Posted on: March 8, 2011 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

You’d be hard pressed to find a network with a stable of characters more screwed up than Showtime. You’ve got the narcissistic sex addict in Californication, the drug dealing mom in Weeds and the vigilante serial killer in Dexter (I’m not even going to start to catalogue all problems in Shameless). Compared to the competition, Edie Falco’s character in Nurse Jackie, a drug addict, working mom carrying on an extramarital affair with her sometime supplier comes off as almost saintly.

Unlike her network peers, Jackie Peyton is actually a pretty sympathetic character dealing badly with the stress of her circumstances. The show, pardon the pun, is highly addictive, thanks mainly to the compelling characters and the fantastic portrayal by Falco (she may have made her name on The Sopranos, but Nurse Jackie proves she can carry a series all on her own).

The second season finds New York ER nurse Jackie dealing with her pharmacist boyfriend attempting to become friends with her husband, the increasingly disturbing behavior from her oldest daughter brought on by anxiety, all while trying to hide her drug addiction from her co-workers and those closest to her. Heavy themes aside, there is still pretty of humor thanks mainly to Jackie’s co-workers like the incredibly vain and awkward Dr. Cooper (Peter Facinelli) and the goofy nurse Zoey Barkow (Merritt Wever).

The second season culminated in a cliffhanger even more impressive than last season, with her biggest fear seemingly coming to fruition.

Nurse Jackie – Season Two/1 DVDs /335 Mins./Lionsgate

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