Nurse Jackie: Season 2 (2010)

Season 1 of Nurse Jackie ended with Edie Falco's drug-addict protagonist attempting an overdose as everything got on top of her. At no point during season 2 was this even mentioned, so are we to assume it was a fantasy, much like the beach-walk that ends this season? Who knows! Jackie's off the wall and so full of awkwardness that it doesn't matter so much that the ending of the last season was inexplicable, this season was such a good ride.

As the season wore on, Jackie became more devious and created bigger lies as she hid from her husband, kids, best friend Dr. O'Hara, sometime lover/stalker Eddie and everybody else the fact she needs to snort or ingest painkillers to get through the day. There was a danger that Jackie might become an unlikable character, but each episode proved that she's an excellent nurse, always willing to go the extra mile for patients, even if it goes against hospital policy or conventional wisdom. However, there's only so much balancing of morality and immorality that a person can take, so it was almost cathartic for the viewer when Jackie's lies got uncovered in the final episodes. Even though I love the character, I wanted her to get found out, maybe because then she could be helped?

Jackie's world is full of oddball characters, Coop is vain and thinks too highly of himself, Zoey is just plain weird and hilarious with it, Dr. O'Hara has a sharp tongue but a warm heart, while Gloria Akalitus continues to delight in every scene in which she appears. If it wasn't for the extended cast of crazies Nurse Jackie the character and Nurse Jackie the show could be a fairly depressing prospect considering the descent into drug addiction, so it's testament to excellent writing that everything adds up to a coherent and likable whole.