S3:E1 “Don’t bring around a cloud to rain on my parade.”
This was one of the best openings of a television series I have ever seen. It was immediate, enthusiastic, and oddly enough, addressed something that has been right in front of us all our lives but we had never realized: that showtunes (most specifically ones sung by Patti Lupone) are perfect representations of addicts. (Want an assignment? Go ahead and try to find me a composer who died with the ability to breathe properly.) Anyway, the episode began with Jackie in the bathroom, clutching the statement for the personal credit card she used to pay for all her pharmaceuticals that her husband, Kevin, found and presented to her in shock. Jackie began frantically searching for what we thought was something to take the edge off of the confrontation that was sure to continue, but what she ended up doing was raiding the medicine cabinet for every expensive medication, putting them all in the laundry bag, taking them downstairs, and unloading them right at Kevin’s feet. She argued that half of the medications that appeared on the bill were things that they all needed, like razors and ear drops and Ambien. Kevin still wasn’t convinced, and Jackie had to point out that if he doesn’t like how she spends money on keeping their kids’ earwax under control, then he should probably find a way to make more money at the bar (or at least learn to manage it in general). This was one of, if not the first time, that the disparity between their incomes was addressed on the show.
“I started leaning on painkillers.” – Jackie
Towards the end of last season, O’Hara found out that Jackie tried to pass off an x-ray of someone else’s bad back as her own to get a prescription. O’Hara found out and confronted Kevin about it, which led to the incident of Jackie pointing to $110 eardrops and arguing that they’re why the family can only afford to put one child in private school. So, realizing that a member of the hospital staff was now aware of Jackie’s habits, Jackie went into Gloria’s office (the ex-nurse who’d been promoted to hospital supervisor) and requested if O’Hara came in and declared that Jackie had a problem, that Gloria should ignore it. Gloria told Jackie that she should take care of the situation herself because if someone were to even suggest that Jackie had an addiction, Gloria had to report it to HR. And like clockwork, the second Jackie left Gloria’s office, O’Hara walked in and said that she had run into some problems with Jackie and she wanted to change her shifts so she wouldn’t have to deal with her.
“I’m here to see Jackie Peyton.” – Kevin
“And you are?” – Zoey
“Her husband.” – Kevin
After he enrolled Fiona in private school, Kevin showed up at the hospital unannounced. He went straight to the admissions desk and explained to Zoey that he was Jackie’s husband, but since Jackie never told anyone that she was married and always took her ring off before she entered the hospital, Zoe didn’t believe him and asked to see some ID. Once he proved that he was Jackie’s husband, Zoey found Jackie in the pharmacy and informed her of her surprise visitor. Jackie quickly slipped her wedding band on and rushed outside to greet him. Eddie, the pharmacist who Jackie spent all last season straddled across, closed his pharmacy window and got nervous that her husband (who Eddie befriended to fuck with Jackie’s head after she broke up with him at the end of last season) would see him talking to his wife. But luckily, Jackie just met Kevin in the waiting room and learned that Kevin planned on paying every cent of Fiona’s private school tuition himself. She was impressed, but Kevin seemed still offended from when Jackie had criticized him as a provider. Kevin wanted the conversation to continue, but suddenly, a chick in the waiting room dropped a beer bottle on the floor and a toddler started walking towards the broken glass. Jackie raced over and scooped him up in her arms so he wouldn’t cut his feet, and Kevin looked angered with how impossible it has become to talk to Jackie about anything without being interrupted.
“That shit will kill ya.” – Jackie
At Kevin’s adult baseball game, Jackie was sitting in the bleachers with Fiona and Grace and noticed the woman sitting in front of her was looking for something. Jackie asked her what she had lost and the woman said she had lost one of her Percocets. Instantly interested in what was at stake, Jackie checked around the area and finally, found the pill. She told the woman where it was and after she offered her a soda to help wash it down, Jackie whispered into the woman’s ear, “That shit will kill ya.” Which, it will, but it still remains to be seen as to whether or not Jackie herself is aware of this fact.
