Episodes: 12 | Released: 2009 | Certificate: 15 | Genre: Comedy | Director: Craig Zisk
Actors: Edie Falco
, Eve Best
, Peter Facinelli
, Merritt Wever
, Haaz Sleiman
, Paul Schulza
, Anna Deavere Smith
, Dominic Fumusa
, Ruby Jerins
, Daisy Tahan
, Stephan Wallem
Veteran ER nurse Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) tries to make something good come from a senseless death at her under-funded Manhattan Emergency Room. Her day is complicated by the addition of first year nurse Zoey (Merritt Wever), frat-boy Dr. Cooper (Peter Facinelli) and a secret need for Adderall from her boyfriend Eddie Walzer (Paul Schulze), the pharmacist.
Jackie and her husband Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) become concerned that Grace, the older of their two daughters is suffering from anxiety. At work, an irate patient hauls off and hits Jackie, who tries to ease the pain with Percocet-laced coffee, only to have her administrator, Mrs. Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith), drink the doctored coffee. Nursing student, Zoey, questions whether or not nursing is the right path for her -- a question prompted after a severed ear bubbles up in the toilet.
Jackie and her husband continue to suspect that their daughter is suffering from anxiety. She shares this concern with the worldly and sophisticated Dr. O'Hara.
Jackie and her husband Kevin are called to Grace's (Ruby Jerins) school, where her teacher, the school nurse and a district psychologist tell them that Grace needs to go on an anti-anxiety medication. Jackie resists this, planting the seed with Kevin that Grace might do better in private school. At work, a young boy has fallen from a jungle gym. Stoic O'Hara saves the boy's life and has to cope with the gooey gratitude of his twin brother. Zoey loses her first patient.
It's Zoey's first night shift and a 10 year-old girl brings her mother, who suffers from Lupus, into the ER. Jackie realizes that the girl is her mother's primary caregiver.
Jackie is caught off-guard when a nurse (Judith Ivey) she used to work with, who is dying of lung cancer, asks Jackie to help end her life.
A man is admitted with a steak knife sticking out of his chest. He was on a first date with a woman whose ex-husband stabbed him. Eddie gives Jackie a Cartier bracelet for their one-year anniversary, but she rejects the gift.
A temp nurse is sent to help in the ER as a woman (Andrea Martin) is admitted with a head injury. One of the injured woman’s 20-something daughters catches the eye of Dr. Cooper. Meanwhile, we learn that Mrs. Akalitus has not yet turned the abandoned baby from the previous episode over to social services. Instead, she asks Mo-mo (Haaz Sleiman) for advice on unconventional adoptions. Zoey figures out that the new temp nurse is on drugs. When Jackie confronts the temp, he tells her “takes one to know one.” Grace has a panic attack in her new school. Coop finds out that Jackie has a child and tells Eddie… Jackie’s secrets are starting to slip out…
Jackie admits a patient she has treated before. As his condition worsens, Zoey questions whether Jackie did enough to help him on his previous visit. Jackie’s drug use starts to cause spontaneous nose bleeds. O’Hara tells Jackie that her sister, who lives in Paris, has benefited from Jackie’s ability to juggle a job, family and affair at the same time. Jackie feels betrayed that O’Hara broke her confidence. A car accident victim is pronounced brain-dead, and rather than wait for Coop to certify legal brain death for organ donation, Jackie lies and says Coop signed off.
Jackie and Grace begin mother-daughter tap class. Coop threatens to expose Jackie for falsifying a donor's record.
Kevin decides to buy Jackie a new wedding ring. At work, the automated pill machine replaces Eddie. A movie critic is admitted with a broken elbow.
Kevin invites Jackie for a midnight rendezvous, where he plans to surprise her with a new diamond ring. She promises to be there. O'Hara asks Jackie to help her admit her mother, who is being flown in from London. Jackie promises to be there. The movie critic wakes up - his taste in movies has been altered (suddenly, he loves "Showgirls"). After spending the day drinking at Kevin's bar, Eddie makes a scene at All Saints, threatening to tell everything. Desperate for a fix, and panicked because she can't go home and she can't stay at the hospital, Jackie takes three vials of morphine from Pill-O-Matix and collapses.
