Last night’s series finale of Nurse Jackie left viewers unsure of whether the title character lived or died. (Spoilers ahead.) Everything was looking rosy for Jackie Peyton but, at the party for her closing All Saints Hospital, she overdosed and it wasn’t clear if she’d survived or not.
For his part, executive producer and showrunner Clyde Phillips likes to think that she survived but the ending was left open on purpose. He told Variety, “I welcome that conversation (about the finale)… I hope the show will be talked about in a healthy way for a while after it ends.”
Phillips shared that Nurse Jackie was initially going to end very differently. There would have been a fire that breaks out in the ER in the finale. Jackie would have braved the flames to free an addict that had been handcuffed to a hospital bed in the basement.
It would look like she’d perished in the flames but viewers would then see her squeeze out of a tiny window — like a birth. She would start running down an alley, toward a crowd of staffers, but then she would decide to turn around and run the other way. She would be a free woman, able to start over.
Ultimately, it was felt that the blazing ending wouldn’t have focused enough on the character and her addictions.
While some fans may be sorry to see the series end, Phillips believes it was time. He said, “We’d played that out as long as we could… It was time for the show to end.”
What do you think? Do you think Jackie lived or died? Did you like the shows ending?
I was rooting for Jackie to come back from the edge and rebuild her life until season 6, episode 10, when she dumped Frank and Antoinette. Anybody with a family member who is an addict like Jackie jumped off the bandwagon in that episode, because she officially passed the point of no return. The only people willing to stick with her as long as she was trying to get better, she stabbed in the back. Akalitus’ rant was absolutely, 100% justified when she fired Jackie. After that, it was obvious there was no way she’d ever actually get better. The… Read more »
I hate that ending, not knowing if she lives or dies! I only just 3 weeks ago found this show & became addicted, like so many others! Love, love, love the Show!
She died. The proof is that Charlie walked past her on the street before she got to Times Square. This means she indeed crossed over.
Seeing Charlie doesn’t necessarily mean she died. Maybe she was just in the “white light” and realized she had many more patients to save and came back. In spite of all her shortcomings, she was a good hearted nurse who just wanted to help people. So I believe she lived, she reached rock bottom with the over dose, saw how many friends really cared for her, took her punishment, turned her life around and lived.
I started hating her so much. She ruined so so many lives. I think she died because I wanted her to. God that sounds mean but she didn’t deserve to live. Enough is enough!
I think Jackie died .but when she opened her eyes I really was said she should have died . But that really up to you said it’s over
She was a nurse..she knew how much heroin is a lethal dose…..she committed suicide
It would have been responsible to have her die, especially when she was so immortalized. People need to see the loss.
I agree with this. After she found out Zoe was gone from her life, ohara seeing through façade, and the hospital closing, she knew everyone in her professional life was gone she couldn’t take it
sThe ending was Jackie hitting bottom. The place all addicts have to reach before they can pick themselves up and turn it around. everyone, in her life, except Eddie, had walked away . And Eddie was so unhealthy in his addiction to Jackies that he could not walk away. He was going to be in prison for the next year. So she literally had no one left. Just the job at Bellevue waiting. Zoey, yelled for someone to call Bellevue. If she ended up in their ER that would have been the end of her fresh start with them. I… Read more »
that would have been unrealistic, most addicts don’t have a happy ending.
Producer was a lazy jackass. Could have finished the fkn searies. Most Bull **** ending I’ve ever seen.
I feel like she died because they made it a point of saying they had closed early for the night because they were totally out of meds, with all the drugs she took the amount of narcan the ambulance workers would have had on them would not have been enough, its just another selfish move on the characters behalf with her daughters conformation being the next day. It was a good way to end it seeing how everything was always about her.
Drawn out and confusing mess…loved the early shows, but recent episodes had lost their sparkle and humour ….I’m also pissed off with ending
I’m pissed really like this show!!!!
it is always so apparent that no one actually knows anything about real addiction. you would think they would as least make H look like real H…
I loved this show but found myself yelling “DIE ALREADY” when her drug abuse obviously wouldn’t stop and she was hurting so many people. I think she died in the end, an appropriate ending to someone who had no real desire to stop.
I for one was glad to finally see her die! She caused so much pain to everyone around her. She was exhausting, everything out of her mouth was a lie. How many chances can you get before you ruin every relationship and child in your life? There are consequences, no one escapes them. Now, finally there can be healing for those she used & destroyed.
I Loved Nurse Jackie through the 6th Season….Season 7 Nurse Jackie “Jumped the Shark”; and I really was hoping it would end sooner….