Jackie Reminds Us That She Can Really Use A Friend

I spent a lot of the fifth season of Nurse Jackie crestfallen that, just in time for Jackie to have finally achieved her hard-fought sobriety, her best friend O'Hara fucked off home to England with her jerk of a baby. But this week's episode reminded me of something kiiiiiind of important: O'Hara is probably better off without Jackie as a "friend," because Jackie might not really be capable of friendship.

We had to learn this lesson all over again in Season 6, as Jackie has resumed her habits as a generally functional prescription drug addict, keeping up appearances by going to meetings at which she...used as soon as no one was looking at her. When Antoinette, another addict at Jackie's meeting in the season premiere, sassily expresses doubts about twelve-step orthodoxy, Jackie immediately clashes with her -- probably because they're too much alike (particularly on this point). But Antoinette has been sober a lot longer than Jackie has, recognizes someone whose similar temperament might be conducive to Antoinette's brand of tough love, volunteers to be Jackie's sponsor, and basically won't be put off.

Already, that's a good quality in a sponsor, and maybe the optimists among us thought it could actually work. Maybe what it would take to snap Jackie out of her bullshit is someone with as big a personality (and mouth) as Antoinette's! But some addicts are such good liars that even their fellow addicts can't detect it, apparently, and in this area, Jackie is truly gifted. After weeks of acquiring drugs (and the money to buy them) by various means, it's only when Frank actually sees her taking a pill that Jackie is caught. And even after Jackie goes through DIY detox, Antoinette can tell something's up, and starts narcing on Jackie to everyone in her life -- including, potentially, Jackie's boss. Cue damage control BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

The real shame of what happens next is that Antoinette isn't just cool to the viewer: you can tell that Jackie really likes her too, and Jackie doesn't like many people. That first-ever lunch, in the season premiere, didn't happen because Jackie was working her; Jackie had nothing to gain by having someone monitoring her behaviour (or however much of Jackie's behaviour she was willing to be honest about, which wasn't much). When the season started, Jackie had a boyfriend and an ex and kids and cordial colleagues; she didn't have a friend. Season 5 Jackie could have been friends with Antoinette. Season 6 Jackie doesn't deserve her. What Season 6 Jackie deserves is...to go to jail, frankly. And not Litchfield, either; it's too nice.

I've seen Jackie do some pretty shitty things, but tricking a fragile Antoinette into falling off the wagon ranks pretty high on the list of stuff she's done this season -- worse even than stealing Gabe's girlfriend's credit card. Worse than stealing her leather jacket!

And the way the show creeps up to what's actually happening is diabolical in its sneakiness. We see Agent Richards tell Jackie that when he was using, he went to rehab just to get out of uncomfortable situations. Then we see Jackie tell Antoinette that she might supplement her own detox by going just to avoid people, and it seems like it might be true, between the upcoming wedding and the heat from the DEA. Then she brazenly takes a pill right in front of Antoinette as a kind of last hurrah, and though I've never been addicted to drugs, it's definitely logic I recognize from my last moments before starting some diet or another. Jackie having broken the seal, Antoinette decides to follow suit and get drunk one last time...but Jackie's been passing as a sober person for a while, and Antoinette is ten years out of practice. How could she guess that Jackie would take her to rehab and then LEAVE HER THERE ALONE? What kind of person DOES that?

Much as I weep for Antoinette (I really loved her character and, if she sticks to her conviction never to see Jackie again -- as she should -- I will dearly miss her on the show), I'll say this for the episode: if I thought it was going to get dull watching Jackie acquire drugs and then cover her tracks, this was...not that. A Jackie who can bamboozle someone who considered her a friend into rehab and then stroll away with a grin as big as all outdoors is a new kind of scumbag. It's horrifying, but it definitely isn't boring.