NURSE JACKIE: SOUL {FIFTH SEASON FINALE} (TV)
Summary
One in this drama series about a drug-addicted nurse in New York City who's beset by personal and professional problems.
Jackie has a ceremony to celebrate one year of sobriety that she wants people to attend, but Grace doesn’t want to. She invites Frank as well, but he still feels hurt and doesn’t want to see her anymore. Jackie and Dr. Cooper tend to Wally, an elderly patient dying of liver cancer, and he mentions that he is gay. Dr. Cooper notes that Wally would be better served in hospice care, and that Gloria will likely not allow them to keep him there. However, they decide to keep him there anyway. Thor speaks to him, recognizing him from an earlier encounter at an open mic bar, and Wally recognizes him as well. Zoey tries to work alongside Dr. Prentiss but becomes uncomfortable when he starts flirting with her in the office despite her instructions not to. Jackie is puzzled when she receives a gift in the form of a piece of bread baked in the shape of a horseshoe. Zoey gets Jackie to apologize to her for her earlier remarks, noting that she was not thinking straight after finding out about Grace’s drug use. Dr. Roman discovers that she is to be given a peer review administered by Gloria, Dr. Prentiss, and Dr. Cooper. Dr. Cooper indicates that her career could be on the line, and says he has a “clear perspective” on her since their breakup.
Eddie tells Jackie about Grace’s bloodwork and tells her that he won’t be able to make it to her sobriety ceremony. Gloria surprises Jackie and Thor by allowing Wally to stay in the hospital, and she seems quite sympathetic to his plight. Wally refuses their offer of painkillers owing to his many years of sobriety after his morphine addiction, and Jackie empathizes with this. Jackie and Wally get into a discussion about their religious beliefs, and he notes that “you leave the church, it never leaves you.” Jackie speaks at Dr. Roman’s peer review and Dr. Roman admits that she is constantly frightened that she is going to accidentally kill a patient and needs “confidence.” Before the vote can be made about Dr. Roman’s future, Dr. Cooper speaks up and says that her plight is not unlike any doctor starting out, and that everyone in that room has had all manner of debilitating problems that they have worked through. He votes that she stays, but everyone else is opposed and she is released from the hospital staff.
Jackie discovers that Thor has surreptitiously given Wally an intravenous morphine drip and berates him for going against Wally’s wishes. Later, Dr. Roman visits Gloria’s office, claiming that she has been in a “hostile work environment” and talks about Dr. Cooper groping her and having sex with her, as well as Gloria concealing her memory loss problems. She is accompanied by an attorney, and she threatens to sue the hospital. Faced with this pressure, Gloria decides that they have to keep Dr. Roman on staff, much to Jackie and Dr. Prentiss’s surprise. Later, Dr. Roman confronts Jackie over the revelation that she was a drug addict, particularly when she prescribed OxyContin for her after her car accident. Jackie says she never filled it and produces the prescription as proof. Dr. Roman claims she only wants Jackie to like her, but Jackie brushes her off. Jackie and Thor tell Wally that he has been put on morphine, and he asks for more, as well as the administration of his last rites. He specifically requests that Jackie perform the rites, much to her surprise.
Zoey picks up Grace from school and takes her to Jackie’s sobriety ceremony, somewhat against her will. Grace becomes upset and asks to be brought home. Zoey pulls over and allows Grace to cry on her shoulder. Thor tends to Wally and tells him that he is “an example” to him, calling him a “survivor.” He becomes quite emotional, talking about the decades of difficult times Wally experienced as a gay man in New York. Jackie arrives and administers last rites over Wally. He dies partway through the rites, but Jackie finishes them anyway. Privately, Jackie feels frustrated that her year of sobriety hasn’t seemed to amount to anything. On her way from work Frank drives up alongside Jackie in his police car. He tries to reconcile with her for their encounter that morning, and learns that Grace is using drugs and that she has given up custody of her daughters. He is humbled by this knowledge and apologizes, saying that he “can be pissed at you and still love you.” Thor sings a song at the open mic bar in accordance with Wally’s final instructions. Jackie and Frank sleep together and she asks him about the horseshoe-bread; he explains that it is part of an old family tradition for when “something good happens to us.” She says that she loves him, and he admits that he is proud of her for her sobriety. Jackie prepares for her ceremony, but before she leaves she swallows a large pill she hid in her night table. The ceremony gets underway as Grace and Fiona present Jackie with a cake while everyone sings. Dr. O’Hara arrives as well, pleasantly surprising Jackie.
Details
- NETWORK: Showtime
- DATE: 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:29:11
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 117036
- GENRE: Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: LGBT Collection; Drama, medical
- SERIES RUN: Showtime - TV series, 2009-2015
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Caryn Mandabach … Executive Producer
- Richie Jackson … Executive Producer
- Tom Straw … Executive Producer, Writer
- Clyde Phillips … Executive Producer, Writer
- Michael Davidoff … Co-Executive Producer
- Bill Rosenthal … Co-Executive Producer
- Liz Flahive … Co-Executive Producer
- Randall Einhorn … Co-Executive Producer, Director
- Cindy Caponera … Supervising Producer
- Brad Carpenter … Producer
- Michele Giordano … Producer
- Brian Sabowski … Associate Producer
- Russ Hammonds … Associate Producer
- Liz Brixius … Consulting Producer, Created by
- Linda Wallem … Consulting Producer, Created by
- Evan Dunsky … Created by
- Abe Sylvia … Writer
- Pat Irwin … Music by
- Edie Falco … Cast, Jackie Peyton
- Eve Best … Cast, Dr. Eleanor O'Hara
- Merritt Wever … Cast, Zoey Barkow
- Paul Schulze … Cast, Eddie Walzer
- Dominic Fumusa … Cast, Kevin Peyton
- Anna Deavere Smith … Cast, Gloria Akalitus
- Ruby Jerins … Cast, Grace Peyton
- MacKenzie Aladjem … Cast, Fiona Peyton
- Peter Facinelli … Cast, Dr. Fitch Cooper
- Morris Chestnut … Cast, Dr. Ike Prentiss
- Stephen Wallem … Cast, Thor
- Betty Gilpin … Cast, Dr. Carrie Roman
- Adam Ferrara … Cast, Frank Verelli
- John Cullum … Cast, Wally
- Michael Mastro … Cast, Larry
- Korey Jackson … Cast, Brandon