S07.E12: I Say A Little Prayer

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SERIES FINALE!

 

An unexpected guest shows up at Fiona's confirmation rehearsal. Jackie is offered a position at Bellevue.

 

Promo:

 

Clips:

 

[SaabStory]

O'Hara!!!

I've missed her.

[windsprints]

But of course it is probably a giant red herring where Jackie's being summoned to help,

 

I think its possible Dr. Prince collapses and Zoey is calling for Jackie to help. I still think Jackie may die at the end but maybe its not the scene from the promo.

[dangwoodchucks]

Well the preview certainly closes ominously with the cries of Jackie's name and Zoey calling for oxygen. But of course it is probably a giant red herring where Jackie's being summoned to help, not that she needs help (i.e., is overdosing). It does seem that no matter what choice Eddie makes - to finger her or to continue providing cover - she's screwed in that she's going to lose her biggest enabler. 

 

I'm not one that's thought that she's "had" to die for there to be some salvaging of the show in general and the season in particular. But if she loses Eddie, loses Zoey, gets called out by O'Hara right off the bat for being high again, and is facing going into a new work setting where she is not going to be the hot shit ER nurse-cum-dictator (and I'd really love to see her strutting her arrogant self into Bellevue and getting her newbie wings clipped) maybe an intentional overdose is her final out.

OMG that bolded part, was that wording really necessary? LOL

 

I've never been one to think Jackie needed to die at the end either, or Grace to OD as many posters at IMDB write about. I would be happy if Zoey finally spills all to the DEA and Jackie goes to jail.

[Juliegirlj]

Jackie never wanted to get clean. So she won't! An addict cannot go on using forever- either they hit bottom and get clean, or they die eventually. Repeat- Jackie does not want to be drug free. Her death is the only logical ending, and I am fairly certain that is what the writers are doing. Even Edie Falco has said she can't stand Jackie at this point. Liz Bruxuis- one of the original creators of the show said she believes Jackie needs to die in the end for authenticity.

[Joan van Snark]

Huhhh?

[LadyintheLoop]

"Make me good."

 

"You're good, Jackie!"

Edited June 29, 2015 by LadyintheLoop

[TimWil]

She died. I have a friend who worked as crew and the description of the scene was "Jackie never makes it out of the hospital doors."

The end titles in white are also a clear clue.

[Mama No Life]

I hope she is dead.

 

Two good parts about tonight...Zoey cutting the cord and O'Hara calling her on her shit.  I hope Eddie goes to jail and Jackie goes to the morgue.  What a loathesome character.

 

I cheered for Tony Soprano and Walter White more than Jackie.

[maystone]

I liked it. There really isn't any closure with an addict, so having Jackie die or happily planning to bs her way through Bellevue would have felt too easy (to me at least). This was sad and sordid and humiliating and enraging - and having said that, I still couldn't predict what Jackie would do after she came around again. It could be that she would never, ever get clean.

 

ETA: Except now I found out that she died at the end. Ha! I like my ending better.

Edited June 29, 2015 by maystone

[Fisher King]

I liked it, too. Fitting ending.

 

Eve Best looks terrific.

[roughing it]

Yup, when they started playing the song from

"Valley of the Dolls" I knew Jackie was gone. And the white background of the closing credits.

[eyewatchtv]

I think Dr Prince saw it coming.  Dying people just  know things.

[DuckyinKy]

Wasn't the one thing Grace couldn't remember about the 7 sins was "final impenitence" and they coached her? And isn't the definition of that "dying unreconciled with God."

Jackie: "Make me good...."

Zoey: "You're good Jackie."

Edited June 29, 2015 by DuckyinKy

[Mama No Life]

Terrific catch Ducky.

 

It essentially means to refuse to repent, I believe, which I assume covers praying to be good while you are popping oxy?

[TimWil]

Showrunner Clyde Phillips wants the ending to be considered ambiguous (yawn)...

http://m.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/did-nurse-jackie-end-at-the-right-time-and-in-the-right-way/

[Pallas]

There's the great line by Arthur Miller, from his After the Fall: "Suicide kills two people, Maggie!  That's what suicide's for!"

By dying the night before her youngest daughter's first communion, Jackie did her best to polish off her family and best friend, who will now bury her.  And by dying in the middle of the ER on its last day, Jackie took aim at every one of her colleagues.  Most of all Zoe, who lost her first and last patient at All Saints while Jackie watched, and who now needs to "make her own way" while wondering what would have happened if she'd accepted Jackie's offer, or waited to decline Jackie's offer, or...while knowing, to no avail, that it was all to no avail.  Eddie, who will still go to prison to save the woman who would rather die on him.  Maybe Prince, brought back to himself by the sound of the ambulance arriving, and returning to the ER.  Even Gloria, who thought again and again that with this one, this time, she'd dodged a bullet.

She got them all.  Addiction didn't make her into a monster: it just made her look like the monster she was.  

"Eternal impenitence."  You're good, Jackie.

[dangwoodchucks]

Showrunner Clyde Phillips wants the ending to be considered ambiguous (yawn)...

http://m.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/did-nurse-jackie-end-at-the-right-time-and-in-the-right-way/

What an idiot. This is an interesting read as well. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nurse-jackie-series-finale-clyde-805408

He says he thinks she's alive and then explains things that point to her dying, boy with green hair (Charlie), bike messenger, nuns in the scene outside. He talks about Jackie opening her eyes as making us wonder whether she dies. I think she's responding to Zoey telling her she's good. It gives her peace so she can die.

 

Another reason I believe she dies: Zoey told her they closed early because they were out of meds. If that means completely out of everything, they wouldn't have anything to give her for the overdose.

 

They finally showed Jackie with the full realization of what her addiction had done to those she valued (other than her family): O'Hara called her out and was majorly disappointed in her, Eddie was willing to go to jail for her, Zoey wanted to be away from her. Jackie was right that if she wasn't a nurse, she wasn't anything. She'd rather be dead. A fitting end.

 

As much as I detested Jackie this last season (and even in this episode I had to grrrrr when she told O'Hara that Akalitus had fired Eddie for no reason), I teared up when I watched the ending a second time.

Edited June 29, 2015 by dangwoodchucks

[Mama No Life]

Showrunner Clyde Phillips wants the ending to be considered ambiguous (yawn)...

http://m.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/did-nurse-jackie-end-at-the-right-time-and-in-the-right-way/

 

She's dead to me.  And after reading that interview, so he is. What a pompous ass.

[LotusFlower]

Showrunner Clyde Phillips wants the ending to be considered ambiguous (yawn)...

http://m.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/did-nurse-jackie-end-at-the-right-time-and-in-the-right-way/

I don't need resolutions for every character and every storyline, but in this post-Sopranos era, I think it's pretty lame and copy-cat to pull another does-she-or-doesn't-she-die last scene ending. I realize that it mirrors life with an addict - is today the day they're going to die? But from a storyteller's perspective - why don't you tell us? Finish the story!

Also, man, this guy Clyde Phillips comes across as such an asshole. Not just what he said about the show, but also about how he talked about the co-creators, and especially what he said about the Dexter writers and showrunners.

[DrivingSideways]

If they were going for ambiguous, I think I prefer last season's ending when we saw Jackie getting charged.  If Jackie's dead, just show us.  After the Sopranos finale, it's impossible to view the end of another Edie Falco show and not compare them.  

 

I kind of expected exactly this kind of ending after the crap season we've sat through, but I'm still a little bummed.  The first few seasons of this show were so spectacular.  The cast is amazing but the writing just wasn't great this season.  I will miss the show though!

[catrox14]

Okay WTF.  So I'm going with Jackie died at work.  I think....

 

I suppose it fits the series. Jackie said she's an addict. She can't handle goodbyes and all the changes and losing her raison d etre through her own fault seems apt. 

 

At least it wasn't as bad as Dexter's finale...so there's that!

[Joimiaroxeu]

Nice use of the theme song from Valley of the Dolls. As soon as it started playing I assumed that meant Jackie died.

 

O'Hara looked fabulous but why was she so tanned? Doesn't she live in London?

 

Whatever, I think Matthew Weiner can breathe a sigh of relief (because there's no real reason to compare Jackie's ending to Don's), and Vince Gilligan and David Chase should be feeling kinda smug right now.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Joimiaroxeu

[Darian]

She's dead. I think so for all the reasons that have been said. What told me she was dead/dying was that not long after Jackie says being a nurse is who she is, she (in her hallucination), leaves behind her stethoscope, ID, and watch. I was an RN and the watch and stethoscope are are the first things I bought in nursing school. You had to have a watch with a second hand (and one that could take abuse), had to have a stethoscope. I haven't been a nurse for a long time, but I still have my stethoscope, because it was like part of my identity as a nurse. Jackie let go of that, because she was letting go of her life. Or something. I almost don't care. I bailed last season and came back, and skipped a few episodes. Brilliant cast, but ultimately a let down of a show.      

[DiabLOL]

I always thought that if someone overdoses and then opens their eyes they usually live. This felt like a very Sopranos ending which was the last thing I wanted. 

 

I thought the last episode was as crap as the rest of the season but I did feel the utter bleak hopeless emptiness of the dead end addict and why she did what she did in the bathroom.

[P3pp3rb1rd]

By engineering her own shocking, unexpected end in front of people who loved and respected her, Jackie does look guilty of impenitence. Jackie is like a terrorist who detonates herself, a bomb wounding and hurting others with her personal shrapnel.  

 

Think about the aftermath on her daughters and ex, Kevin, who were just getting along again at her daughter's confirmation. Or her enablers, Zoey and Eddie, who are left to wonder if she ever cared about them at all, or was just using and manipulating their love for her. Even Akalitis and Dr Prinz will ask themselves for years whether they could have done more or done it differently to avoid the unthinkable end. Jackie explodes from her own pain, and diabolically damages others with the shards. The opposite of loving others is her indifference to the pain she will surely cause.

 

By discarding the tools of her nursing trade, one-by-one, in plain sight, Jackie makes a deliberate death ritual out of her end, leaving a clear message that she planned her death and was--for whatever reason--guilty of impenitence and indifference to the feelings of all those who cared enough to love her.

[Dobian]

I actually liked the final scene a lot. As big of a train wreck this season was, the final episode brought Jackie back to reality. O'Hara returning was a big part of that, and emphasized how much the show missed Eve Best. I thought the scene with Dr. Monk right befor Jackie's final scene was both touching and kind of symbolic of two people who met each other at the end of their life's journey and made a meaningful connection before both moved on from this life. The Valley of the Dolls finish with her walking down Times Square was haunting and nicely done. Does she die? It doesn't matter to me. What matters is that in that final moment, Jackie finally comes clean to her closest friends about who she is and will always be.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Dobian

[zibnchy]

So I just re-watched Season 1 Episode 1 for the heck of it, and two things stood out which I had forgotten in the years since I first watched. First of all,they use the same music, the theme song from Valley of the Dolls throughout the pilot. Second, Jackie's final words in the episode after she returns home to her husband and children are "It bears repeating, make me good God, but not yet."

 

Jackie is good and dead, I think.

[albaniantv]

Maybe Alan Sepinwall was having a little fun pricking the ego of this Clyde the Clod, Showrunner.

 

When he asks him about using magical realism in Nurse Jackie, the 2 examples Sepinwall cites --the superhero guy who Jackie thinks has successfully flown off the roof of the hospital (viewers think otherwise) and then, in the finale, imagining herself walking around Times Square in another reality--are actually lifted, stolen, borrowed directly from Birdman, the Oscar winning film of last year.

 

I am sure Jackie died, surrounded by many of the people who tried to help her. I am sure because of all the many reasons (no meds left etc) and signs (washing the other addict's feet! etc) noted here in your comments. 

 

All in all, I loved the series --bless the casting geniuses most.

[Dobian]

At least it wasn't as bad as Dexter's finale...so there's that!

 

If Dexter ended with him going on a bender and walking stoned around Times Square it would have been ten times better than him as Paul Bunyon.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Dobian

[hatchetgirl]

She isn't one for heroin and the way she just did so much, there's no doubt to me, she's dead. And what a selfish bitch, still, in death. In front of everyone who wanted her better, loved her, admired her... Typical.

She's not good.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

While I understand Jackie feeling abandoned by the end of the episode (O'Hara is mad at her, Eddie is going to jail for her, Zoey won't go to Bellevue with her, Akalitus is still mad at her, Prince is going to die), her utter selfishness at choosing to OD in front of all her friends/coworkers and leave behind her daughters made me glad that this show is ending. A friend of mine said she quit watching the show a few seasons ago and I told her she wasn't missing anything because the same thing has been happening since she stopped watching: Jackie just kept on lying to people and manipulating people. I know that the cycle of addiction is hard to break, but this episode made me realize that I'm like Akalitus in that I'm tired of the wash rinse repeat of Jackie's actions. I'm glad that at least O'Hara called Jackie on her shit. I just wish O'Hara and Zoey had kept in touch so that O'Hara would have known what was going on with Jackie all this time.

[Cramps]

What did the washing of the feet symbolize?

If Jackie weren't used to doing heroin wouldn't she have thrown it up?

I really don't see how they could have ended this series with Jackie alive.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Cramps

[Blakeston]

She died. I have a friend who worked as crew and the description of the scene was "Jackie never makes it out of the hospital doors."

The end titles in white are also a clear clue.

I wish they'd had the balls to stick with an ending where we see her not make it out of the hospital - but of course they had to add some ambiguity to it. Ugh. That's a perfect metaphor for the complete lack of boldness we've seen from the makers of this show ever since Linda Wallem left.

 

That said, I think the signs of death are clear - like the credits turning to white. But they left room for viewers to think otherwise, and I'll bet a lot of them do. Which apparently is what the showrunner wanted, based on his own public statement.

 

(Also, when I first saw the episode, I thought Jackie's leg was moving at the end. When I rewatched the ending, I saw that Eddie was rubbing her leg. But I'll bet a lot of viewers thought she was still moving when the credits came on.) 

 

And there were so many ridiculous aspects to this season that never went anywhere - the Norwegian, for one. And Grace's personality changing out of nowhere. And what was with the awkwardness of Jackie not recommending Thor to Bellevue?

 

As for Eddie, are we supposed to see his actions as noble? "He proved he really would do anything for her, because he cared for her so much." I'd much rather think of it as, "The moron chose prison to save Jackie, and she died right after that, so now he's completely fucked."

Edited June 29, 2015 by Blakeston

[Trillian]

Wasn't the one thing Grace couldn't remember about the 7 sins was "final impenitence" and they coached her? And isn't the definition of that "dying unreconciled with God."

What did the washing of the feet symbolize?.

But Jackie didn't die unreconciled with God, did she? "God" comes into her hospital (All Saints) on the last day (Last Day?) just before the last time the staff gathers together (Last Supper?) and she tenderly washes his feet (just like the sinful woman in the bible - sometimes erroneously confused with Mary Magdelene although she is never so identified) and "God" calls her a saint (and forgives her sins?).

The symbolism was all pretty heavy-handed, at least to a Catholic. There were still religious statues in the hospital in the episode - and I found them jarring, since you'd think they'd be the first things removed at the sale (would've been a good harkening back to the first episodes - IF the writers had actually watched them). I'll have to re watch to see which statue was prominently displayed behind Jackie at one point - did anyone catch it?

It was also weird that that they focused, in the Confirmation rehearsal, on the 7 Sins Against the Holy Spirit, which was something else that seemed out of place. Modern catechism focuses on the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit conferred at Confirmation - the positive over the negative - and it really hit me as odd that the Sisters were going the other way. I chalked it up to either a really really old-fashioned school or a writer's mistake, but now it's striking me as just a hit over the head with the symbolism (I was pretty tired when I watched and just had vague impressions of things that seemed out of place without fully registering why they were).

I've been Confirmed and have been a Confirmation sponsor (like a godparent, but at Confirmation it's called a sponsor) a bunch of times, and I've never seen whole families come to the rehearsal - if there's a rehearsal at all. Usually it's just the confirmandi and their sponsors, and if their sponsors live out of town, they are usually allowed to skip it since it's not really difficult to "choreograph" (all the sponsor does is stand behind the confirmand and put his/her hand on the confirmand's shoulder). I guess they had to get Jackie there somehow to set up her final redemption.

So, Jackie, With Her Work Here On Earth done, sends out her disciple, little Zoey (my, hasn't she grown under Jackie's guidance) into the world, reconciled with Kevin, her children, Gloria, Zoey, and with "God", sacrifices herself so that Eddy is now free to testify against the Pill mill doctor without worrying about incriminating her. I'm going to go throw up now.

That said, I actually did like the episode :)

[ParkCirclegirl]

I am just now realizing some of the "clues" to which Jackie meets her end...the praying in the chapel in the beginning of the episode where she prays to "be made good," the presence of God or at least the guy who thought he was, the feet washing, the scene in church with Fiona, it all rings true of repenting before dying. I am sure there were other symbolic clues but being the nice Jewish girl I am the finer points of the Christian based clues were lost on me, lol.

Am I the only one who thinks that Bellevue is primarily known for the psych ward and Jackie was going to be a patient there? 

 

Overall I will miss this series no matter how it ended. 

 

[blueiris]

Thanks for mentioning references to the first epi.  Love the parallels to the finale - someone mentioned upthread about Zoe with the "you're good" which is all over the first ep. Jackie smiles a little at that as she slips away.  Also in the first epi - Zoe tells her she's a saint on her first day of work - so does the heroin addict in the finale.  Definitely worth watching both once again.  I too was pissed off through much of this season - I'm sure like some of you have been close to some addicts in my life.  The arrogance and constantly getting away with their messes is infuriating and you want to kill them.  And their enablers are just as infuriating. In the end this was a beautiful and complicated show.  Jackie could not wrap her head around sobriety and it killed her.

[maystone]

(Also, when I first saw the episode, I thought Jackie's leg was moving at the end. When I rewatched the ending, I saw that Eddie was rubbing her leg. But I'll bet a lot of viewers thought she was still moving when the credits came on.) 

 

 

I saw her legs move but didn't notice Eddie at all, and that's why I assumed that she was still alive. She opened her eyes and was reflexively moving her legs - or so I thought. Thank you for clarifying what really was going on.

I ended last night assuming she crashed (but didn't burn out) from an accidental overdose, but now after reading the comments posted overnight and this morning, I agree with those who say it was suicide. My sweetie is a long-time, to-the-bone nurse: I really should have picked up on the symbolism of Jackie taking off her stethoscope and watch and walking out of the door. Oh man, now I'm really sad. I want to talk with Edie Falco and dig into what she thought of Jackie's last day.

Edited June 29, 2015 by maystone

[paramitch]

I found this pretty heartbreaking, and I thought it worked very well as a series finale, although I of course was hoping for a happier one. But if Jackie had to go -- and I think she did -- then I'm so glad her last awareness was of Zoey, who loved her, and who is a truer legacy even than her daughters in a way. Zoey is the nurse Jackie helped to make her, and that made me happy despite such a terribly sad ending.

 

It's so easy as TV viewers to hate characters. But while I have often loathed Jackie and her actions, there has always been a part of me still rooting for her, even while despairing at those who were enabling her (Eddie, Eddie, freaking EDDIE).

 

I'm aware that I'm a rarity in this forum, but I cared about Jackie right through to the end -- even while acknowledging what a monumentally selfish and terrible person she has been. I despaired of her addictions, but I also loved watching her be a nurse, watching her care for other people and do this job that she was just amazing at. I never thought it was unbelievable -- I have three nurses in my family, and my Aunt, a career ER/ICU nurse was actually the one who got me to watch this show to begin with. The show got two things really right: Addiction, and nursing. Edie Falco was so good as Jackie -- the moment she spoke to patients, the changes in her voice from terse to caring -- it was always Jackie at her absolute best self.

 

I also thought the show really was at its best at showing the cost of addicts' smallest words or actions on their loved ones, who are constantly rooting for them yet scared to death of the next relapse and disaster. I have an addict in my family (not the Aunt! hee), and while I love that person dearly (and without enabling them), it's incredibly painful and I found this show frequently very moving on that front -- I probably most identified with Zoey.

 

But with that said, as with Sepinwall, I liked this final season, barring some odd moments and filler -- poor Dr. Roman, for instance, who actually showed signs of being interesting as an actual person (and not just the requisite love scene/boobs requirement) during the middle before she was once again relegated the past few episodes to love interest (in that bizarre twist with the Norwegian guy, in a hard-to-believe story that had no bearing on anything else at all). It's a shame because the actress is funny and has good timing, and her rapport with Zoey was cute. I always think Zoey is perfect, loved Akalitus, hated Eddie, and adored poor doomed Dr. Prince. I wish Coop could have stopped by. It was lovely to see O'Hara again -- I wish she could have done more to change the outcome (I was so relieved she was there, thinking NOW Jackie will finally listen -- sigh).

 

Meanwhile, I do think this was a good finale, although it broke my heart. I've never seen a show get the addict personality as right as they did with Jackie -- I especially appreciated her absolutely flawless talent for lying faster than synapses, and for doing so on an almost constant basis, and with very little appreciation for what those lies were costing others. At a certain point, it's fascinating -- you can actually see the other person lying even when they themselves have no idea they're even doing it -- they're so used to it it's second nature. Again, Jackie did that so many times on this show, and I kind of love that even if it wasn't fun to watch.

 

Do I like what Jackie did? What her lies and addictions cost others? No. It's awful.  But I believed them, thought they were well-written and acted, and that plenty of people with addicts in their lives watched this episode and cried -- in recognition. Because when you love an addict, even one who's recovered, every day you're subconsciously waiting for that worst news ever, or that phone call that tells you, that they lost the battle finally.

I hate imagining all these people who loved Jackie saying goodbye or getting that call (either that night or in the following morning). But I felt like the show's ending was risky and true. I hated saying goodbye to these characters and to the many people Jackie had helped to save -- yet it was poignant to me that she would never emerge from those locked doors again. Jackie could save everyone but herself.

 

Thanks for all the great insights and conversations throughout the show -- I was often a lurker and appreciated the conversations in these forums.

[Mama No Life]

All I know is, as talented as she is, I'll never watch another Edie Falco series b/c they don't ever end satisfactorily....

[marceline]

I'm not even going to read that interview. I learned from the Season 7 finale of House that sometimes showrunners need to STFU and just let the work speak for itself.

 

I think this was a pretty good and fitting ending for Jackie. She died in the place that defined her in the arms of her enablers. She committed a nice big suicide in front of the people who loved her so that they will have to deal with the guilt and the memory for the rest of their lives. She died before her daughter's confirmation. The same daughter that she always took for granted as the "good" one. The invisible one who rarely asked for anything. The night before she was supposed to get a chance in the spotlight surrounded by people who loved her. Instead Fiona gets the news that her mother didn't think she was worth sticking around for her. Eddie tells her that she's his everything so she takes that away from him.

 

That was one big giant fuck you to everyone. Quintessential Jackie.

[TeresaDee]

This series started out so strong, it was so sad to see it slowly go down the tubes. I thought this final season was horrible, but stuck with it because I'm loyal that way and wanted to see it through. After reading all your insights re the finale, though, I will rewatch.

Well said, Marceline! I entered the finale without an ounce of sympathy left for Jackie, and the ending seals the deal.

Edited June 29, 2015 by TeresaDee

[Primetimer]

The Nurse Jackie finale strikes an honest, devastating balance.

Read the story

[dangwoodchucks]

 

So, Jackie, With Her Work Here On Earth done, sends out her disciple, little Zoey (my, hasn't she grown under Jackie's guidance) into the world, reconciled with Kevin, her children, Gloria, Zoey, and with "God", sacrifices herself so that Eddy is now free to testify against the Pill mill doctor without worrying about incriminating her. I'm going to go throw up now.

    That said, I actually did like the episode :)

And playing the role of Jesus we have...Jackie.  She saw "God" one last time at the hospital and later washed the feet of a disciple (Vinnie, a fellow addict). Previously she had saved lots of people, but in the end she couldn't save herself and had to be sacrificed for the good of others. I'm surprised they didn't have Jackie's arms straight out when she was laying on the floor at the end.

 

It was fitting she died at the hospital, a place she felt was home, her hospital. Nothing she ever did, including being a mother seemed to define her as much as being a nurse. She totally didn't comprehend O'Hara telling her what else she was besides a nurse because none of those things were as important.

 

 

 

I think this was a pretty good and fitting ending for Jackie. She died in the place that defined her in the arms of her enablers. She committed a nice big suicide in front of the people who loved her so that they will have to deal with the guilt and the memory for the rest of their lives. She died before her daughter's confirmation. The same daughter that she always took for granted as the "good" one. The invisible one who rarely asked for anything. The night before she was supposed to get a chance in the spotlight surrounded by people who loved her. Instead Fiona gets the news that her mother didn't think she was worth sticking around for her. Eddie tells her that she's his everything so she takes that away from him.

 

That was one big giant fuck you to everyone. Quintessential Jackie.

I don't know, I saw it more as Jackie thinking she was never going to be able to live up to the expectations everyone had for her and she would just keep disappointing them because she didn't want to overcome her addiction (her impenitence). She looked so guilty and humbled that Eddie would go to jail not to give her up. She had sort of a "what have I done" look on her face rather than the smug look we've become accustomed to when she gets away with something. The ending reminded me of the end of last season when Zoey asked Eddie where Jackie went, he replied, "Where she had to".

 

As someone who hated this season and Jackie's getting away with everything, I found it a satisfying finale.

Edited June 29, 2015 by dangwoodchucks

[blueiris]

That reminds me "dangwoodchucks," where WAS Jackie heading at the end of last season? I think the story she tried was going to help storm victims - but with a carload of "happy" pills that made np sense. Was it ever really established - did I manage to miss something??? 

[LuciaMia]

When Eddie said he copped to everything so she wouldn't be implicated, the thought was 'once again Jackie gets off scott-free' (Just how concealing was that baseball cap? She sat next to Eddie in the waiting room, got up with him to the examining room, came back out. In all that video they couldn't tell it was her?)

 

One other thought. Since O'Hara moved back to London, it seems there was a total cut-off between her and Jackie. Beyond her coming to Jackie's one year sobriety celebration, i don't recall any mention of them calling each other, texting, etc. For such good friends, O'Hara seemed to have dropped off the planet.

[marceline]

One other thought. Since O'Hara moved back to London, it seems there was a total cut-off between her and Jackie. Beyond her coming to Jackie's one year sobriety celebration, i don't recall any mention of them calling each other, texting, etc. For such good friends, O'Hara seemed to have dropped off the planet.

That makes sense to me. Whatever communication they had was certainly based on lies and that would be exhausting for Jackie. Easier to let O'Hara fade away. 

[izabella]

I didn't love this series, and always wished it were better than it was.  But I was fascinated that they showed a person who was a great nurse even as an addict and...her main problem with her addiction was that other people didn't want her to be an addict.   The whole series I kept thinking, so if she didn't have to sneak around to get pills, if she didn't have to lie to people in order to hide her addiction, she would have been ok, really.  Yes, she made a mistake or two with a patient, but they all make mistakes with patients, high or not. 

 

I don't think she committed suicide.  I think she's an addict, saw her chance to get more drugs by taking that guy's heroin, and snorted the heroin because she's an addict and had drugs. 

[marceline]

I don't think she committed suicide.  I think she's an addict, saw her chance to get more drugs by taking that guy's heroin, and snorted the heroin because she's an addict and had drugs. 

 

I would agree with you except for the way she pulled off her ID and watch. That was someone shedding their skin, just like the advice she gave the addict except she chose to do it with death.

[Dobian]

I don't really see a comparison between the Nurse Jackie ending and the Sopranos ending.  Nurse Jackie was a little ambiguous.  Sopranos wasn't ambiguous at all, it was a non-ending.  If Tony had actually been shot and was slumped in his seat while Carmela screamed and someone called the paramedics - that's an ambiguous ending.  But the ending was simply him having dinner with his family while waiting for Meadow to show up, with the camera panning around to imply that wherever Tony goes, there is always danger lurking.

 

Jackie's ending had her performing a very deliberate act of suicide for very specific reasons that were clear to everyone, even if you thought what she was doing was wrong and stupid.  Taking all that heroin, which was not her drug of choice, and removing all her articles of being a nurse, she was checking out for good.  It's not even ambiguous to me, there's no doubt in my mind that she died.  What would be the point of her surviving?  She had very clearly given up on life, and would just do it again.  Whether or not she physically died in that moment, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, she was dead.  In her mind she was releasing everyone from her burden of being an addict.  The girls were happy and well-adjusted now with Kevin and his wife, Eddie could testify against the pill mill, Zoey and all her friends and co-workers at All Saints were moving on, she got to say goodbye to O'Hara who wouldn't have to yell at her anymore.  Jackie knew she would never give up drugs so this was the only option left.  I'm glad that the show gave an honest ending, Jackie followed the path of many addicts at the end.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Dobian