Nurse Jackie recap Season 7, Episode 3 – Akalitus looks to fire someone

Nurse Jackie recap Season 7, Episode 3 “Godfathering” (original airdate April 26, 2015) Even sleeping next to Eddie, Jackie needs her personal space. She awakes to stay on task – she needs to be at church with her patient Vivian, who she’s determined to get back on her feet (despite the fact that she’s using Vivian’s drugs for a secondary source of income,  selling them to her former dealer).

NURSE JACKIE (Season 7)At All Saints a man is brought in on a gurney, having just fallen from a building. There’s a lot of blood. Jackie (Edie Falco) swoops in interrupting Zoey (Merritt Weaver), Thor (Stephen Wallum) and Coop (Peter Facinelli) – as she’s quick to tell the patient he’s going to be OK and starts to lead the gurney transfer. Wait. Can she be in there? The trauma trio starts questioning what is and isn’t acceptable for Jackie with her Diversion Program in play. Jackie thinks she’s fine so she assists.

Wrong answer. Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith) reminds she’s working under a suspended license, telling the team there’s no reason Jackie should be anywhere near trauma.

“Now here’s something you can do,” Akalitus tells Jackie. “Clean this place up,”

While making her rounds, mop in hand, someone waiting in the urgent care area stops Jackie asking her if she’s a nurse. Jackie considers the question and asks how she could help, rather than actually answer the question. It seems the woman, Mrs. Kim, is having severe abdominal pain. Jackie asks a few questions, goes to the nurses’ station and moves the lady’s chart to the top of the pile. On to more mopping. Yeah, it’s going to be impossible for Jackie not to help.

Akalitus meets with Zoey to further explain the rules of diversion for Jackie, and that she will need a designated monitor — enter Zoey.

“Quick question,” Dr. Carrie Roman (Betty Gilpin) interrupts. “Is Jackie still a nurse?”

“She’s a nursing assistant,” Akalitus tells.

“So were pretending she doesn’t know anything. Got it,” Carrie says.

Akalitus gives Zoey a long list of compliance items Jackie needs to follow. With all the shit work she’s going to throw at her, Akalitus is sure there’s no way Jackie’s going to last a week.

Carrie returns, interrupting again, “Can Jackie hold things for me?”

“As long as it’s not a patient or a narcotic,” Akalitus responds. It’s going to take time understanding this one.

For Zoey the whole monitoring of Jackie “feels very weird and personal,” she tells Akalitus. She asks if it has to be her. Akalitus hands her a urine cup. Guess so. An awkward wait for Jackie’s urine begins, with Zoey unable to give even the slightest bit of privacy – she can’t even turn around or leave the room. So they wait. Next task after urine sample — changing linens. And Jackie’s on it.

Coop is showing Eddie (Paul Shulze) photos of the home he’s going to purchase. He’s got an offer in and isn’t going to tell Carrie until he gets the keys in his hand. Now that’s a bad idea. “So the surprise pregnancy wasn’t stressful enough,” Eddie asks. Coop sees it as being romantic. Then Coop does a decent Marlon Brando, Godfather, impression saying, “I want to make you an offer you can’t refuse. My kid needs a godfather.”

“You sound like a French vampire,” Eddie tells. (Nice Twilight reference, we get it.)

Then Eddie tries his version of an Italian accent (not good) discussing his qualifications for the job. Jackie walks by with a laundry cart.

“Check out Cinderella. It’s depressing watching her push around laundry and garbage,” Coop says. “Have you talked to her since she’s been back?”

No, not really, Eddie says.

Nurse Jackie recapJackie takes the lines to the bowels of the hospital. It’s where all the shit goes down, according to orderly Matt. Matt makes odd talk with Jackie telling her he has a home and a girlfriend and asks if she’s into urban camping and public sleeping. Ah, no. Jackie says it smells like someone is smoking. Matt’s sure if that was the case he would know about it. This time he didn’t.

Looks like Carrie is culprit.

“I feel like it’s my fault,” Carrie tells Jackie, taking a drag off her cigarette.

Jackie tells her she had a miscarriage, too, right before she had Grace.

“Honestly, I’m relieved,” Carrie says. But she can’t tell Coop yet. “It will break his heart.” Jackie warns not to wait too long.

Nurse-JackieAs Jackie returns to stripping linens, she talks with the woman with stomach pains (Mrs. Kim) in the adjoining area, asking how she feels. Zoey comes in and also starts questioning her. Jackie acts like she is changing the linens, but really examines the woman’s feet. “Blue toes, blue toes” she calls out to Zoey. “Dr. Cooper, blue toes,” Zoey responds. [Note to self: You don’t want blue toes] Coop comes in and then looks to Jackie to validate his possible diagnosis. “Probably. Yes,” Jackie confirms. An, ahem moment, as Zoey politely reminds the needy doctor that she’s the nurse in charge.

At the hospital pharmacy/store, Jackie looks to buy her own pack of smokes. Seriously, like they would sell smokes at a hospital, right? Ah, no. Eddie sees her there and advises to chew gum instead and hands her a pack of gum. He sits down to talk to Jackie.

“The only person that talks to me normal is Matt the Dungeon master,” Jackie tells him. Eddie has no clue who she’s talking about.

“Maybe it’s better not to have friends at work,” Eddie offers. Explaining how Coop just asked him to be godfather to his kid. “I have to say yes, right?”

Poor Coop, Jackie says.

Not really, according to Eddie, who doesn’t know Carrie lost the baby. Eddie explains that Coop is far from being poor and tells how he just bought a surprise house and paid for it in cash.

Nurse Jackie episode 3 season 7Akalitus hears it all. Eddie tries to engage her in the situation by asking what her reaction would be if someone bought her a surprise house. Offended, then thrilled, but she doesn’t play games and quickly switches subjects. “Let me ask you a question. If I asked you for one inventory, how long does it take one pharmacist to put that together?”

Eddie will have it do her by the end of the day.

Zoey is really trying to avoid Jackie. She ducks into an unoccupied ER room to hide. But, Thor’s already in there, apparently trying to manage his blood-sugar levels. Zoey confides that’s it stressful to watch the person you admire pee in a cup and not knowing what to say afterward (thank you, I’m sorry, go fuck yourself). Zoey tells him she got into her master’s program and got a huge scholarship. (Great news for Zoey, not good news for All Saints.) She explains how she use to like coming to work, but now she’s got to give herself a four-block pep talk before coming in just to calm herself down. “This is work place stress, right?” she asks Thor, and goes into a stress fit of sorts.

Coop wants to go for a surprise drive with Carrie, but she doesn’t like surprises and tries to push him off. Of course Jackie knows what to do — she interrupts the couple asking if she can bum another cigarette from Carrie. Say what? Coop’s quick to interject that Carrie doesn’t smoke. But Carrie pulls out the pack of cigs and hands it to Jackie, telling her she can keep them. Coop’s confused. “Miscarriages in the first trimester are very, very common,” she says. Coop’s devastated. “I’m so sad.” They hug.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Kim needs emergency surgery. Coop calls for Jackie and they rush to get her into the surgery room, but Jackie has to exit and watches outside through the window, clearly pained not to be assisting. Mrs. Kim dies. Jackie’s left with knowing she could have made a difference, and having to deal with the body.

Thor takes Zoey to see Eddie. She needs a Xanax. Zoey agrees – “I’ll take a half, maybe a quarter.” But Akalitus walks in and Zoey openly admits the pill is for her. Next Akalitus is with Eddie probing further.

“You gave Zoey a Xanax without a prescription?” Akalitus asks. Eddie defends his choice, siding that it’s difficult for Zoey to be Jackie’s monitor. She fires Eddie on the spot.

“You’re going to fire me over a Xanax?” Eddie contends. “I think you’re gunning to fire somebody and if can’t be Jackie it mine as well be me.”

She asks Eddie for the inventory.

“I don’t work here anymore. Do you own inventory,” he says.

“You’ve had your hand in all sorts of shit,” Akalitus says. “You and I both know. You are going to walk out of my hospital right now and never look back. Consider yourself very lucky.”

He is lucky.

Akalitus walks out of the room, takes the Xanax from Zoey and pops it in her mouth, and tells her staff, “Back to work.”

Then on to the hospital’s bowels – the basement – where Jackie and her corpse, meets up with Matt and his corpse. As they talk about their mutual love for their occupations, Matt eludes to the hospital not being around forever. Turns out he overhead an HR meeting and the hospital is being sold to some Norwegian developers for some luxury condos. “Sometimes it pays to be invisible,” he adds.

Nurse Jackie season 7As Eddie is escorted out by Akalitus, Jackie learns he’s been fired. Eddie passes her and then returns, grabbing Jackie for in a passionate kiss and embrace — the classic F-U to Akalitus. “See you later at my place,” he tells Jackie. He smiles and walks out. Akalitus is left silently glaring.