Nurse Jackie: Season Three
"Nurse Jackie" is back for Season 3 and unsurprisingly the show remains as addictive as ever. Edie Falco stars in the Showtime series, playing what may very well be the most complex (as well as the most unlikeable) main character on television today. As the titular Jackie, Falco transcends all stereotypes. The character is a drug addict but a dedicated mother, and an unfaithful wife but an amazingly admirable nurse.
And Falco’s acting lives up to the challenge; she never descends into melodramatics in terms of her addiction or in her character’s constant deceits. She keeps everything grounded, and a calm sense of command is apparent in every line of her dialogue; enough to make it believable when she plays every person around her for a fool. The show sinks or swims on her ability to inhabit such a divisive character, and she performs the task with excellence.
"Season 3" allows Falco to continue her conniving ways; as Jackie constantly lies and backpedals to avoid both a confrontation with her husband (who, in the start of the season, has just had an intervention in an attempt to curb her drug habit) and with the hospital (which, at one point, has to put her on probation when her erratic behavior proves uncontrollable.) Jackie is able to evade her constant predicaments for a time; but everything comes crashing together by the intense - and at times, uproarious - season finale.
The Blu-ray of the show is more than serviceable, providing a transfer that looks cleaner than HDTV broadcast supplemented by a handful of extras. We have five audio commentaries in all, along with character-specific featurettes and an extended gag reel. This underrated program will have you swooning over Falco’s acting and cracking up at the show’s willingness to go truly low with it’s main character - it’s inspired insanity.
"Nurse Jackie: Season 3"
Blu-ray
$39.97
www.sho.com
