NURSE JACKIE

SEASON 1 EPISODE 8

“PUPIL”

More fun and adventures in store for Nurse Jackie and the staff at All Saints Hospital in episode 8, brilliantly directed again by Steve Buscemi, entitled “Pupil”.

Jackie arrives to work only to have Mrs. Akalitus inform her that due to budget cuts, she is 4 nurses short, then introduces Jackie to a temp Sam, who’s trying to take insurance information from a Mrs. Greenfield (guest star Andrea Martin) who was hit by a car and has a head wound. Sam doesn’t appear too bright, so Jackie takes over. Jackie informs Zoey she’s going to be on her own today and she needs to do better than the time she gave a drug addict six percocet for a non-existent broken finger.

Mrs. Akalitis is still looking after the abandoned baby from last week. She was going to call social services to get the baby, so why is she still keeping it around? I think it’s just wonderful to see a different, dare I say, human side to her. I quite like it myself, but as we know, she too was a nurse, and it just comes second nature to her to be nurturing.

Mrs. Greenfield is taken for a CAT scan and wants Dr. Cooper to meet her daughter Melissa when he comes back, but he isn’t answering his pages (again). When Jackie finally locates Cooper and has to yell at him again to start using his pager, she gets a call from Grace at school after having a panic attack. He sees this as an opportunity to snap back at her, about the way she talks to him, she tells him to shut up because she’s talking to her kid. He shuts up. Of course, even though she asked him to keep the information to himself, he runs off to tell Eddie.

After Zoey rolls an enormous man down the hallway and accidentally goes over temp nurse Sam’s foot, and he never even flinched, she notices that he is glassy-eyed and informs Jackie she thinks that Sam may be on something.

At lunch, Jackie informs Dr. O’Hara about Grace’s panic attack at school and about Cooper finding out she has a kid in the first place. Unfortunately, she is unaware that Eddie also knows this to be true until she pays him a visit later on and he asks how her kid is doing.

Mrs. Greenfield needs surgery but seems more concerned about introducing her daughter Melissa to Dr. Cooper. Cooper tracks down her other daughter Amy in the hall and asks her if she thinks her sister would go out with him. What a way this man has with women, huh?

Armed with her new evidence about temp nurse Sam, Jackie tells him he has two choices. He can leave now or go up to employee services and pee in a cup. Either way, she doesn’t want to see him again. As she’s walking away he says “it takes one to know one.”

Jackie drops by Eddie, exhausted. He asks how her kid is. She apologizes and tells her she can explain when she’s ready. He asks if there’s anything else he should know about, and she says ‘No’. I guess she forgot about her husband Kevin and younger daughter Fiona?

At Kevin’s bar, Jackie’s name is called to the open mike. She resists, but relents when Kevin tells her Grace put her name in. She sings “Up on the Roof” and watches as her daughter smiles, but only for a moment and then her reality returns.

What is in store for Jackie and the staff at All Saints Hospital next time?

Stay tuned and keep it here for more!

As always, your comments are appreciated and most welcome, and…

Until Next Time!

Michael Queenstown

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NURSE JACKIE

SEASON 1 EPISODE 9

“NOSEBLEED”

Jackie and Kevin take the girls to the park. Fiona has a fit when one of her balloons pops. She has one and Grace has two, so Grace lets one of hers go so they both have 1 balloon.  Awwwwwwwwww. How sweet of Grace. Maybe she is getting better? Don’t bet on it, folks.

At lunch Grace worries about germs. See? I said don’t bet on it. Grace wants Mom to not go to work, and Jackie thinks maybe she should spend some time with Grace. Kevin tells her he will handle it. Grace wants the hospital to burn down. Then what, Grace? Mom and Dad can’t send you to that pricey Catholic school to exorcise whatever devil it is that’s bothering you!

On her way to the hospital Jackie meets a homeless man she knows and has treated before. She watches as he collapses on the street. She rushes to help and she notices some blood. It’s coming from her nose! When they get the homeless man Mr. Everitt to the ER, Dr. O’Hara comments that one of the man’s feet will have to be amputated. Mrs. Akalitus has to pop in and remind them that this was a hospital and not a shelter, before returning to her office to hang out with the unclaimed baby and groove to some Billie Holiday music.

Dr. Cooper gets a visit from Melissa Greenfield from last week’s episode, who brings him a bag lunch.

In the ER, paramedics bring in a stoned kid who’s brain dead from a car accident.  Cooper is not answering his pages so Jackie goes through the kids pockets to see if he has a organ donor card. She claims to have found one, when in all actuality, it was a PETA membership card.

Mrs. Akalitus questions Mo-mo in her office about if any of his gay friends have ever adopted any kids and if so, how. She would appreciate it if he could find out for her.
Dr. Cooper, as usual, is nowhere to be found and not answering any of his pages, as usual. In the waiting room Jackie has a run-in with a snooty woman who wants her boys head lice treated. Turns out she has an upper-class address and won’t take her boys to their regular hospital or Doctor and she won’t treat them at home because she doesn’t want to touch them. Jackie treats the boys, and then has 6 cases of lice shampoo sent to the woman’s home. Without a bag!  You gotta love this woman!!
Mo Mo tells Jackie the brain dead pot kids’ parents are against organ donation, and Cooper is still not answering his pages!!

A man from child services tells Mrs. Akalitus that they found the parents of the abandoned baby and they have come forward. At this point Akalitus is torn about handing the baby over to them, especially after finding out the baby’s name is Dalton!

Eddie reveals to Jackie that he would like to meet her kid sometime, and maybe move their relationship to the next level. Not so sure how that’s going to sit with Kevin!

Dr. Cooper’s signature is needed for the paperwork on the brain-dead druggie, but he is nowhere to be found and won’t answer his pager. Jackie finds him locked in exam room 3 with the door locked, making out with Melissa. Jackie then tells the transplant team she saw Cooper verify the patient was brain dead. Just like Dr. Cooper, huh?

Jackie goes to see Dr. O’Hara about her nosebleeds. O’Hara mentions that she has told her sister in Paris about Jackie’s being married and having an affair, because her sister is doing the exact same thing, but isn’t able to juggle the two as well as Jackie. This upsets Jackie since she tells O’Hara these things in the strictest of confidences. O’Hara tells Jackie she thinks of her as a sister as well. “Think again,” Jackie tells her, feeling her privacy has been compromised.

Mrs. Akalitus meets with the parents of baby Dalton, and finds out they left the baby because they needed some free time to themselves. To hopefully teach them a lesson, Mrs. Akalitus tells them their baby is dead. As the parents start to cry, she says “He’s not dead”, and reveals that their baby was in the room the whole time. She warns them not to be stupid next time or she will see that they go to jail. Before they are allowed to leave with their baby, she makes them sign a waiver, freeing the hospital of all liability. I wonder now, how this is going to effect Mrs. Akalitus, and how or if she will take this out on Jackie and her staff?

On her way home, Jackie passes the lounge and sees a movie with Shirley Temple dancing. Jackie calls Grace and suggests they should do more things together like maybe taking cooking or dance classes. Grace agrees. Jackie stops by the lounge and sees people dancing on TV. She calls Grace and suggests they do something together like take cooking or dance classes together. Grace agrees.

All I have to say is this show gets better with each episode, and is quickly becoming one of my favorite new shows on television anywhere.

Your comments and opinions are always appreciated and welcome.

Keep it tuned here for your Nurse Jackie fix!

and, as always…

Until Next Time…

Michael Queenstown

Follow me on Twitter!!