One of the things that drove me nuts about the first season of Showtime's 'Nurse Jackie' was all the Jackie worship going on.

Yes, Edie Falco's character of the drug-addicted, adultering nurse Jackie Peyton was good at her job, and seems to have a much better bedside manner than most of the people working at All Saints Hospital. And, yes, the premise of the show, especially in that first season, was that she was somehow keeping all of her worlds separate and her lies in order, despite being in a highly stressful job.

But most of the juggling that Jackie was doing seemed pretty unrealistic -- especially in the romance department -- and I'm happy to see that some of those balls are finally falling to the ground.

Jackie's romantic life was the most eye-rolling aspect of season one. Think about what Jackie Peyton's like when she's at work: perpetually tired and grumpy, sporting no make-up, harshly short mom hair, and a frown on her face. She bosses around the doctors, undermines the administrators, and generally acts like she rules the roost. The only people she seems to be nice to are the patients.

Yet, in season one, she was not only trying to manage her marriage to Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) -- who looks ten years younger than she is -- and her affair with her lover/pusher Eddie (Paul Schulze), but she was also fending off the advances of Dr. Cooper (Peter Facinelli). Even formerly spaced-out nurse Sam (Arjun Gupta) seemed to have a little thing for her.

Now, Cooper is in the hate phase of his love/hate relationship with her, and she's trying to distance herself from Eddie after he crossed her self-imposed divide and befriended Kevin. And Sam is fully realizing why Jackie's been gunning for him since day one; he knows an addict when he sees one.

As the season goes on, these entanglements are likely to get even more entangled (I've seen the entire second season, but will try to keep this description spoiler-free). We've already seen signs that Jackie will go to great lengths to keep her secrets in check, like when she broke her own finger to explain to Kevin why her wedding ring had to be cut away when she couldn't take it off in the hospital. Jackie's the best liar on TV who's not named Walter White, but even her crafty stories are bound to catch up with her eventually.

Season two seems like it's more down to earth in the examination of Jackie's life, where she's no longer getting away with her terrible behavior. But there are still gaps. There was no consequence to Jackie zonking herself out in an exam room after Eddie tells her he knows about Kevin. There doesn't seem to be any follow-up with how Jackie is gaming the system on the Pill-O-Matix to get her fix. And somehow, some way, any mistake that Jackie has made on the job can be explained away either by one of her convenient lies or by people shrugging their shoulders in a "that's Jackie being Jackie" fashion.

But the show is definitely getting better, especially as it takes some of the focus off of Falco and starts exploring the lives of some of the other folks at All Saints. For instance, tonight, viewers will see another aspect of Dr. O'Hara (Eve Best) that makes her much less of the officious 'Sex And The City' wannabe she's been to this point. And I'm always happy to see Zoey (Merritt Wever) learning and growing in her adorable panda/kitty/puppy scrubs of the week. As long as Jackie keeps falling from grace, I'll keep watching.