejecting him because it messes with her drug source.
The show evolves over the seasons but the underlying story is that of an addict getting increasingly worse providing a lot of laughs in the process. You can't help but love her flaws and all because you are seeing life through her eyes. The end is tough. Having again dodged a bullet successfully keeping her nursing license by completing a probation program disaster strikes. A dealer who had his stash stolen runs into the ER with a gun looking for it. A doctor talks him out of believing the thief is there and he runs off. But Jackie realizes the likely culprit is a reoccurring character that comes into the ER with a heroine OD because it explains why the dealer would think the thief was there. In this final episode and scene Jackie realizes this guy would do such a thing and runs into the men's room finding our junkie with the huge stash he stole. She takes it from him ,saves him and sets him up in the ER. This occurs during a celebration for the ER treating their last patient and locking their doors (as the hospital is shutting down having been sold to be converted to condo's). She slips into the bathroom and snorts a big pile of the heroine she stole from the addict. At this point she appears to walk out of the party in a euphoric state and go join a large group of people in times square in meditation appearing like the show was ending with her getting worse and moving on... but then suddenly we are back in the ER where all her friends are trying to revive her as she really came out from snorting all the heroine and collapsed. The show then ends with her staring into the camera as we fade to credits unsure if she got revived or died from an OD. Something for fans to debate. I took it as her dying. Either way it signaled the end. Either her life ended or her addiction ended because she couldn't have O.D.'ed and continued on to her next job as a nurse as she would have lost her license after a heroine OD and her life would have been forever changed thus killing the character. Little difference as she either died or the character died thus ending the story.
Great show with a lot of realism that goes where most don't with an ending leaving questions that regardless of the answer lead to the same ultimate end for those who understand the path of addiction. Good writing and a painful subject turned into great entertainment taking a horrible subject and making us laugh as we go along for the ride. Unusual and I'm sure for many who don't know the realities of addiction much of it likely lost on them. But the show is top notch regardless of the viewers knowledge. Though based on the popularity enough people have been touched by the disease to know enough to get it... and getting it is worth the trip!
