We’re now at a point in Nurse Jackie that feels like the calm before the storm. Jackie seems to have blunted whatever impact there was to be had during the season two finale when O’Hara and Kevin confronted her about her drug abuse. Though there was a slight threat of both of Jackie’s worlds being rocked by that kind of betrayal, she seems to have gotten her best friend talking to her again and her husband is over the moon at the prospect of her going to AA/NA meetings.
To put it simply, Jackie Peyton is the master manipulator to end all master manipulators and the first six episodes of season three have been sort of a long-form reset button for our favorite pill popping nurse. But how long can it last? Will Jackie break this season?
Considering how messy the first two finales were, something big will be going down in the next six episodes of the Showtime dark comedy (yes, it's a comedy; it's been quite funny this season). Season one had the did-she-or-didn’t-she overdose cliffhanger to go with season two’s botched intervention, so there’s bound to be something major in the pipeline. I don’t mind the show undoing some of what happened last season if the season three finale is as effective as I think it can be (and if they stay with what happens there through more than a couple of episodes next season, should the show be renewed), but I do want to see some serious mucking up of Jackie’s life.
If it were up to me, I’d want to see Jackie putting meetings/treatment on her already overstuffed platter or I’d want to see Jackie completely bottom out thanks to the mysterious man she’s encountered twice this season already. Should Jackie go to meetings and try to get treatment, it’d give her one more secret to hide from her co-workers, plus it’d be interesting to watch her “do battle” with various counselors and fellow patients. She seems to think she can get sober by herself and to have her deal with people trying to tell her what to do would really put her on the defensive. Having Jackie truly bottom out, on the other hand, could set the series up for so many good plotlines in the future. Not only would the fall itself be remarkable to watch, but seeing Jackie have to hide it from everyone and pick up the pieces afterward would give Edie Falco the weighty material that she seems to thrive on.
There seems to be fear of change with some Showtime shows, so they tend to keep their anti-heroes on a continual loop of abuse-intended recovery-abuse for the duration of the show. I’d point out that Weeds burned down the original incarnation of their show in season three and we’re heading into season seven this summer, so all is not lost by changing the dynamic of the show. I love Nurse Jackie and I think it has some absolutely brilliant performances, but I hope the rest of season three reaches even farther and puts our anti-heroine in uncomfortable situations that she can’t instantly wriggle herself free from.
Have you been enjoying Nurse Jackie this season? What do you hope happens the rest of season three? What role do you think Kelly will play?
