"....wading through a shitstorm of people....."

Yes, it's official.

I'm hooked.

Many people in my life will say "Well duh...." But for some reason I didn't make it to the second episode of Nurse Jackie when it was originally airing. It wasn't because the show wasn't good enough, but timing... my timing... was off.

In this age of "come back and view it later" when you can more often than not go to the website of a show and catch up on episodes, I find myself doing just that. If I miss a premiere episode or a couple just after, I won't try to come back in. Instead, I like to have one of those vegetative days where I just marathon a program, catch up on rest and catch up on the show I've been missing.

Nurse Jackie is nearly every nurse's chance to say "Hell yeah!" because the writer's allow Jackie to say and do the things we were never able to. Don't get me wrong. MUCH of what she's doing is SO very illegal. I even found myself toward the end of my marathon beginning to feel worry because she's going to get in trouble sooner or later. I mean... shave a corner here... OK.... do a little trickery there... well.... gotcha covered. But by the end I'm starting to fear for my OWN non-existent nursing licence!

My fellow blogger RadioPeter is thinking about nursing school. I think that this show is a great primer for wannabe nurses. OK, forget the part about how easy it may seem to steal and freebase Oxycontin (it's not... you WILL get caught) but the real, raw look into what nursing is and what they go through is unapologetically placed on the screen and BAM.. that's it.

In one scene Jackie's nursing student feels like she just can't do the job. Sometimes that's a sign for you to tell the student "Yes, you're right, get the F out now and go into stenography because all YOU want is a doctor husband..." But there are some that you KNOW they have the spirit for it and while the job is crap, you don't want them washed out by it. Jackie lays it out in a line that will be cheered by me for a long time:

What's this about? Nobody ate your muffins? You found an ear in the toilet? So what? You know what this job is honey? This job is wading through a shit storm of people who come into this place on the very worst day of their lives. Just so you know, doctors are here to diagnose, not heal. We heal. All saints is in the business of flipping beds. That's it. End of story. The fact that you have even the slightest inclination to help people puts you miles ahead of 100 percent of the population. So stop crying, okay? Buck up. If you need to cry, go do it in the ladies' room. Is that clear?

Tonight's episode is the season finale. All I can say is I hope Edie Falco is enjoying her hiatus... cuz lady, you better get back to the set soon because if I can't watch you find new ways to incorrectly take your illegal pain meds... I may have to try them myself.