The WORST episodes of Nurse Jackie

Every episode of Nurse Jackie ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Nurse Jackie!

Jackie O'Hurley, a strong-willed and brilliant -- but very flawed -- emergency room nurse in a complicated New York City hospital. A lapsed Catholic with an occasional weakness for Vicodin and Adderall to get her through the days, Jackie keeps the hospital balanced with her own kind of justice. Every day is a high wire act of juggling patients, doctors, fellow nurses and her own indiscretions.

Last Updated: 9/30/2026Network: Paramount+ with ShowtimeStatus: Ended
School Nurse
star
6.90
894 votes

#1 - School Nurse

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/29/2009

Jackie and Kevin consider enrolling Grace in private school; the stoic Dr. O'Hara must endure the emotional thanks of a boy whose twin brother she saved; Zoey loses a patient for the first time.

Directors: Steve Buscemi
Sweet 'n All
star
6.90
951 votes

#2 - Sweet 'n All

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/15/2009

Jackie and her husband, Kevin, become concerned that their older daughter Grace is suffering from anxiety disorder; hospital administrator Mrs. Akalitus drinks Jackie's Percoset-laced coffee.

Directors: Craig Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Ring Finger
star
7.10
587 votes

#3 - Ring Finger

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 8/10/2009

Jackie and Grace begin mother-daughter tap class. Coop threatens to expose Jackie for falsifying a donor’s record. Jackie has forgotten to remove her wedding ring, and needs to get it off before meeting Eddie for a quickie.

Directors: Paul Feig
Writer: Liz Brixius
Daffodil
star
7.10
672 votes

#4 - Daffodil

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/6/2009

Jackie breaks several rules and regulations to help a 10-year-old girl caring for her lupus-stricken mother; Mrs. Akalitus accidentally tasers herself; O'Hara treats Zoey to a meal at a four-star restaurant.

Directors: Steve Buscemi
Watch Now:Apple TV
Pilot
star
7.10
1062 votes

#5 - Pilot

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/8/2009

Longtime ER nurse Jackie Peyton bends the rules to bring some good from a patient's senseless death, while concealing her addiction to a pain killer she gets from her boyfriend, the hospital pharmacist.

Directors: Allen Coulter
Watch Now:Apple TV
Tiny Bubbles
star
7.20
784 votes

#6 - Tiny Bubbles

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/13/2009

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. Meanwhile, Coop’s mother (Blythe Danner) is admitted with a gall bladder attack. We learn that he is the only son of lesbians…a fact that delights Jackie and O’Hara.

Directors: Craig Zisk
Heart
star
7.30
336 votes

#7 - Heart

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/9/2013

Jackie and Frank have sex for the first time; Akalitus has an extra spring in her step; Coop wants to take his mentoring of Carrie to the next level; Kevin and Grace show up at the hospital after Kevin found a bag of pills in Grace's bag, Jackie delivers Grace to Akalitus and Thor who give her a scared straight tour of the emergency department; Grace has to assist Jackie with a man who collapses on the sidewalk; Jackie wants the girls to live with Kevin.

Directors: Jesse Peretz
Writer: Liz Flahive
Steak Knife
star
7.30
727 votes

#8 - Steak Knife

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 7/20/2009

A man is admitted with a steak knife sticking out of his chest. Eddie gives Jackie a Cartier bracelet for their one-year anniversary, but she rejects the gift. A baby is left in the nurses’ station and Akalitus takes the infant to her office.

Directors: Steve Buscemi
I Say a Little Prayer
star
7.30
189 votes

#9 - I Say a Little Prayer

Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/28/2015

An unexpected guest shows up at Fiona's confirmation rehearsal. Jackie is offered a position at Bellevue.

No-Kimono-Zone
star
7.30
447 votes

#10 - No-Kimono-Zone

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/13/2012

Jackie has a disturbing dream about using; Zoey loses her ring.

Chicken Soup
star
7.30
699 votes

#11 - Chicken Soup

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/22/2009

An elderly patient checks in who has been treating his heart disease with chicken soup; Jackie discusses her daughter's anxiety with Dr. O'Hara; Eddie learns that he is to be replaced by a pill-dispensing machine.

Directors: Craig Zisk
Writer: Mark Hudis
Chaud & Froid
star
7.40
531 votes

#12 - Chaud & Froid

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/3/2012

When Cruz learns about Jackie's rehab, he takes revenge on coworkers who have been covering up her drug problems. Meanwhile, Eddie is deposed by Kevin's lawyer; a dumped Lenny decides to take off for Europe; and Coop accompanies O'Hara to her ob-gyn appointment.

Nosebleed
star
7.40
559 votes

#13 - Nosebleed

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 8/3/2009

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.

Directors: Paul Feig
Bleeding
star
7.40
756 votes

#14 - Bleeding

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/26/2010

Jackie asks Eddie to stop spending time with Kevin. A pharmaceutical company rep provides Jackie with drugs.

Directors: Adam Bernstein
Silly String
star
7.40
924 votes

#15 - Silly String

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/3/2010

Coop insults the biggest donor of the hospital. Jackie revisits her affair with Eddie.

Directors: Paul Feig
Writer: Liz Flahive
Fuck the Lemurs
star
7.40
615 votes

#16 - Fuck the Lemurs

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/6/2011

Following HR's inquiry into the missing drugs, Mrs. Akalitus puts Jackie on probation. Coop plans his wedding. Jackie's daughter Grace wants medication for her anxiety disorder.

Slow Growing Monsters
star
7.40
587 votes

#17 - Slow Growing Monsters

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/29/2012

Jackie catches Grace with a boy at a carnival and takes her, not before deleting the number from the boys phone. While at the carnival, Grace announces to Fiona and Zoey that Jackie went to rehab. Jackie goes to an AA meeting with Charlie only to find out that he is using again. Kevin forced Eddie to tell him what Jackie took, when they were having the affair, before telling Eddie to tell Jackie to "Kiss her kids goodbye". Jackie almost relapses when a patient gives her their medications. She throws them in a dumpster and then tries to retrieve them and falls in. She then gets out and walks away pill free. Charlie is revealed to be Dr.Cruz"s son.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Good Thing
star
7.40
420 votes

#18 - Good Thing

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/12/2013

Jackie is nervous about her date with Frank, so Zoey and Thor help her get ready and Eddie offers some friendly pointers. Prentiss misdiagnoses an injured dancer, but Akalitus and Coop catch his mistake before the patient leaves. Mike Cruz calls Jackie in a moment of need.

Directors: Randall Einhorn
Watch Now:Apple TV
Forget It
star
7.40
392 votes

#19 - Forget It

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/2/2013

What clearly is going to be "the night" for Jackie and Frank is interrupted by Kevin, figuring she was at work. Kevin is apologetic, but Jackie is angry; Akalitus's blood results are in; Zoey helps Prentiss organize his disaster of an office; In a moment of panic, Carrie makes the right diagnosis on a patient who cannot breathe; Jackie attends an AA meeting; Jackie and Grace get into a fight after Jackie discovers Grace left campus for lunch. Jackie is convinced that Grace is sneaking behind her back to see Danny, but Grace assures her they broke up.

Directors: Randall Einhorn
High Noon
star
7.50
162 votes

#20 - High Noon

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/17/2015

Jackie, Dr. Prince and Akalitus are forced to run the ER without nurses when Zoey leads a walk-out.

Pupil
star
7.50
699 votes

#21 - Pupil

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 7/27/2009

Jackie discovers that a new temp nurse is abusing drugs, but when she confronts him, he calls her on hypocrisy; Mrs. Akalitus still has the foundling infant left at the hospital; Coop reveals to Eddie that Jackie has a child.

Directors: Steve Buscemi
Writer: Liz Flahive
Pill-O-Matix
star
7.50
644 votes

#22 - Pill-O-Matix

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 8/17/2009

Kevin decides to buy Jackie a new wedding ring. At work, the automated pill machine replaces Eddie. A movie critic (played by Victor Garber) is admitted with a broken elbow.

Directors: Scott Ellis
Health Care and Cinema
star
7.50
588 votes

#23 - Health Care and Cinema

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 8/24/2009

Kevin invites Jackie to a midnight rendezvous in order to give her a new wedding ring; the comatose movie critic wakes up but his tastes have radically changed.

Directors: Scott Ellis
Comfort Food
star
7.50
700 votes

#24 - Comfort Food

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/22/2010

After her confrontation with Eddie, Jackie has cut ties with him and is determined to spend more time with her family. At All Saints, she deflects blame about the narcotic shortage and endures Sam, the altered nurse and his newfound sobriety.

Directors: Paul Feig
What the Day Brings
star
7.50
784 votes

#25 - What the Day Brings

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/31/2010

Jackie has to confess that she used O'Hara's loan when her stash gets lost.

Directors: Paul Feig