55 replies to this topic

[TWoP Mars]

From sho.com:

After the confrontation with Eddie at the end of season one, it’s now a few months later. Jackie has cut ties with Eddie and is determined to dive back in and spend more time with her family. Back at All Saints, she deflects blame about the narcotic shortage and endures Sam, the altered nurse and his newfound sobriety.

[valsinger]

I want to know how they got her out of that room she was lying on the floor of at the end of last season, especially since she put her own name into the pixis for those drugs! It isn't fair that they used that as a cliffhanger and then just blithely moved on without a hint. That's cheating!

[athousandclowns]

We were ripped off on that cliffhanger. When she woke up on the beach I thought she was in rehab in Malibu.

[Joan Van Snark]

Eh, wasn't too impressed. I hate how they are turning Anna Deveare Smith into nothing more than a clown.

What in the hell happened to the cliffhanger?

Evidently the Pyxis isn't too accurate if all of Jackie's "thefts" are showing up as overall shrinkage not attributable to any one individual. In real life, I'm positive the shrinkage would be easily identified by the ID entered in when the theft occurs.

What happened to the doctor's mother? She's just dead now?

I hope they don't just gloss over why Jackie has been playing this charade in the first place--for years, it seems.

Still think the show grinds to a halt with her overly chipper husband and annoying daughters.

Never was a huge MoMo fan, but I do miss him. The only good point is that now we get more Thor.

[valmommyt]

Well, that season opener irritated the crap outta me!! What was the point of the season ender with no remorse or consequences?! There's more I could say, but I'm still digesting...and I think I need some Pepto :(

[Neoacute]

I read an article in which the show's creators stated that they would slowly reveal what happened after "the cliff hanger" of season 1 during the course of the next season. I guess I am in the minority, but I did not think it dull -- I enjoyed it. Though, at times certain storylines seem underwritten. I honestly did not miss Mo-Mo's character. I think of Akalitus as more of a foil than anything else. I like how they are developing her [Akalitus] character. I do not think that the show grinds to a halt when she is with her family. The dynamics of her family life are elements that make this show even more compelling. A man that you use to have sex with in order to feed your drug habbit, swalling a bottle of xanax to end up in the trauma ward to get your attention, is a man that I would keep ignoring.

Edited by Neoacute, Mar 22, 2010 @ 11:25 PM.

[Kit Kat]

I honestly did not miss Mo-Mo's character.

Me neither. I didn't find there to be anything special about him. I mean, apparently every medical show needs a super gay nurse (God, fucking Mercy sucks) but Thor seems to fill that void.

I loved it personally.

[FilmBuff90]

What happened to the doctor's mother? She's just dead now?

Yes, dead. She mentioned that she's the executor of her mother's estate.

[Floridabound]

What was the point of the season ender with no remorse or consequences?!

Given Medium and Breaking Bad and Big Love, why should Nurse Jackie have any consequences or remorse? I say good for her.

I thought the episode rocked. I am amazed at how easy Falco makes acting look. She is wonderful.

[Skylergirl]

I loved Mo Mo. I am totally bummed that he is gone.

I thought the beginning beach sequence was the continuation of the cliff hanger, as Jackie was so high she was having a dream about an idyllic day on the beach with her family. I felt let down when there was no mention of it all.

I did think it was pretty funny how she was stealing drugs right in front of her bored staff while giving the speech.

[CrashEdit]

Wow, show, really?

I get that you may have opted for a slow reveal, but honestly, the cliffhanger wasn't strong enough to support a season-long revelation arc.

I felt completely cheated that there wasn't even the slightest nod at how we left things. Also? You killed my Mo-Mo, you bastards!

(Okay, so maybe not killed in the literal sense, but you know what I mean.)

In the immortal words of Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, "Dissapointed!"

[Nosleepforme]

I enjoyed the episode for what it was, but I agree with the general feeling of the premiere being a let-down. There has been no payoff for the developments in last season's finale.

Great, Eddie knows about Jackie's husband, but hasn't told a single soul about it in the months that have passed since the finale? Instead he just bothers Jackie with phone calls, but Jackie ignores him, which is why he takes an overdose to get her attention when he could have easily gotten her attention by just going to her husband? Really?

Then there is O'Hara's storyline. Her mother apparently died off screen, when it looked like it was going to be a major story-arc for her this season? It probably still is her big arc, but I thought her mother would be in the hospital for a couple of episodes or so.

They fired Momo, because they felt like he had no function in the series since they shifted the "best friend"-role to O'Hara, but at the same time they literally replace him with Thor, which implies that he had a function after all, but the actor was too expensive to be kept around.

It was still enjoyable though, it's just not really satisfying when the have built up so many things and then don't really make it matter. But then again, the best thing about this show have never been the storylines, but the characters and the performances the actors give.

[Lynn44]

I too... felt cheated. We deserved at least, some "tid bit" referring to the cliff hanger from last season... we got nothing !!

Jackie seemed so different to me, it was hard to feel it was the same character, not sure what it was... looks maybe ??

I did notice... that we didn't see her "Use" any drugs at all in this episode, last season we witnessed it several times per show... last night, it all seemed implied.

Wonder if they are trying to clean it up for regular TV.

Coop gets on my nerves, and "Eddie", he needs to move on.

[stillshimpy]

I did not think it dull -- I enjoyed it. Though, at times certain storylines seem underwritten. I honestly did not miss Mo-Mo's character. I think of Akalitus as more of a foil than anything else. I like how they are developing her [Akalitus] character. I do not think that the show grinds to a halt when she is with her family.

You've got me for company on that. As far as MoMo's character goes, I enjoyed the character, but not to the extent that I find there's a large gap in his absence. I think I'm going to like the ex-druggie character just as much, and I do think that adds a potential storyline. It bothered me in the first season (which I watched over the course of three days) that Jackie was consistently abusing prescription meds, but a whole host of medical professionals just weren't noticing. Or perhaps not addressing it because of a friendship.

I think they made the potentially right call by dropping Mo-Mo and adding Sam (I think that's his name).

Also, when it comes to the cliffhanger, at the start I just assumed that Jackie passed out in the exam room, and wasn't found. Furthermore that Eddie didn't tell Kevin.

In the first season I found Eddie vaguely pathetic because I felt he knew that Jackie really was just in it for med access, at least on some level. No one has a relationship for a year that is strictly at work without some compelling reason. Now Eddie is starting to scare the heck out of me.

In terms of Akalitus being used primarily for comic relief, I've got no problem with that. I know that actress is fabulous, I've seen her in a great many things and always enjoyed her. I'm enjoying her here, also.

The story does grind to a halt with Jackie's family, but I think that's the point. Jackie has no idea how to handle real life problems. She's only good in the trauma setting, where an immediate, glaring problem has a solution. She uses drugs (and I don't believe it's for a back problem) to muffle her home life also. She's good at the immediacy of emergency care, but has no idea what to do with people who are there day, after day, with small problems that aren't so much solved, as dealt with over the long haul.

The storyline with Jackie's family helped me understand part of why this woman started abusing drugs. Her inability to solve those problems, to be a fixer, seemed to have caused her to retreat into a haze. Eddie inserting himself into her family life looks like it will make that continued haze an impossibility.

[braggtastic]

Re: recap. I don't know how much of a minibreak their day at Orchard Beach was. Maybe I don't know what constitutes a minibreak, but Orchard Beach is in the Bronx, definitely doable as a day trip from Queens. Was there info on the episode that would lead us to believe it was an actual vacation?

[dick simple]

I did notice... that we didn't see her "Use" any drugs at all in this episode, last season we witnessed it several times per show... last night, it all seemed implied.

I may be getting the episode confused with the previews for next week . . . but I seem to remember when Jackie brought home the cake, she went into the bathroom and used. No?

[Floridabound]

Was there info on the episode that would lead us to believe it was an actual vacation?

I don't think people actually 'vacation' at Orchard Beach.

[stillshimpy]

but I seem to remember when Jackie brought home the cake, she went into the bathroom and used. No?

She did have a line of something orange on the bathroom vanity, some kind of painkiller I guess, but we didn't see her snort it. She paused and stared at it. She also stole a liquid vial of Ativan, so I don't think we're to take it that much has changed in regards to her drug use.

[Lynn44]

I don't think we're to take it that much has changed in regards to her drug use.

I agree... it's just that last season we "actually" seen her do it... this episode we were left to assume she did. I just thought that was odd.

[selkie]

The reason I've kept watching so far is Zoey. I do love Merrit Wever's knack for comedy. But beyond that, I find the rest of the characters so unlikeable that it's not the most pleasant show to watch, and the season two premiere didn't do much to change that.

[Belmont]

I liked the opener. This is an odd little show, and I don't think we're supposed to "like" the characters so much as to just sit back and observe them. I enjoy it for what it is. I'm also not sure how much last season's "cliffhanger" was really a cliffhanger, either.

[BigHig]

I loved it. The show is maybe a little too dark, the characters are indeed not the most likable folks (I hope Coop gets back to being him dumb-puppy self ASAP), and the whole cliffthinger thing is a test of patience... but I really appreciated getting back into the characters this episode. For their flaws, they're manage to be extremely charming and good-intentioned (which more or less sums up the dynamic of this show). Plus, the addition of Sam and full-time Thor just upped the hotness level by a factor of twelve, momo departure notwithstanding.

[Lilybart27]

Meh. Not thrilled by this episode. I had no idea that Mo-Mo was not going to be on this season, and I am really bummed by this revelation. I thought that he, Thor, and Zoey had great chemistry together and were hilarious when they would hang out at the nurses' station commiserating. I'm not impressed with Sam, and I worry that they'll hit us over the head with his "rehab" talk with regards to Jackie--I don't want this very dark show to turn into an anti-drug afterschool special.

I also don't like what they've done to Eddie--so he's a full-blown nut-job/stalker now? I'm sure that, of course, finding out about Jackie's other life would have freaked him out, but why do they have to have him completely go off the deep end? I already miss the smart, introspective character that he was early last season.

And too much Coop this episode.

But, I love O'Hara--fabulous as always. And Edie Falco continues to amaze.

[CrashEdit]

I worry that they'll hit us over the head with his "rehab" talk with regards to Jackie--I don't want this very dark show to turn into an anti-drug afterschool special.

Precisely my concern. That, and I really wanted Thor to get some.

[selkie]

This is an odd little show, and I don't think we're supposed to "like" the characters so much as to just sit back and observe them.

I actually don't require characters to always be likeable. But if they're not likeable, I need moments where I find them sympathetic even though I dislike them. For me, Six Feet under and Oz both managed to pull of unlikeable but sympathetic often enough to keep watching, and Jackie just doesn't quite get there often enough for me.

[LTG]

I enjoyed it a fair amount. I love Jackie's family. And it was important for Eddie to still be around, so I can see why they made him a stalker. I'll miss Mo-Mo a lot, but I can see why they wanted to add the new nurse, which means someone would have to be cut. And Thor is the brother of one of the producers, so...

The thing with the Pill-o-matic is that it relies completely on the user actually verifying the member of doses in the machine before and after taking something. If people get lazy or rushed and skip that step, it'd be easy for Jackie to pocket extra mess each time she has a legit reason to take something, and hard to figure out exactly who is stealing. (I bet the more expensive system they decided not to get had more automated inventory controls).

[antmoose]

I already miss Mo-Mo but I think I had a bigger problem with the No Consequences that followed on Jackie's overdose at the end of last season. Didn't anyone notice? What? No one? And the Pill-o-matic is so incredibly flawed and abusable that I can't believe any responsible hospital administrator would ever buy it.

Still, I loved having the show back. Just pure loved it. And ex-junkie nurse Sam was so dazzlingly handsome that I kept rewinding to look at him -- was I sure he was the best-looking thing I'd seen on TV for months? Wait, let me check again. Yes. Yes indeed.

[freespeech]

I already miss Mo-Mo but I think I had a bigger problem with the No Consequences that followed on Jackie's overdose at the end of last season. Didn't anyone notice? What? No one? And the Pill-o-matic is so incredibly flawed and abusable that I can't believe any responsible hospital administrator would ever buy it.

I fully agree. I think we were given additional info on how messed up the hospital purchasing/administration is this episode where Akalitus had to put some machine for the hospital on her personal credit card and expect reimbursement from the Church (she was talking to a Monsignor).

I enjoyed last season, perhaps because of the buildup/suspense of Jackie having an affair and hiding it from her husband, and her hiding getting high. This first episode just seemed lackluster to me without those elements - plus I thought Mo-Mo lit up the screen and added a ton of energy to the show.

[Sabine Lavine]

I spent all of last night re-watching Season 1 and reading the threads for each episode on here. I had registered, but couldn't post (prob for the best since it doesn't give a great first impression to resurrect old threads just to get your .02 in, haha).

I was really hoping they'd pick up right where they left off with Jackie on the floor and full of morphine. I feel cheated by the opener since not much happened and very little was addressed. Jackie seems darker, unhappier, more bitter..........not sure which, but something about her is different. Even though she had a serious juggling act going on last season she still had a gleam in her eye, this episode...not so much.

And jeez, Eddie was just pathetic. If we're to go from the text he sent Jackie, he's been leaving her messages for months and she's been ignoring him, and now he OD's just to get her attention? I always thought Eddie was a bit of a sad sack, but now I can't respect him at all.

And MoMo gone with no explanation? Me no likey. He was one of my favorite characters.

[Floridabound]

And ex-junkie nurse Sam was so dazzlingly handsome

Really? Ewwww. If he falls off his proselytizing wagon, maybe, but ewwww. Nah, not even then. Ewwww.

Jackie just doesn't quite get there often enough for me.

Really? Interesting. I like her. A LOT. I didn't like Nate until he was dead, and I adore SFU, but I strongly sympathize with Jackie. She, like Tony Soprano, can't do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.

And Edie Falco continues to amaze.

Maybe that's why. Maybe it's because she is such a damned fine actress. Maybe it's just that ex-actors from The Sopranos run rings around everyone else. And she lost the Emmy to the continuingly underwhelming what's-her-name? Amazing.