Wednesday, June 10, 2009

#1 - "Nurse Jackie" - Season 1, Episode 1

First, it stars Edie Falco. LOVE her. You throw Edie into the mix, she's gonna make it work if she can, so it's up to the producers to muck it up. Happily, somebody decent is in control. This pilot episode managed to walk the very fine line of balancing the good and bad in a character. No BS about making the character saintly so we can forgive her sins. Just show us what she's going through, and let the chips fall. Yay.

The supporting characters are very intriguing. Lots of potential stories. All of them are flawed to some degree, didn't really see a rote depiction, with the slightly possible exception of the new "nurse trainee". Be careful with that one. Nurse Jackie does need a newbie to the scene that can grow with her, but don't make it trite. Watching the previews after the episode, it seems the trainee has some punch in the future epiodes. Again with the "yay".

Best scene? Well, there were actually quite a few that I liked, but for some reason the one that really sticks is when Nurse Jackie is on the street, tells one of those "bike messenger types" to be safe out there (you have to see the episode to understand why), he spews a rude response, and Jackie takes something out of her purse and punctures his bike tire. That's the essence of the show thus far, she's trying to do the right thing, don't be an ass about it.

There is a surprise twist, of course. Up until the end of the episode, circumstances lead you to believe that Jackie is a single woman. Then, hello, we find out in the final moments that she has an apparent husband and two daughters. Which totally spins everything you've seen up to that point.

And therein lies a great character. Layer upon layer, possible secrets, and not always nice revelations. Fingers crossed, hope this one works. Seriously.

No comments:

Post a Comment