Nurse Jackie - Season Four

“Redundancy is the enemy of efficiency” barks Mike Cruz (Bobby Cannavale), a corporate doctor looking to meddle All Saints Hospital to profitability as part of the overriding arc for Nurse Jackie’s newly premiered fourth season. It’s also the enemy of good television, too. So many once mighty series charge out of the gate at a gallop, only to stagnate after a few seasons, endlessly repeating the same story beats over and over (Rescue Me, Californication, Heroes, etc.), their quality fixed on an uninterrupted, downward trajectory.

Thankfully, it’s a trend the showrunners of this blackly comic dramady starring Edie Falco, about a fatally flawed nurse addicted to painkillers, are taking steps to avoid. For three seasons now we’ve explored every facet of Jackie’s rigidly compartmentalized, plate spinning, life of a functioning addict as she desperately tries to hold onto her secrets while trying to prevent her life from spiraling wholesale out of control. We’ve been privy to her lies, gasped at the level of her manipulation, and been shocked at her callous willingness to see other people pay for her mistakes. Time to move things along.

What makes Nurse Jackie so very clever, and such compelling television is the manner in which the showrunners presented us with one character – a karmic good-fairy, seemingly intent on righting wrongs – and then pulled the rug out from under us so gradually that we almost didn’t notice until we were flat on our backs. The big reveal, as Jackie’s mask slowly began to slip, was that her mischievous antics came not from a sense of decency but self-loathing, as she was shown to be as rotten and as selfish as those who so frequently drew her ire.

Now her secret is well and truly out and with best friend O’Hara (Eve Best) done enabling her, boss Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith) too preoccupied to cover for her, and onetime lover Eddie (Paul Schulze) no longer prepared to stay silent for her, Jackie's arsenal of allies have finally had their patience exhauted. To rehab then, where Jackie will be forced to confront her vast array of indiscretions with clear eyes and no numbing, floating sensation to soothe her guilt. What happens then is anyone’s guess?

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CelebSelect

Danielle Panabaker's Top Pop Picks
- Favorite Band: The Avett Brothers
  
  "I'm really into the Avett Brothers as of late."
- Favorite Book: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  
  "My girlfriends are I - we are very nerdy. We started a book club and the first book we read was Gone Girl."
- Favorite New Movie: Silver Linings Playbook
  
  "I thought it was a great film and I thought Jennifer Lawrence was incredible, you know those angry tears, I've certainly experienced that."
Paul Van Dyk: Current Favorites
- School of the Seven Bells
  
  The New York-based band unites Benjamin Curtis of "Secret Machines" and Alejandra Deheza. Formed in 2007, the duo is named after a mythical South American pickpocket training academy of the same name.
- Linkin Park
  
  The Californian rock veterans have come a long way since 'Hybrid Theory.' Back now with their fifth studio album in over a decade, 'Living Things' is one of Paul Van Dyck's favorite albums this year.
- Jupiter Jones
  
  The German punk rock band formed in 2002, but has already released several LPs, including an eponymously-named album in 2011.
- Depeche Mode
  
  The legendary Essex electronic band from the 80s remains a classic for Van Dyk. It was also recently among 'Q' magazine's "50 Bands That Changed The World!".
Cody Simpson
- Favorite Movie
  I'm still really into the Ocean's series. I got into them recently. I was always too young to watch them.
- Favorite Book
  This book called Contest by Matthew Reilly, he's an Australian author.
- Favorite Album
  Drake's Take Care — big fan of that
- Favorite TV Show
  The Mentalist
Styx's Lawrence Gowan
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
  
  "That’s got me laughing hysterically on airplanes."
- Making Mirrors by Goyte
  
  "I thought that was a tremendous record."
- The Artist
  
  "It really impressed me."
- Keane
  
  "They’re really strong."
90210's Michael Steger: My Favorite Stuff
- Favorite TV Show: Rome
  
  HBO's series starring Cirian Hinds
- Favorite Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
  
  "Either that or The Gypsy Kings."
- Favorite Book: The Fountainhead
  
  "Probably my favorite book of all time."
- Favorite New Movie: Attack The Block
  
  “It reminded me of The Goonies.”