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
Facebook
Twitter