Jackie, the world’s most irresistibly gorgeous, naughty, nurse/man magnet is back to break more young men’s hearts and spirits this season. And you’d have to be as big a pill-popper as Jackie is to believe it for one minute.
Look, I love Edie Falco — and who doesn’t? But to think that every man she meets falls dangerously in love with her character, Nurse Jackie — thief, junkie, disloyal wife and big ho’ who will have sex with anyone with a prescription pad — is the stuff of high sci-fi.
But that’s what we’re asked to buy into every week. In case you didn’t catch the first season, Falco plays a burnt-out, middle-aged nurse and mother who doesn’t do anything to make herself appealing other than snort drugs and cut her hair shorter than Vin Diesel.
This season, her drug habit is worse, her personality is more unpleasant and her patience with the men who fantasize about her is shorter than her hair, and yet, they line up to die for her. Literally.
Fired pharmacist Eddie (Paul Schulze), who is a broken man now that Jackie won’t shag him because he can’t supply her with drugs any longer, is so heartbroken he overdoses when she won’t return his texts. One of the first things he says when he comes out of a coma and sees her is, “You look great by the way.” Not, “Am I dead?” Not, “I’m so sick.” No. It’s all about her gorgeousness.
Worse, in the opening scene, Jackie’s gorgeous, younger husband, Kevin (Dominic Fumusa), stares down into her face as she lies on the beach. Kidding him, she says, “Sorry I’m married.” He looks at her with lust and says, “Lucky guy!”
Then, there’s young Dr. “Coop” (Peter Facinelli). He willingly humiliates himself in front of student nurse Zoey (Merritt Wever) by begging Jackie to attend “Hair” with him after he’s killed himself to get forth row seats just to seduce her. “There is no ‘us.’ Go away,” she seethes at him.
None of these men ever notice the hot nurses and female docs strewn about the hospital like loose change at the vending machine. Seriously.
The few plot lines that don’t revolve around her sex appeal — such as her older daughter becoming everything-aphobic, Eddie becoming crazy, and Dr. O’Hara (Eve Best) moving at warp speed on her self-destruction path — are all so interesting, it makes you long for more.
Too bad it’s come down to just a showboating thing with Falco, which is either the fault of the writers or the actress herself. And that’s a real shame because it gets in the way of what is otherwise a very good show. I mean, the whole idea of a junkie, tough-talking, no-nonsense nurse is great. Too bad she fools around so much.