59 replies to this topic

[Myndela]

I was pretty pleased with the finale. I was sure that Kevin had stepped out on the marriage, so I liked being right (again.) I really don't understand why he needed to announce this to her at the hospital, though. He couldn't have left the kids with someone so he could have a sit-down with her, like he did last season when he confronted her about the drug abuse? And why does he get so pissy about her not answering her cell phone while at work? She is WORKING, you asshole. She has people to take care of and lives to save, and she can't just answer the phone to chat whenever she pleases, or be at your beck and call while at work. Seriously.

I am surprised I felt bad for Coop, but I kind of did. He was very, I don't know, delusional about the whole birthday wedding thing, but his heart was so set on it, and it was so broken by the disappointment. Poor guy, he just wants someone to love and be loved by.

As for Akalitus and the pee test, well, I think that she really admires and respects Jackie. Jackie is one of her best nurses. And I think she is very suspect of what she is doing or has done in the past. But she doesn't want to lose one of the best nurses on the floor, so she decided to do whatever she could to protect her. I do think that she will be watching over her like a hawk from here on out, though.

[Isazouzi]

Well, I'm disappointed. So what, she's free now? No repercussion, no nothing? I don't know, it's too easy somehow. I don't like that Kevin feels so bad that she gets to tell him to leave, after all she's done. And I realize that she would have been fired if Akalitus hadn't thrown the pee cup away, but I don't know, it all seems conveniently easy. I think the writers have written themselves into a corner.

[CarolinaFiner]

Eh, I didn't find this a very satisfactory ending to the season.

The stuff with Kevin and Jackie didn't totally sit with me. He comes all that way to the hospital with the kids with all that frustration and anger - just to confess? To begin with he had every right to notice that she was totally blowing him off, both not answering his phone and then to his face. And then he says he's sorry to her? And I agree, that was totally the wrong place to make that kind of confession. Also, why would Kevin be hitting balls and asking Eddie "you work with my wife, right? Can't you guess?" When it would be more appropriate to have said "you have been spending time with me, right? Can't you guess?"

What does spending time with Jackie at work have to do with Eddie guessing that Kevin is having an affair? It would be the spending time with Kevin that would be telling.

The only thing I like about Jackie telling Kevin to pack his bags is that if it sends Kevin into the arms of the one he's cheating with and Grace and Fiona get a stepmother figure who becomes Jackie's white hot seething arch-enemy, I could be on board with that.

I'll be interested to see what happens with custody as well. If Kevin lets the girls go, that isn't the Kevin I have come to know, and if he ends up fighting Jackie for them - I'll be interested to see what ammunition he uses.

Yeah, I guess this could be interesting.

Also, I would have been truly interested had we gotten a few lines out of the runaway bride. I was more surprised by the fact that an actual bride nearly showed up. Let's hear what's going on in her head, please.

[arcadia63]

Boy this show has really gotten off track. I don't believe anyone would have that kind of confrontation with their spouse at their place of work. AS a RN I can certainly tell you there is no way in hell that a supervisor who suspects a nurse is using would let it slide, no matter how great of a nurse she was. There are liability issues to consider first and far most. Most hospitals have programs in place that specifically help RN's with substance abuse problems and allow them to get treatment and return to work on a monitored basis. As someone mentioned above they've written themselves into a corner. I've read they don't want Jackie to ever be clean, but i think there could be a lot of stories mined: her tangling with the counselors at rehab and other patients who would call her on her stuff, returning to work and being tempted, or being reassigned to an ares where she's not the big fish. however i fear we'll just get teh same ole Jackie fighting with Kevin or his new gal and trying to hide her use so Kevin doesn't find out and use it against her (which will be her excuse for not seeking treatment) doesn't sound interesting to me.

[JanePatrick]

Quick question. I should have just backed up the pvr, but was too anxious to see what happened and then I deleted it when it ended....so now I'm left wondering. Was the scene with Thor talking about the sword incident a repeat from last week? or was it just him re-telling the story for new people? I can't imagine they'd make an error like that. Wish I'd been paying closer attention!

[Joan Van Snark]

As I've said many times before, I love most of the actors on this show and I still do get some enjoyment out of watching it. However, I can't hide my disappointment. Nothing the writers do seems to have any coherent narrative and nothing really makes much sense. I don't need to be told everything, I don't need to be spoonfed, but there are no logical conclusions to figure out based on the disjointed writing and plotting on this show.

I enjoy the natural humor in the show, but the comedy, especially when the "twinkly" piano appears, just doesn't work. Maybe there will be less Kevin now that Jackie is kicking him out, which would be a plus in my book. That last scene in the basement just made the age difference more glaring than ever. Jackie is sitting there with all these wrinkles looking 50, and Kevin has not a wrinkle in sight and looks 35. They just don't convince as a real couple. It would have made so much more sense if Eddie played her husband and Kevin played the hot young pharmacist Jackie is fucking on the side.

Oh, and thank you for ruining the Coop character! In the first season he was so much more interesting. He was a doofus, but he still was believable as a jerky doctor. Now he has turned into a total joke.

Edited by Joan Van Snark, Jun 21, 2011 @ 8:25 AM.

[smwurr]

I wasn't shocked by a single development, though maybe a little by Kevin's affair, but not really. I knew the minute Akalitus told Jackie about the pee test that she would either switch samples, or figure out some other way to get Jackie out of it.

And for crying out loud, Gloria would not be the one handling the pee herself. Those types of tests are ALWAYS administered by third parties--and it wouldn't be in the public restroom in the ER, it would be in the lab. And Gloria wouldn't be delivering the pee to HR (what are they gonna do with it? Put it in a filing cabinet? Take it to the lab!). There are a million things wrong with that whole subplot and it was pointless and everyone in the audience *knew* it was pointless. I would have rather they hadn't brought the HR storyline in at all, because everything about it is ridiculous.

The show is a formula that will never change. I have stopped believing they will ever send Jackie to rehab even though I really believe it would make for some wonderful stories and performance from EF. They had her go through "withdrawal" already this year, and for a hard core drug addict Jackie barely broke a sweat. There's nothing realistic, the show just is what it is I guess.

I suppose I'll always watch, becuase I really enjoy watching shows with a strong female lead who is three-dimensional, and the characters and acting are definitely great enough to keep me coming back.

But I was completely "meh" on this whole finale.

[aemilia]

I was really disappointed in this episode. And it was a season finale!

Akalitus tossing Jackie's pee made no sense to me. That urine is going to have to be accounted for somewhere. I agree with a poster above that they have written this show into a corner.

And I feel sort of bad for Coop. I miss the old Coop, not this new broken down insane Coop.

And Kevin's reveal to Jackie was exactly what I thought it was going to be, and she's such a fucking hypocrite! Telling Kevin to pack his bags when she's a drug addict and was fucking Eddie on the side to get her drugs. I would hope she would have told him to go home and they would work it out later.

I suppose I'll watch next season because I do really love this show, but I am tired of the lack of consistent writing.

[Cockapoo2]

Yay! I was thrilled with the finale and am hoping that next year Kevin and kid's screen time is cut about 99%.

Edited by Cockapoo2, Jun 21, 2011 @ 12:44 PM.

[frostedglass]

I don't think Jackie is hurt by Kevin's admission. Maybe surprise but I think she is relieved, because now she has an excuse to kick him out, and get out from under his watchful eye. Without Kevin and possibly the girls in the home, Jackie won't be able to handle the freedom without hurting herself or others.

[GreenFairy]

So now what, Gloria? Are you going to replace Jackie's pee with your own?

I'm glad to see the backside of Kevin. He bores the crap out of me. Its a thankless role to begin with, and the actor who plays him isn't exactly tearing up the screen.

[Imonrey]

Was the scene with Thor talking about the sword incident a repeat from last week? or was it just him re-telling the story for new people?

I don't remember that scene from last week's episode.

I thought the whole part about the deaf/blind patient was really sad and touching. I also felt really bad for Coop, even though I knew it was coming. I really liked the shot of him and Eddie riding off together in the rickshaw. BTW - have they ever said what Coop's first name is? Ever? Because when everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" to him, when they got to the part where they were to say his name they sort of paused like they all realized they didn't know it. (Just remembering - is it Fitch?) And what was that thing Zoey gave him as a present? It looked like a tiny little koala bear.

Now, the part that gets me is when Jackie went to Eddie to unload on him, right before Kevin called Eddie. If felt - again - like Jackie was sort of fishing around to see if Eddie would give her drugs, like a couple weeks ago where she casually mentions throwing out her back, just throwing that bait out there. I hate that she keeps going back to him and fishing like that.

I totally called it with Kevin cheating - along with many other viewers, I'm sure. But that whole bit with him showing up at the hospital was just - weird! I don't get why he did that. I guess he just worked himself into a state after a.) getting a call about Fiona being a Firestarter, b.) not being able to get hold of Jackie (he told Eddie she needed to pick up her kids, so presumably Kevin couldn't, then had to drop whatever he was doing, which just made him madder), then c.) everything started piling up on him until he felt like he couldn't take it one minute longer. Still strange though.

However, that was really an excellent scene between them at the end, location notwithstanding. They were a study in body language - Jackie was just bracing herself waiting for Kevin to say he knew she was screwing around with Eddie, and when he said he had an affair her head whipped around faster than Regan's in The Exorcist.

Best moment by far was Zoey running into the restroom screaming "YOUR GIRLS ARE SO PRETTEEEEEEEEEE!" Wow, Zoey totally reverted to Season 1 Episode 1 Total Geek Zoey this episode. They've toned her down so much I've forgotten how odd she can be. She was totally strange when Kevin showed up! There's something not quite right about her.

I still feel like they wrote themselves into a corner with the Season 2 finale and didn't know how to get out of it. Seems like they decided halfway through the season they needed to dump Kevin in order to get Jackie back to Season 1 Jackie, but now everyone is onto her. I need to go watch that interview on Sho.com with Edie Falco and the show runners about where they're going with this.

[sordidheart88]

I'm worried about the girls. Even if Kevin is the one being kicked out they both have to know leaving them with her would be a mistake, right? Plus there are her work hours which I can't see her cutting back on. Jackie may love her kids but her addiction and her career seem to come first. I don't think she has any desire to be a full time parent anyway but would fight Kevin out of spite. If they go so far as to actually get a divorce I hope either concrete proof comes out about either Jackie's addiction or her affair that would help Kevin's chances of getting primary custody.

[SheenieB]

And Kevin's reveal to Jackie was exactly what I thought it was going to be, and she's such a fucking hypocrite! Telling Kevin to pack his bags when she's a drug addict and was fucking Eddie on the side to get her drugs. I would hope she would have told him to go home and they would work it out later.

I'm not surprised that she kicked him out. Not only does it free her from Kevin watching her every move like another poster wrote, but I wouldn't put it past her to use this as an excuse to "backslide" into her addiction. As far as Kevin knows, she's going to meetings and staying clean, so I'm sure she'll lord this over his head as a reason for her falling off the wagon.

I felt bad for Coop too. No matter how much of a manchild he is, he didn't deserve to be jilted.

I wasn't mad at Kevin for blowing up Jackie's phone since he was obviously calling about Fiona. You'd think that Jackie would've been concerned that maybe something was wrong with one of the girls since Kevin wouldn't call so many times just to talk.

[AaroniusLives]

And for crying out loud, Gloria would not be the one handling the pee herself. Those types of tests are ALWAYS administered by third parties--and it wouldn't be in the public restroom in the ER, it would be in the lab. And Gloria wouldn't be delivering the pee to HR (what are they gonna do with it? Put it in a filing cabinet? Take it to the lab!). There are a million things wrong with that whole subplot and it was pointless and everyone in the audience *knew* it was pointless. I would have rather they hadn't brought the HR storyline in at all, because everything about it is ridiculous.

I agree that the logistics of the pee test stretched reality to the breaking point, but I actually loved the Gloria/Jackie emotional story going on there, where the emotional Gloria who loves Jackie is waiting for Jackie to reach out to her for help, the help she's been wrestling with giving since the subtextual 'reveal' earlier this season, because the professional Gloria needs Jackie, her star nurse, the best nurse she's ever had, exactly as she is in that ER. As one who is a star in my own profession, and a star who has had life issues in the past that never affected my performance, but frequently affected my life, I had a boss, a co-worker and a work friend or three look the other way because they needed me exactly as I was: professionally and professionally/personally. (I so hope that made a whit of sense!)

The show is a formula that will never change. I have stopped believing they will ever send Jackie to rehab even though I really believe it would make for some wonderful stories and performance from EF. They had her go through "withdrawal" already this year, and for a hard core drug addict Jackie barely broke a sweat. There's nothing realistic, the show just is what it is I guess.

I know I'm in the minority, but I find that the way in which Jackie's addiction is portrayed to be remarkably true to life. Remember, they're not portraying an average person with a drug addiction, they're portraying an exceptional person with a drug addiction. This show resonates with me personally because I spent seven years high as a living kite. During that time, quite a few people who suspected looked the other way, for whatever reasons they had (ranging from an inability to emotionally cope, to a teacher who needed me to educationally perform, to a friend that loved me high, hated me weak, and was no longer a friend by the time I sobered up...seven years later.) Because I'm a smart, strong person. All those people that said nothing, or wrote in the margins of what they actually did say (much like Gloria is doing with Jackie,) didn't want to upset the alchemy of the person that I was. I was as highly functional as I was highly intoxicated. Much like Jacks.

And much like I expect Jacks will do, should she choose to go clean, there won't be any rehab, or uplifting circles of support, or moments of sharing and caring and blah, blah, blah. She'll just decide one day to stop, and do it her way, as I did it mine. And it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Because (a) who can afford rehab, (b) why go to a place where your peers are all drug addicts and the success rate is low and © the Hallmark card bullshit is a bit too much. I'm not speaking for Jackie, but in my case, the bottom of my bell jar was when I realized that I was owned by my addictions, and that far too much of my life was being spent being owned by them. And so, I owned the self-detoxification of said addictions as well.

One of the great arcs of evolution this show hath wrought involves the perception of Jackie. At first, it seemed that Jackie was doing this high-wire act, whereas now, we see that she's surrounded by people in varying degrees of being in-the-know, enabling her to pursue her addictions because they need Jackie as she is: superstar nurse. And that's pretty damned awesome. IMHO

[vinyl]

Terminally unique, that's the term for what was just described.

And BTW, the actors playing Jackie and Kevin are both in their 40's, maybe 5 years apart. Not sure why this is even an issue; most marriages are at least a bit mismatched in ages.

[All Over Blue]

I need to rewatch. As usual. I agree that Coop has strayed too far from the early episodes when he was much more interesting. (Did anyone else think he was going to grab Mrs. A's boobs when she hugged him? No? Just me, then?)

Although Jackie told Kevin to leave, I'm not convinced he will actually go. I think not.

I laughed my ass off at Thor's Ave Maria. Funniest thing on the show.

More Zoey the dork, please. (Someone upthread said she acted weird when Kevin showed up at the ER. That's because the first time Kevin showed up she told him Jackie wasn't married. Hard to recover from something like that.)

Very uneven episode. I think the writers need to regroup. But there is always enough entertainment to keep me coming back.

[CarolinaFiner]

Are the ratings for this series really that great? I am with the series and watch it, but I come here to see what everyone else is thinking before, during and after watching an episode and I pretty much see crickets here. For a series that has been renewed, that is.

(Yes, I am a disgruntled Tara Fan.)

[All Over Blue]

And BTW, the actors playing Jackie and Kevin are both in their 40's, maybe 5 years apart. Not sure why this is even an issue; most marriages are at least a bit mismatched in ages.

It's 6 years. Kevin looks mid-30s to me, while Jackie looks 50's. My guess is that the writers wanted to illustrate the fact that Jackie has some hard miles on her.

[oceanblue]

And BTW, the actors playing Jackie and Kevin are both in their 40's, maybe 5 years apart. Not sure why this is even an issue; most marriages are at least a bit mismatched in ages.

EF is gorgeous in person. On NJ she looks 15 years older. The actor playing Kevin looks much younger. But the real issue for me is that these two personalities do not mesh for me. As a couple, I cannot see her being anything other than bored with him after 2 dates. As actors, she acts circles around him. They don't seem like a couple to me either, for a variety of reasons.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I wasn't shocked by a single development, though maybe a little by Kevin's affair, but not really. I knew the minute Akalitus told Jackie about the pee test that she would either switch samples, or figure out some other way to get Jackie out of it.

When Jackie's daughters arrived, I figured Elenor was going to help Jackie use one of them to get a clean urine sample and then make a switch.

I hate that she keeps going back to him and fishing like that.

Yeah, but I'm glad that Eddie recognizes what she's doing and doesn't fall for it. Addicts never stop this stuff; never. At the very least, they count on someone to give in just to stop the annoyance.

And BTW, the actors playing Jackie and Kevin are both in their 40's, maybe 5 years apart. Not sure why this is even an issue; most marriages are at least a bit mismatched in ages.

I think she looks a lot more than five years older. Perhaps that's intentional, to show how the drug addiction has aged her on a fast-track.

Maybe surprise but I think she is relieved, because now she has an excuse to kick him out, and get out from under his watchful eye.

Oh yeah, she is definitely relieved. You could almost see her mentally calculating how she can work this revelation to her advantage.

Well, at least we know why Kevin's been acting so smug. But I still wonder if he does know about Jackie and Eddie and what the timeline of his affair was/is relative to Jackie's. Maybe part of the smugness was, "Yeah, well you're not the only one in this marriage who can cheat." I'm sure Jackie will be interested to find out because she would want to use that as a) a false excuse for lying about her continued drug use, and b) ammunition for a custody fight.

Although Jackie told Kevin to leave, I'm not convinced he will actually go. I think not.

Yep, and I think somehow the girls are going to be used as leverage.

What does spending time with Jackie at work have to do with Eddie guessing that Kevin is having an affair?

I think Kevin was suggesting that Eddie's probably noticed how much excess time Jackie spends at work. One would think a woman happily married with children would not voluntarily spend more time at work than she needed to. Of course, that's assuming Kevin doesn't know how close Eddie and Jackie really are/have been.

I didn't realize this was the season finale until after if was over. Then the disappointment set it in. There are better ways they could have left it.

[sordidheart88]

Maybe it's just because we know so little about her background (and maybe it is because she looks like she's in her mid to late 40's to me) but to me Jackie's whole life with the kids and husband who just seem too young for her has never quite seemed to fit her. Somehow if she were already divorced and possibly the mother of a teenaged boy I could see that working better.

Edited by sordidheart88, Jun 21, 2011 @ 9:02 PM.

[smwurr]

I hate that she keeps going back to him and fishing like that.

I noticed that too! I was wondering what she was hoping to get out of him, I thought maybe some pharmalogical way to pass a pee test.

I do not anticipate a custody battle. Jackie doesn't seem like the type to want full-time custody of her kids. I believe she loves them, but I also believe she views them as kind of an obstacle to what she really wants--drugs. When she has to stop drug-seeking to deal with her family, she always seems annoyed.

[Cosmocrush]

Oh yeah, she is definitely relieved. You could almost see her mentally calculating how she can work this revelation to her advantage.

That's what I saw too. [EF rocks] Jackie is free! But without Kevin to keep things tethered to the earth, what will fall apart first?

[Hecate7]

I'm sure Jackie will be interested to find out because she would want to use that as a) a false excuse for lying about her continued drug use, and b) ammunition for a custody fight.

OMG, she can't possibly want custody of the girls! They're even more limiting to her freedom than Kevin is.

But you're right, of course there has to be a custody fight. You can't have a divorce without an awful custody fight where the kids are used for leverage, used to punish each other, and used as excuses to hide behind, apparently. Good thing Grace has meds--she'll need them.

There's nothing worse than a high functioning addict, except maybe a high functioning addict with kids. The kids are cute, but I cannot picture Jackie actually making it as a single Mom. She'd blow off picking them up from school to go get high on the bathroom floor, leave them at night to cook their own dinner because she has to work a lot of extra hours, and generally just not be there for them.

The first thing to fall apart will be Fiona, because she'll think this happened because she got in trouble at school. She won't get that it's not about her. Grace might not get it either.

Edited by Hecate7, Jun 22, 2011 @ 12:47 AM.

[Bulldog]

I thought that perhaps the whole "HR mandated drug test" was perhaps just a ploy by Gloria to get Jackie to come clean and admit she needs help. As others have mentioned, a real drug test would have been administered by a third party in a lab, and Gloria would not have handled the sample herself. And yes, the sample would have had to have been accounted for after Gloria tossed it. Gloria kept repeatedly asking Jackie if there was anything she wanted to tell her. We never saw any other employee being tested. Just a thought.

[Isazouzi]

I thought that perhaps the whole "HR mandated drug test" was perhaps just a ploy by Gloria to get Jackie to come clean and admit she needs help. As others have mentioned, a real drug test would have been administered by a third party in a lab, and Gloria would not have handled the sample herself.

Yeah, but wouldn't Jackie (and Kelly) know that and suspect immediately that Gloria is trying to trick them? That there's no official drug test?

[june_czarina]

AaroniusLives, thank you for sharing your story.

[The Solution]

Was Nurse Kelly even in this episode? I can't remember seeing him now.

[Omega Mu]

We never saw any other employee being tested. Just a thought.

Sam mentioned taking the pee test, something about it being the first one ever he didn't have to worry about passing.