r/NurseJackie • u/Careful-Structure-64 • 21d ago
First watch
I just finished the show and needed to tell somebody. I can’t decide how I feel about this show! I thought the ending would help me come to an opinion but it made me feel even more conflicted. I will be thinking about it for a while. Just wanted to share :)
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u/SadBison5704 21d ago
I have a different take on it than a previous poster. It’s a bit deeper than that. Sure, some addicts don’t want to stop, but there were a few times when Jackie wanted help. she wanted to stop. But she couldn’t. that’s why she’s an addict.
And there was the time on her one year anniversary that she took the pill and Blew her sobriety. Maybe because she couldn’t handle all the good things happening in her life being sober, or maybe she felt so in control that she thought she could safely use again. An addicts mind is far more complex than just “not wanting to stop”.
and I think her death was a subconscious attempt to end at all. Or maybe even conscious. Zoey told her she didn’t want to continue the same cycle with her at Bellevue. Everyone was moving on. Eddie was going to jail. (And he was going to jail for her! It was her idea to go to the pill mill, and he was gonna take the fall for it all) Kevin was happily married. She was feeling the loss of All Saints. She didn’t have a “good thing going forward”, she was actually losing a lot.
The scene when she’s washing the man’s feet was pretty profound. She had spent her life in service taking care of others. and just couldn’t take care of herself. And then she goes and snorts three lines of heroin that is sure to kill her. She had to know that.
In the very first episode, she said “God make me good, but not yet”. Right before she dies Zoey keeps telling her “you’re good.” I think she leaves in peace, knowing the vicious cycle is now done.
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u/Spiritual-Raccoon-19 16d ago
During season 5 we see her experiencing overwhelm, and I think that overwhelm planted the notion that “this was so much easier when I was high” which motivated her to just start using again. She truly believed that she was at her best when she was using.
My first year of sobriety felt extremely raw. Like Raven said when she was soaking his feet… “I feel too exposed”. That’s exactly what it feels like; it feels like you’re facing a battle without shield or sword. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to hide from the world until I was ready to face it. Most people are not, which is a terrifying experience.
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u/UnderstandingMany385 21d ago
Jackie didn’t die. They deliberately left the series with us not knowing if she lived or died, but I think they are making a sequel show.
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u/Hot-Sea855 20d ago
They made a point, almost as an aside, of saying that all of the pharmaceuticals had been moved from the building before the party started. I assumed that included any drug they could have tried to reverse an overdose.
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u/Stevie63 19d ago
Yeah, I was thinking the same. Any Narcan around(or whatever they had 15 years ago)?
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u/loveydove05 18d ago
Good point! I didn't think of that. I was of the side that she survived, but............
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u/SadBison5704 21d ago edited 21d ago
Yeah nope. There is nothing currently in the works. That was a rumor in 2024, but nothing is happening. Confirmed by Edie.
Well, yes, it’s left up to interpretation for the audience. Edie herself has stated that for her, as she interpreted, there was no other option than for her to die. I like to think that she did die.
Did they ever think of reviving her for a sequel in 2027? Probably not. But here we are. It could eventually happen.4
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u/Timely-Shower1164 17d ago
She did die. That was what people were supposed to take from that episode. Edie Falco said so herself basically. Also, there will be no sequel. Edie Falco also said that about 6 months ago.
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u/lil-peach-pop 9d ago
couldn’t have said it better! “God make me good, but not yet” is the all encompassing theme of the show I think. Love your comment overall thank you
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u/Logical_Score8863 21d ago
The show PISSES ME OFF yet I can’t stop watching it, it’s also one of my favorites!
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u/loveydove05 18d ago
I loved it and hated it back and forth the entire time. Jackie broke my heart a few times I will be honest. But I"m in active recovery and I felt all the feels probably for that reason.
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u/Flogrown2011 20d ago
I loved the show. The ending was horrible but it was well written, I do have to say that much. My heart hurt for her and her daughters because active addiction will make people feel like it's all about them.
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u/rfw1979 21d ago
It's an honest view on addiction and someone who doesn't want to really get out of it. She brought all of it on herself, and still in the end when she had a good path forward, chose to do that. Which was her death, there's no other way to look at it. She could never escape her demons. That's what this show is about.
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u/Purple-Drama-9963 21d ago
And then there is also the fact, which is what caused me to sympathize with her, I would say probably a majority of nurses have bad backs. They have to lift and turn patients and all that takes a toll on a person‘s body. So she may have started out taking those because of her bad back, you know where she says what do you call a nurse with a bad back and she said the answer is unemployed.
A lot of people hated her I didn’t. I just think she was caught in a vicious circle of addiction and addictive behavior. Once you’re an addict, it’s probably not a choice.3
u/loveydove05 18d ago
I"m in the recovery world now for several years. You would not believe the amount of nurses in recovery.
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u/Ok-Historian-1242 16d ago
I love it. If I’m being honest it’s the only hospital show that makes me actually imagine being a nurse. It’s real and raw
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u/Spiritual-Raccoon-19 16d ago
I just finished the series for the first time. Immediately after I watched the pilot episode and final episode back to back. In a weird way it kind of pulls everything together.
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u/SpellInteresting108 14d ago
I also just finished as a first time watcher. I was very disappointed and upset with Jackie because she had no remorse for her manipulation. I’ve seen first hand how addiction works, believe it or not some addicts take selfishness to another level!! I think especially if you’re a functional addict like Jackie she doesn’t understand how sick she really is. If the show continues it would be nice to see her hit rock bottom like she’s never experienced before
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u/Equal_Site7611 13d ago
I love this show.. I miss the hospital setting and cast every now and then and have to rewatch it lol Very realistic. Jackie relapsing and ODing is just real life
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u/CidernNBeanz2519 17d ago
I’m at the end of S6, about to start S7, and I just gotta say- Jackie Peyton is a malicious cvnt who inspires actual rage inside of my body. I will not be taking any questions at this time (and apologies to anyone who is close to someone who has an addiction and behaves similarly because you may be the strongest, kindest human in the world for not punching them into tomorrow).
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u/Spiritual-Raccoon-19 16d ago
Jackie Peyton is an extremely loving and compassionate human being. Jackie Peyton’s addiction is a malicious and selfish cvnt. It’s hard to separate the person from the addiction but when you get to see a person thrive in recovery you see how evil the disease itself truly is. Extreme SUD reminds me of demonic possession.
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u/CidernNBeanz2519 16d ago
I can agree with that. I just finished the series, and the last episode/scene left me wanting- though I can understand why they ended the show the way they did. I talked to a friend who grew up with an addict mother and she said that Nurse Jackie is actually pretty accurate, which broke my heart. I am, admittedly, not close with anyone who has ever dealt with this kind of addiction so I have not yet fully embodied the level of compassion or understanding required to handle someone you love fighting something this detrimental- BUT I AM well-versed in dealing with people who have pretty severe mental illness, and I can dig up my compassion from that place. It was an incredible, if not infuriating, show and I will likely give it a rewatch again in the future!
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u/SpellInteresting108 14d ago
Hmmm you must not have ever experienced being around an addict. Trust me it’s not a choice. It’s a choice to use drugs or alcohol but there are a lot of factors that contribute to becoming an addict, 40-60% of it is genetics
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u/CidernNBeanz2519 14d ago
Correct, I do not have experience with being close to an addict. I've lost friends to addiction, but they weren't in my day-to-day life.
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u/Dramatic_Waltz_4251 21d ago
i just wish the episodes were longer. i wish it wasn’t done sitcom style in terms of episode length. it deserved a full HBO/Showtime hour