Nurse Jackie vs. Nurse Zoey

I’m not sure how you all felt about the new season of Nurse Jackie, but all together I am quite disappointed with it so far.   First things first, the premiere seemed like the shortest half hour of TV ever! Yes?  And that was sans commercials!  I felt that there was way too much of a whole lot of nothing going on, and it all just happened too quickly for me.

The show started where last season finished, and not that I really ever sympathized with Jackie before, but I just felt that this season she crossed a line. I don’t even feel for her character anymore. She’s a terrible wife, a questionable mother, and a bad friend. Her only redeeming quality, ironically, was that she’s still a good nurse. I mean, an unnecessary CT scan might not fly in the real world (hey, we all can dream in TV land a little!) but doing it so a little boy can see his brain? Pretty cool. Sitting with a father who’s about to lose his son? That’s what we do. She might not be the most graceful, or follow all the rules of therapeutic communication, but she gets the job done and sticks up for the patient.

The story line was a little full of itself, I thought. Trying to get too much information out all at once. But I must say that this season, as in last. My favorite character is still Zoey. Last season I related to her as the quirky student. Even though she was a new grad back then, her personality and role as a nurse was still developing, and that was very real. She’s still quirky and odd, but you can tell she is more comfortable in her skin (thought I think we can thank Lenny for a bit of this too). And while (I hope!) I’m not as freakishly awkward in the clinical setting as Zoey, I can definitely relate to her and her “newbie -ness.”  And hands down, she was the main source of much needed comic relief in this episode.

What did you think? Students – can you relate to Zoey, or do you think she’s over the top? Nurses – what’s your take on Jackie as a nurse?