Jada Pinkett Smith is back in “Hawthorne” on TNT

By Fred Topel HollywoodNews.com: Jada Pinkett Smith joined TNT’s lineup of power women with “Hawthorne.” On the network that also hosts “The Closer” and “Saving Grace,” Smith plays Christina Hawthorne, the head nurse who gets it all done. The second season, premiering this month, throws Christina for a loop. She gets transferred to a new hospital, where the old regime is stuck in their way, and won’t even let Hawthorne help. “This year it’s all about Christina surrendering,” Smith said in a conference call with the media. “She is going to have to surrender this year. Last year, she was so in control and so stern and strong. And, you know, she was always right. This year’s going to be a little different. She’s going to have very high stakes in her personal life in which she’s going to have to really make some hardcore strong decisions. She this year is going to learn to work with people versus rolling over people and working around people. She cannot do that in this hospital this year. So she has to take a much different attitude as far as how she deals with her staff and the people that she’s working with. So I think you’re going to see a Christina who is going to fight like tooth and nail to keep in her control but eventually is going to have to let go.” The new hospital also provides new opportunities for Hawthorne’s love interest, Dr. Wakefield (Michael Vartan.) “My character, which is really cool in the story, he quits being chief of surgery to get away from the red tape and the bureaucracy and he’s now just a surgeon which is what this guy always wanted to do,” Vartan said. “He’s just really enjoying his life as a normal surgeon. Of course it’s television and the writers are evil so they throw a wrench in his plans. He has a life altering accident that is going to cause a lot of problems for him and his potential future as a surgeon and add a whole new level of intrigue and commitment and problems with Christina and the way she deals with it.” Romance still brews for Hawthorne and Wakefield. The accident comes in episode two and by the end of episode three this year, their relationship is a struggle. “It’s going to be a very interesting journey for the two of them,” Smith said. “Christina’s [...]