NBC's 'Mercy' takes great care in showing nursing life
Since it's impolite these days to denigrate people because of their race, color, creed or religion, it's good to know someone in TV found a loophole: You can still insult people based on their profession.
Meet Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling), nurse and star of "Mercy," a strong new NBC hospital show whose real interest lies in matters beyond nurses and hospitals.
The nurse story is what gets our attention, though, because Veronica and her fellow nurses are disrespected in the same overt and subtle ways as Edie Falco's Nurse Jackie on Showtime and Jada Pinkett's nurse Christina Hawthorne on TNT.
Right at the start of Wednesday night's premiere, Veronica happens on a traffic accident where she saves the life of a man who is unable to breathe. Veronica's good at this stuff because she recently got back from Iraq.
When she arrives at the hospital with the patient and explains what needs to be done next, a doctor steps in front of her as if she were delivering a pizza, and tells her to go away because she's "just a nurse."
Then, as she turns around, she runs into the companion of the man whose life she just saved. The companion snarls, "You're just a nurse?" and vows to sue if her fella doesn't make it.
If she sues Veronica, by the way, she won't get much. Another point in "Mercy" is that nurses aren't paid very well.
But in the end, all that is secondary to the real heart of "Mercy," which is friendship. In this case, it's the bonds among three women who must fight a callous system, a frustrating world and their own demons.
Friendship, it's pretty clear, is their best weapon.
Friend number one is Sonia Jimenez (Jaime Lee Kirchner), another veteran nurse. Friend number two is Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg), the quirky, idealistic rookie.
Wednesday night's premiere starts to explore Veronica's problems, but alas, they don't all fit into just one episode.
She's on medication. She's split from her husband Mike (Diego Klattenhoff) because they both strayed while she was in Iraq.
But he's still around, which becomes trickier when hunky new doctor Chris Sands (James Tupper) rolls into the hospital.
It sounds soapy, but it's all handled well enough, and with enough humor, that we believe it.
NBC has rolled out a couple of medical shows in hopes of replacing the late lamented "ER," and this comes the closest yet to capturing that chemistry. The fact it's told more from the perspective of the nurses than the doctors isn't a bad thing.
Because, as Veronica Callahan is the latest to remind us, one underestimates nurses at one's own peril.
by David Hinckley
Since it's impolite these days to denigrate people because of their race, color, creed or religion, it's good to know someone in TV found a loophole: You can still insult people based on their profession.
Meet Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling), nurse and star of "Mercy," a strong new NBC hospital show whose real interest lies in matters beyond nurses and hospitals.
The nurse story is what gets our attention, though, because Veronica and her fellow nurses are disrespected in the same overt and subtle ways as Edie Falco's Nurse Jackie on Showtime and Jada Pinkett's nurse Christina Hawthorne on TNT.
Right at the start of Wednesday night's premiere, Veronica happens on a traffic accident where she saves the life of a man who is unable to breathe. Veronica's good at this stuff because she recently got back from Iraq.
When she arrives at the hospital with the patient and explains what needs to be done next, a doctor steps in front of her as if she were delivering a pizza, and tells her to go away because she's "just a nurse."
Then, as she turns around, she runs into the companion of the man whose life she just saved. The companion snarls, "You're just a nurse?" and vows to sue if her fella doesn't make it.
If she sues Veronica, by the way, she won't get much. Another point in "Mercy" is that nurses aren't paid very well.
But in the end, all that is secondary to the real heart of "Mercy," which is friendship. In this case, it's the bonds among three women who must fight a callous system, a frustrating world and their own demons.
Friendship, it's pretty clear, is their best weapon.
Friend number one is Sonia Jimenez (Jaime Lee Kirchner), another veteran nurse. Friend number two is Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg), the quirky, idealistic rookie.
Wednesday night's premiere starts to explore Veronica's problems, but alas, they don't all fit into just one episode.
She's on medication. She's split from her husband Mike (Diego Klattenhoff) because they both strayed while she was in Iraq.
But he's still around, which becomes trickier when hunky new doctor Chris Sands (James Tupper) rolls into the hospital.
It sounds soapy, but it's all handled well enough, and with enough humor, that we believe it.
NBC has rolled out a couple of medical shows in hopes of replacing the late lamented "ER," and this comes the closest yet to capturing that chemistry. The fact it's told more from the perspective of the nurses than the doctors isn't a bad thing.
Because, as Veronica Callahan is the latest to remind us, one underestimates nurses at one's own peril.
by David Hinckley
