Review - Nurse Jackie

Being addicted to drugs is never easy. Season 6 of Nurse Jackie displays just how far an addict is willing to go for relief and the consequences that ensue. Nurse Jackie is labeled as a dramatic comedy (or dramedy) television show and is about a nurse suffering with a drug addiction. Jackie goes through life flawlessly covering up her addiction to all that are close to her: coworkers, bosses, family, and friends. In Season 6, however, her life begins to fall apart slowly until everything she's worked so hard to cover up blows up around her, leaving a path of destruction behind her every step.

Ever since day one, Jackie Peyton has been a drug abuser and did nearly anything to get her drugs--including having an affair with the ER pharmacist. Jackie has maintained her manipulative ways to acquire exactly what she wants in this season. That doesn’t eliminate her ability to cozy up to someone who can supply her with her addictions until she throws them away with the same mindset as tossing away a used tissue. Because of the way she falsely molded herself, her “perfect” life began to slowly unravel into the horror that was the reality of the effects of drug use. After flawlessly distancing herself from anyone that began to catch on to her wrong doings, Jackie’s illegal activities finally caught up to her, despite avoiding trouble with her police officer boyfriend, and she had to face the consequences. On top of her drug abuse, she is a good liar and that confidence causes her to lie more times than she tells the truth. Although I don’t see how her lying will be able to get her out of trouble now.

Even though Jackie knew her addiction was causing friction in all of her relationships, she continued to use without accepting any help to change her habits. When her friend, Antoinette, from her substance abuse meetings, got in the way of her plans with persistence to change Jackie's fate, Jackie took Antoinette to a rehab center and signed her in with no intention of admitting herself for the sole purpose of getting a roadblock (Antoinette) out from between Jackie and her addiction.

Newsday's top critic, Verne Gay, agrees that Season 6 of Nurse Jackie was a great example of how addictions are finally going to catch up with them in a negative way, "'Nurse Jackie' is like an airplane in slow descent--approaching the airport and now, in a circling pattern. 'Descent' and 'circle' are the operative words here because it is patently clear that Jackie Peyton is not, will not, and could not be in a good place this season. That's your descent. Here's your 'circle': We've been here before. The relapse, lies, self-destruction, and the demolition of personal relationships." But another critic, Matt Roush, with TV Guide, suggests it's actually a negative way to present the season, "Watching Jackie go back on the drugs, lying to her support group as well as her current better-than-she-deserves cop boyfriend Frank, you can't help but get a dispiriting feeling of been there, snorted that." Although I agree with him that it is a little repetitive, I have to say that’s part of the charm of Nurse Jackie. The producers and screenwriters focus on the real-life struggles of a drug addict. If they suddenly changed the script and caused Jackie to be a role-model mother, officially sober, it would sugar-coat the season too much and cause a massive dent in the amount of loyal viewers.  Yes, we’ve been here, yes, we’ve done that, but Jackie is getting craftier and it’s difficult to predict what she’s going to do next. Not to mention, there are viewers that see Jackie as a role model, or a mirror to what their life is, and to not show the consequences of a life like Jackie’s would cause viewers to take away the wrong message this show is trying to give.

As someone who is familiar with the effects of a drug on a consistent user, I know making positive changes in life is not easy for them. My ex-boyfriend went to rehab three times, as well as jail, in an attempt for society to make him better, but if they have their mind set on continuing to use, their life will continue to spiral downward until they decide to make that change once and for all. I can’t count the amount of times I attempted to persuade him to change his lifestyle, but if drug users don’t see anything wrong with their habits, no matter how many times they are thrown in rehab or jail, even though they know it can get them in trouble, they aren’t going to stop unless something dramatic happens or they are determined to change their ways. Top critic for the Boston Globe, Matthew Gilbert, completely agrees that this show is a perfect example of that struggle, "...Jackie Peyton keeps making the same mistakes, taking apart her life piece by precious piece. But the repetitions are a critical part of its greatness. 'Nurse Jackie' has grown into one of TV's most uncompromising series, a portrait of addiction that refuses, and then refuses all over again, to soften the truth or give viewers a comforting way out. The show insists that we see Jackie, New York ER nurse extraordinaire, for what she truly is: an addict, a person with a disease, a woman who loves and needs her pills and powders more than she loves anyone, including herself. The 'Nurse Jackie' writers don't just have Jackie hit bottom and recover, the kind of arc that ultimately turns so many television portrayals of drug abuse--including on 'reality' TV--into heartwarming tales of healing. They just keep making her bottom lower and lower, a seemingly bottomless pit of despair and self-harm. Most people whose lives have been touched by addiction or an addict know the honesty of that kind of unromanticized and unrelenting narrative. Yes, her slips provide purpose to the show, but, more important, they serve the authenticity."

This season shows Jackie going further than ever to cover up any traces that she needs help. Everything is on the line, her job, her friendships, her relationships with her daughters and ex-husband. The end of the season finds Jackie having to finally face reality with the choices she has made.