Hi. As mentioned earlier, I don't have time to properly review tonight's "Nurse Jackie" because I'm busy preparing for tomorrow's start of press tour, but I do have a few quick thoughts on this one: 1)Ruby Jerins, who plays Jackie's older daughter Grace, is a terrific young actress. I suspect that if she and/or her parents want her to continue acting as she gets older, we're going to see a lot of her. 2)Always nice to see Andrea Martin working, and amusing to see Jill Flint (who's currently playing a doc on "Royal Pains") and Alexie Gilmore (who played an ER doc on Fox's short-lived "New Amsterdam") as her bickering, non-medically-trained daughters. 3)Merritt Wever continues to be hysterical ("I have, like, two more questions"), and it seems like they're setting up Zoey to figure out Jackie's pill problem through her note-taking.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Nurse Jackie, "Pupil": Don't kid a kidder
Hi. As mentioned earlier, I don't have time to properly review tonight's "Nurse Jackie" because I'm busy preparing for tomorrow's start of press tour, but I do have a few quick thoughts on this one: 1)Ruby Jerins, who plays Jackie's older daughter Grace, is a terrific young actress. I suspect that if she and/or her parents want her to continue acting as she gets older, we're going to see a lot of her. 2)Always nice to see Andrea Martin working, and amusing to see Jill Flint (who's currently playing a doc on "Royal Pains") and Alexie Gilmore (who played an ER doc on Fox's short-lived "New Amsterdam") as her bickering, non-medically-trained daughters. 3)Merritt Wever continues to be hysterical ("I have, like, two more questions"), and it seems like they're setting up Zoey to figure out Jackie's pill problem through her note-taking.
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9 comments:
I agree with your assessment of Ruby Jerins - she's a natural, with no hint of kid actor artifice.
Loved Zoey's quick-thinking to get out of her confrontation with the temp nurse: "Flashlight tag! You're it!"
Grace seemed so happy when Jackie started singing, then her little face darkened. That was some good acting by Jerins.
I can never help but harken back to the question posed to Jackie several episodes ago: If you could choose between Eddie and your husband, who would you choose? And Jackie was stumped. That is a fine premise by which to mine drama, except for one thing. Like all of the dramatic arcs in this sloppy series, it makes no sense at all. Outside of getting drugs from him, Jackie has shown less concern for Eddie than she has for the guy screaming out his window, or the woman looking to get a pregnancy test at the ER (hell, at least she gave her $15). Jackie handles the Eddie situation with the romantic prowess of a true sociopath, and we have yet to see a single flaw in the man she is married to...... that Eddie continues to take this awful treatment with a smile and a "shucks, that's ok, Jackie" reduces him to the same banal level of every other male character in this "drama" save for Momo.
Eddie finding out that Jackie has been hiding such a huge piece of her life from him had dramatic potential, something that this show both lacks and fails to capitalize upon. The fact that in every episode we endure yet another guest character who mirrors the problems of the leads is tired and and ham-handed, and the most heart-wrenching part of this show is knowing that it will probably suck up the next five potentially golden years of Edie Falco's talent with more of this directionless drivel.
I couldn't really work out why Grace was so happy when Jackie started singing and then became sad. Were the lyrics that sad? Can she see a truth about her mother that other's can't?
Oh and it does seem odd in all her years at the hospital that no one knows she has a kid. Has she never had to leave in an emergency? Been called by a daughter. I'm really enjoying the show (Zoe is fantastic) but that one lie seems unnecessary and unbelievable. BTW - love your recaps Alan - thanks for all your work.
I thought Grace was smiling because her mother was fulfilling her wish that she sing, and then became sad because *she* identified with the lyrics. Or thought that her mother was singing them especially for her.
I watched this a week ago and don't even remember what the song was, but that's what I was thinking at the time.
It was "Up on the Roof."
Ah, yes.
When this old world starts getting me down,
And people are just too much for me to face—
Maybe Jackie just made an ironic choice (as far as her own situation goes), but her daughter was identifying with it without her realizing it.
Any which way, it was a great scene. I liked this ep. And while my warning lights went on for Zoey in the pilot, I've looked forward to every scene she's in since the second ep.
The screen cap you chose broke my heart as I was watching. I'm curious to see how far into the darkness they are willing to go with the "effed up" kid arc. In real life, there would be real potential for tragedy. I also think most parents (in real life, and especially in the realm of working in healthcare) would have put that child on medication right now.
Re: Heisen
I don't look at it as a choice between Eddie and her husband as a romantic choice. Rather it's a choice between drugs and her family. We can all say it's an easy choice, but many people can tell you it's not.
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