Nurse Jackie recap Season 7 Episode 4 “Nice Ladies” (original airdate May 3, 2015) We start in the courtroom where Jackie’s attorney Barry Wolfe (Mark Feuerstein) is making his case. He starts by explaining how Jackie is “a nice lady.” Ahem, what? Oh, yes. Remember how she was on her way to help Hurricane Penny victims and then how she stopped to save another lady? “Is it any wonder that that one person, Jackie Peyton, took something to smooth the edges?”
Heck, even Wolfe, pops a drug / alcohol combo before he flies, he tells the judge. “Gratitude,” Wolfe says. “That’s what we owe Jackie Peyton. Dismissal with gratitude.”
And gratitude is how the court sided.
As Jackie hugs Eddie outside of the courthouse, explaining that the gratitude cost her $10,000, Wolfe approaches — and he’s not overly celebratory. Jackie thanks him, but he’s not looking for thanks he wants his money. Jackie is $5,000 in the rears and she needs another $10,000 by tomorrow to keep Wolfe on retainer or he’s not sticking around for her nursing license hearing.
Jackie has no cash. “Everything I have is yours,” Eddie tells her. But Jackie reminds him he doesn’t have a job so probably not the best idea. Jackie comes clean with Eddie on how she paid Wolfe originally, selling Vivian’s drugs to her drug dealer. Enabler Eddie understands she’s got to do what she’s go to do.
Jackie tells Akalitus her motion to dismiss was granted and she’s ready to get back to work with full pay. But that’s not going to happen as Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith) reminds her that she’s an admitted drug user and that she needs to stay under diversion for another three months (even though the criminal case was dismissed) until her hearing. Jackie probes Akalitus on whether she’s fighting for a job that actually won’t even exist, as she knows about the Norwegian developers who are looking to buy All Saints. Akalitus laughs as the absurdity of what she suggests, as she is privy to everything going on at All Saints.
Coop (Peter Facinelli) goes through some role playing dialogue with Eddie, as he prepares to pop the question to maybe marry him/maybe not — he’s not even sure, nor are his words — to to Carrie (Betty Gilpin). Since the miscarriage, Coop confesses that he wants to try again – he wants all those things they had talked about, a house in the country and a baby. “Tell her. Lock it down,” Eddie coaches.
At All Saints, Vivien (Leslie Uggams) comes into the ER with a slight head injury after a fall, and wants to see the head nurse. Zoey (Merritt Weaver) shows up but that’s not who she is looking for. As Jackie wheels in her cleaning supplies, Vivien points to her. Now Jackie has to explain how she knows her, she gives Vivien’s lists of medications to Dr. Roman and then Zoey steps in asking for a word with Jackie.
When Vivien’s daughter Charlane (Tonya Pinkins) shows us, Jackie starts advocating for Vivien, as Vivien fears she’s going to be put into assisted living. I so want to believe Jackie truly cares for her and isn’t just using her for her drugs. Zoey does a drug test on Jackie and reminds her that she needs to stay completely away from Vivien. Zoey pulls out some stickers and wants to introduce a new reward program to celebrate Jackie staying clean. “I’m not 7,” Jackie mocks. Zoey says she’s trying her best. Jackie thinks she is too.
“Well, so am I,” Jackie rebuts. “I’m working two jobs. I’m drowning in debt. You’re head nurse — bet that came with a raise, right? Good for you.”
Zoey looks for some coaching from Akalitus on working with Jackie and her negativity, but gets nowhere. “Toilets and dead bodies that’s the mandate, take the feelings out of it,” Akalitus reminds. Akalitus advises she just needs to let go of people like Jackie (who profoundly disappoint) or you spend a lifetime trying to fix them. She’s way too late on that advice, as Zoey just doesn’t have it in her – or so we think.
Carrie and Coop are on a street bench on break when Coop starts to move in for a proposal. (Jackie’s across the street witnessing the mess.) Carrie stops him before he can get it out, saying he can’t propose on a busy street with pigeon shit all over. But it’s not that, and he doesn’t see it. Carrie bolts as soon as she can. Coop and Jackie make eye contact, enough for Coop to see Jackie’s disapproval but their glance is interrupted when a cab hits a biker. They both run to his side. Coop won’t tell Jackie made an assist – outside of the hospital – if she doesn’t.
Charlane approaches Jackie insisting she is moved to 24-hour care facility. Jackie agrees to talk to Vivien but Zoey interrupts outing her as not being a nurse and ordering her to get back to her cleaning. As if that wasn’t humiliating enough, Grace shows up telling Jackie that she heard about the hearing and wanted to take her out to lunch. But Zoey has had it.
“The diversion program allows for a half hour lunch, so please clean the lab as I asked,” Zoey tells Jackie.
Jackie gives Grace a hug and thanks her for coming, telling her that she needs to do what Zoey has asked. Zoey second-guesses what she has just done. She tries to tell Grace that it really is a complicated situation, but Grace observes a different Zoey and simple states: “When did you become the asshole?”
Coop observes Jackie checking in on the bike patient and asks if she still doesn’t trust him. He ordered the scan, he tells her. He’s also sad how she’s being treated and he doesn’t understand how she can continue coming back every day if she can’t do what she loves. The minute he couldn’t do what he loves, he’d walk out the door. Jackie reminds Coop of the first patient they worked on together — when Coop didn’t order the scan and the man died. Coop didn’t appreciate her bringing that up. Jackie preaches that today he did order the scan and he got better. “I come here everyday so that I can get better.”
Credit for the humor in this episode comes from the dialogue between Coop and Carrie, as Coop is eager to start a list of places that are “off limits for marriage proposals.” Only Coop would need this. Union Square .. Any kind of planetarium … Nature walks … Olive Garden … Carrie rattles on, and it’s sooo obvious she doesn’t want to get married, but Coop is Coop and he doesn’t pick up on it. Thor does and tells her if she doesn’t want to get married to tell him, it’s not nice to NOT tell him. So Carrie does what she is only capable of doing, and asks Thor if he could tell him. Not going to happen. This all takes place while they are treating Vivian, and she makes a better suggestion: “Why don’t you just dump him in a place somewhere, where he don’t know nobody and nobody knows him. That’s what the people who love me are doing.” Carrie runs out. Vivian’s cell phone rings — it’s Jackie. She’s calling from the other side of the ER and explains to Vivian (and asks her not to get angry) that it’s smart to go to an assisted living home, and that medically it is what she needs. Jackie tells her she will not leave her side until she makes friends and is comfortable there. An endearing moment, I hope she’s for real.
Coop shares news with Carrie that he got a call from a headhunter in Boston for a chief internist position. But, and a big but, he told him he had no interest as his future was at All Saints with his prospective new fiancé. Carrie stops him and calls after him, “wait, I love you.” Coop immediately goes to one knee thinking it’s the perfect time to propose. But Carrie is finally honest with her feelings and tells him to take the job as Mass General. Wait Coop didn’t say it was Mass General? Turns out Carrie is the one that made the arrangement. “I love you and I want you to have the future you deserve,” Carrie says. “And it’s not me. Someday you will realize I just did a very nice thing for you.” She kisses him and walks away. [Remember, Peter Facinelli (Coop) is leaving the show so this looks to be his exit strategy.]
Zoey meets with Akalitus and has a heart-to-heart on being Jackie’s monitor. She’ll test her fluids, track her progress and provide some bedside manner, but all the other stuff – the cleaning and the dead bodies – she has no interest. “This is not how I treat people. I can’t do what I do without caring. I’m not a doctor,” Zoey says. “Can we ease up a little.”
Before she can respond, Coop storms in and needs to talk. Then it’s Akalitus interrupting Jackie scrubbing the floor asking if she told Coop anything about the hospital being purchased. Jackie told her she had not. “Being here, having no impact, I understand how hard that can be for a person like you. But hear me Jackie Peyton. You are a nonfactor in this hospital,” Akalitus crushes.
Jackie strips off her gloves, walks over to the nursing station and keys in a message. She removes the batteries on the keyboard and walks off.
Next, Jackie is with Vivien at a senior home helping her get acquainted with the residents. Once Vivien announces Jackie as her nurse who “got her on her feet again” it becomes an open forum of questions for Jackie. Oh, and what an opportunity it is. The first question she fields is on a woman’s medication, where Jackie tells her its vicodin and it’s expired and she quickly slips the bottle it into her pocket. “I need to dispose of this properly,” Jackie tells. She then instructs them all to right down all of their medication, as she will review it next week and continue to come on Mondays. An absolute gold mine.
“Is it true,” Thor asks. The ER wall screen reads: “Is All Saints Closing Its Doors Forever? Meeting Friday! Basement – 7 A.M.” So that’s what Jackie was typing. Akalitus tries to erase it, but the cursor does nothing (remember Jackie has the batteries). “How the fuck do you plug this thing in,” Akalitus fumes.
The episode ends with Eddie and Jackie downloading about their days, and showing her jackpot of drugs. “Now all I want to do is eat them,” Jackie says.
But Eddie had a better day. He got a job as a pharmaceutical rep for some new pain med (pain medication without all the constipation). But first thing first, they need to get rid of the drugs Jackie collected. They meet up with Jackie’s dealer, who thinks Jackie looks great. “You’ve got this really awesome glow,” he compliments. Eddie isn’t getting why he would be showing such sentiment. As Jackie’s tries to end this whole convo ASAP, her dealer (who I can’t remember his name, sorry) fuels the discussion eluding to Jackie and him having a little fun of their own. Not liking the tone or the sound of that Eddie probes on. “Tell the old man to simmer,” the dealer says. Not appreciated. Jackie brushes him off calling him a dumb kid, but he’s not done with this one. “She didn’t think I was so dumb when she was swinging on my jock,” he taunts Eddie. Now Eddie wants a piece of him and the whole thing ends with the dealer taking off thinking they are both crazies and them most likely losing their connection. “What the fuck Eddie,” Jackie says. “No, what the fuck Jackie,” Eddie blasts back. Exactly what we were thinking!
Photos, Credit: David M. Russell/SHOWTIME
