Search - Nurse Jackie: Season One on DVD

Casey L. (Elegante) from LANCASTER, PA
Reviewed on 6/22/2015...

good series

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Jr N. from TAMARAC, FL
Reviewed on 11/4/2014...

Oh yeah .. if you can play the role of a prison guard and then a Soprano you can easily play the role of a nurse in this somewhat hospital comedy situation .. different!

1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Awesome show - can't wait for season 2!

Naomi (Storm) | Texas | 09/01/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having never watched the Sopranos (heresy, I know), I didn't have any preconceived notions of what type of person Edie Falco should or should not be playing. Many of my friends tell me that the character of Nurse Jackie is a far cry from her Carmelo Soprano alter-ego.

Jackie is a full time nurse in a public hospital in New York City. Like most nurses and emergency medical workers, she is overworked and underpaid and trying to make do with what life has handed to her. On the surface, she is hardworking nurse who is a loving mother of two little girls and a devoted wife to Kevin Payton who runs a local bar. Scratch the surface just a little bit and the perfect facade peels away to reveal a drug addicted adulterer who regularly breaks the laws in order to suit her own perceived morals.

Nurse Jackie tackles quite a few heavy subjects during its initial season including assisted suicide, underage children caring for their parents, as well as the rigors of raising children who aren't quite perfect. Medical dramas are a dime a dozen and the comedy versions just always seem to be lacking substance, however the staff writers of Nurse Jackie do a masterful job of mixing the heavy subjects in with very lighthearted, almost slapstick humor.

While the Peyton household hasn't been expanded on very much (honestly you could replace the husband and two little girls with bricks and you probably wouldn't notice much difference), the hospital staff shines in every way. Doctor O'Hara is the archetypal rich doctor as well as the "straight man" for most of Jackie's exploits. While her character was explored a little bit in season one, there wasn't a lot invested yet. Doctor Cooper is the hotshot doctor straight out of Med School looking to make his mark. He's cute and naive and looking to make sure everyone thinks of him as their buddy while trying to become a serious doctor at the same time. Zoey is the nurse counterpart to Cooper; the truly naive nursing student straight from school who hasn't had her spirit crushed by the real world. The rest of the hospital staff, Miss Akalitus, Mo-Mo, and Thor, all play delightful comedic foils throughout the season. The cast list would not be complete without the mention of Eddie, the hospital pharmacist who "supplies" prescription pills to Jackie because he believes he is doing his duty as a good boyfriend. Eddie unfortunately does not know that he is being used by Jackie who has a happy family at home as well as a husband with whom we are led to believe she is still in love with.

Fans of shows like ER will appreciate the drama, however it should be noted that Nurse Jackie is relatively light on the medical science side of the house. While drugs are described, procedures mentioned, there is very little step-by-step-to-recovery type documentation on a per patient level. You'll see gunshot wounds come in, chest tubes inserted, CBC and toxicity reports ordered but not a lot of breakdown into why a doctor orders which test, why they should look at alternatives, etc like in ER. Nurse Jackie was written in order to revolve around the nurse not the doctor, and as such there is a much higher emphasis placed on patient care rather than just medical procedures.

My only gripe with Nurse Jackie is that there is zero conflict resolution throughout the entire season. Season one ended with a cliffhanger and as with all other Showtime/HBO episodic shows, the next season will not premier until sometime in the next year. All of the "will she get caught?" questions that you develop from episode one will still be there after you finish episode twelve (with a few dozen extra questions thrown in by then for good measure). Other than that, Nurse Jackie is a great show, and I suppose that the fact that I want Season Two to start right now! attests to how addicting the series is.
"

Thumbs up from a nurse..

Stephanie M | 02/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a nurse, I love this show. You'd think I'd hate it, due to the fact that Jackie has a drug problem and she cheats on her husband. But, she is actually a good nurse in spite of her flaws. What I like about this show is that nurses aren't painted as helpmaids to the physicians. My problem with many of the medical shows is that they show doctors doing stuff that nurses do on a daily basis and the nurses are all but invisible.


Nurses aren't saints..we are professionals who want to be compensated for the work we do. And we're human. Sometimes, we're tired and cranky. Quite often, we're frustrated with a system that is more about the bottom line than actual patients. That's why Nurse Jackie rocks..because Jackie for all her faults and cynicism still gives a crap. She is a good nurse, and her faults can't change that.

I also enjoy the student nurse character..very realistic.LOL, she has that "deer in the headlights" look that we all had starting out.."

No Conflict Resolution Here - And the Better For It!

Ben Monaghan | Portland, ME USA | 11/03/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For those looking for conflict resolution or some sort of psychological undressing of Jackie - you have the wrong show. Jackie is too hard for that sort of Oprah candy. She has been hardened by the life she has lived in the Emergency Room. Like a soldier on the frontlines of battle, she is undergoing horrific trauma on a daily basis with no time to process or find healthier ways of coping. Clearly she is spiraling towards some sort of crash, which she is doing her best to stem off with drugs. But it is inevitable. This is what drives the show - how close can the writers take Jackie to the brink but not push her over? (When and if they do push her over that brink and into rehad, the show will lose its momentum - not sure what season two will look like.) I don't think the writers intended her to be some sort of "character" tied up in a neat bow of conflict, conflict resolution - hopefully in the third act. This show is more like The Wire, it intends to show life as it is in certain segments of our society and people, flawed people, doing whatever it takes to deal with it and cope - not always successfully. An Emergency Room in Queens is the belly of this beast that is our healthcare system and society - characters like Jackie are intended to reflect the sickness that is the system."