'Nurse Jackie' review: Falco's good, show's changed

Jackie was close to Charlie, too, but at least she has her gig back with Gloria Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith) in charge again. As always, All Saints remains dysfunctional: A new resident, Carrie Roman (Betty Gilpin), is more interested in her cellphone than her patients, while another new doc, Ike Prentiss (Morris Chestnut) -- a former battlefield surgeon in Afghanistan -- brings an iron discipline and an Arctic temperament.

This show always has been a reluctant comedy, so Phillips wisely hasn't attempted to reverse course and turn it into a sitcom. But the comic elements now feel intrusive or just plain forced. The whole rhythm is off. In one sense, that's to be expected -- Jackie's rebooting her life just as Showtime is rebooting her series -- but some of that old fire has died down. Will it return?

There's a real spark when Adam Ferrara joins as a cop with a particular interest in one nurse a few episodes in, and one would reasonably expect a roaring blaze when Cannavale returns later this season. Chestnut's character -- grim, stolid, full of himself -- is a good addition, too, if only because you suspect that at some point, he and Jackie will either kill each other or run off together.

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