A Sober Jackie is a Happy Jackie. Review: Nurse Jackie – “Smile”

Season 5, Episode 3

Air Date: Sunday, April 28, 2013, 9 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

Kevin accuses Jackie of using.

After a rather contentious divorce, it looks like Jackie (Edie Falco) and Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) are finally becoming friends again. This is short-lived, however, when Jackie accidentally rear-ends Kevin after they leave their divorce mediation conference, landing her in All Saints.

It’s so nice to see Jackie and Kevin connecting again, making little jokes to each other and looking like the Jackie and Kevin of old, instead of carping at each other as has been the norm since Kevin found out Jackie was addicted to drugs. Why, oh why, do the writers take this away from us after a mere five minutes? I had such hope for them.

I love Verelli’s sense of humor. Apparently, so does Jackie.

I suppose it’s so Jackie can connect with Sergeant Frank Verelli (Adam Ferrara), who comes to the hospital to take her statement. Ferrara, despite his more serious dramatic role as Chief ‘Needles’ Nelson on Rescue Me, is most well-known for his comedic turns in the films Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Definitely Maybe, and the TV series The Job, The King of Queens, and Ugly Betty. He is also a two-time nominee for best male stand-up by the American Comedy Awards. Signing Ferrara as Officer Verelli is quite a coup—and a successful one if Verelli’s initial meeting with Jackie is any indication. Ferrara and Falco have immediate chemistry, and play off one another beautifully. I’m glad Jackie agrees to go out with him; I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile as much as she does when she’s with him. It’s nice to see her so happy.

Thor and Zoey debate over who's going to go into Jackie's room.

Thor and Zoey can’t believe their ears and debate over who’s going to go into Jackie’s room.

Once an addict, always an addict—at least in Kevin’s eyes. Even though Jackie is “ten months sober,” Kevin thinks the accident happened because she was high. With Kevin yelling so loudly at Jackie in the hospital, someone needs to intervene. The calisthenics Zoey (Merritt Wever) performs before approaching Kevin cracked me up! No one can make me laugh by simply moving their body the way Wever does. At times, she reminds of Lucille Ball, the queen of physical comedy.

I chuckled again when Zoey tries to treat Jackie as just another patient. There’s no way in hell Jackie could ever be considered that. The look she gives Zoey when she tries to take routine information and tests…well, you know the phrase, “If looks could kill?” Zoey should be six feet under by now! And Jackie is no better with Gloria (Anna Deavere Smith) but, to be fair, how could Gloria forget to put a tourniquet on Jackie’s arm prior to taking blood? Gloria’s memory problems are getting worse, and I fear where the show is taking her.

I love Thor. He calls it how he sees it.

I think Coop (Peter Facinelli) might finally be onto Carrie (Betty Gilpin). Not only does he use the perfect situation to assign her to Jackie’s care, he refuses to talk to a patient’s father for her. Don’t you just love the little smirk on Coop’s face? Good for him—he doesn’t often get the opportunity to one-up someone. Carrie is unbelievably useless; she doesn’t even know how to raise Jackie’s hospital bed or move a piece of equipment out of the way. Thor (Stephen Wallem) to the rescue. As he says, “Let me move your machinery. I am everyone’s giant.” Wallem is perfect in his role. He is understatedly funny in almost every scene he’s in, making me laugh week after week.

Additional thoughts:

You know those silly looking shoes that have individual spaces for each of your toes? I think they’re called “Body Gloves.” Well, the conversation Eddie (Paul Schulze) and Thor have when a man wearing a pair walks past them gave me a good belly laugh. Well, that and just the look of the shoes on the man made me giggle.

Nurse Jackie, despite being set in a hospital, isn’t exactly known for the guts and gore usually associated with hospital life. But the graphic image of an Empire State Building souvenir stuck in a patient’s back is really disgusting.

Memorable lines:

Gloria to Jackie: “Nurses are the worst God damn patients.”

Thor to Eddie: “I would rather sleep with a woman than wear athletic toe shoes.”

Thor to Carrie about Jackie: “Her heart is made of stone. Write that on her chart.”

Verelli: “So, you wanna have dinner?”

Jackie: “Uh, I…I can’t right now.”

Verelli: “That’s good. ‘Cause I don’t wanna have dinner with you at 1 in the afternoon.”

I’m a bit scared for Jackie. Not only does she have the prescription for Oxy that Carrie stupidly gave her for pain, but Jackie looks like she’s in sheer discomfort climbing the steps to check out Zoey’s new studio apartment. Plus, with All Saints being as understaffed as they are, Dr. Prentiss (Morris Chestnut) gives Jackie a bunch of blank, signed forms so she can order whatever supplies and tests she thinks necessary. I think the theme of season five of Nurse Jackie is temptation—as in, let’s see how many situations we can put Jackie in to entice her to start using again. Let’s hope she doesn’t succumb! I like this new Jackie.

Tune in to Nurse Jackie Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

Follow the show on Twitter @Sho_Network using the hash tag #NurseJackie. Like Nurse Jackie on Facebook, and stay up to date with the series on its official website.

More Twitter follows for you: Coop @peterfacinelli, Gloria @AnnaDeavereS, and Dr. Prentiss @Morris_Chestnut.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!