(S04E09) I apologize for the lateness of this review folks but I moved into a new apartment this week and was without cable TV for a few days. I got hooked up yesterday afternoon though, just in time to record the repeat of this week's episode. That being said, I'm going to go out on a limb here. I just watched it and this may very well have been the most well written, best acted episode of Nip/Tuck yet. It was absolutely phenomenal.
Really, I mean that. In my opinion, this episode officially helped push this season past season one as the best yet. Honestly, so much happened that I don't even know how to approach this, but here goes.
Liz wants lipo, and that totally goes against everything she ever stood for. But she does have a new girlfriend, Poppy. I thought Alanis Morissette was excellent in this role by the way. She's a pretty good actress. Moving on, I guess the point I wanted to make is that women will make you do some crazy things. It was a bit of a theme in this episode though because Liz wasn't the only one acting out of character.
Marlowe is officially head over heels for Julia, and despite his adamant stance against Connor's surgery, Marlowe has decided he wants a leg lengthening procedure. Then we have Michelle. Since James has targeted Christian as her next kidney "donor," Michelle opts to withhold medication and watch Burt (Larry Hagman... spectacular as well) die so that she can harvest his two kidneys in order to save Christian. But romance is in the air for both Michelle and Marlowe. They each admitted their love for Christian and Julia respectively, so I suppose we can expect them to make some rash decisions. Love will do that.
There are so many other things I could talk about, but I'd end up writing for another hour. What I do want to address is Christian. To me, his character was fully realized in this episode. Everything we knew about him anyway was put out in the open, as if to say, it's common knowledge... so why not?
One scene in particular stood out. Before Christian took off with the escort that James sent him, Michelle tried to warn him about James. During this, Christian stepped in front of his office window to put on his jacket. The way this shot was framed... very telling. The sun washed in through the blinds. It was flushed completely white and Christian was then shadowed in complete black. That's the way it is for him though. He only sees in black and white. Despite everything Michelle tells him, getting some tail is all that matters to him. He even said so:
"I am way past shooting for sainthood sweetheart. God gave me a d--k and I intend to glorify him by playing that organ as intensely and as often as possible."
Of course, he does love Michelle and this is just his way of dealing. I just think his thought processes are interesting. It's a very complex character, even more so than Sean.
That's all I'll say. Like I said, I could write tons more but I'll let you guys have at it. So what do you think? Best episode yet? Agree? Disagree? And who saw the preview? Next week? WOW. Might surpass this week if it's possible.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-04-2006 @ 2:55PM
Lee said...
Agreed
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11-04-2006 @ 2:56PM
malren said...
I totally disagree. The characters as portrayed by the excellect cast are fun to watch, yes, but the actual plot? It's getting stupid again, like it did in the middle of season three. Why, when he knows for a fact that the old French whore drugged him, WHY WOULD CHRISTIAN ORDER A GIRL THROUGH HER AGAIN? Why did she go directly after him in the first place when it would have been obvious to all after an investigation of, say, PHONE RECORDS who the killer.liver harvester was?
I'll tell you why: it was lazy writers setting her up as Christian's antagonist. Christian always has to have an arch-nemisis, but they were too lazy to do it well, so they did it fast.
And Julia with the midget? Jesus CHRIST, are you kidding me? Why, because he talks softly? Wow, writers, you sure shocked us. A tall, fairly attractive blonde with a tiny, tiny ugly dude.
I'm actually getting fed up with all the pro-wrestling-level writing on the show. By which I mean that in pro wrestling, they rarely think about the why of something, they just want to get it on the screen because it'll look good. CSI Miami does it too. It's called hot-shotting and it's lazy, bad writers who are to blame.
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11-04-2006 @ 3:09PM
malren said...
Bah, I have more rantiness after reading this:
http://blogs.webmd.com/tv-checkup/2006/11/kidney-thieves-steal-niptucks.html
To summarize:
1. There has never, ever been a case of someone being "rolled" for their kidney.
2. Ryan Murphy loves to talk about how the medical stuff on Nip/Tuck is "100% based on fact" but the kidney thieves story is 100% urban legend.
3. They are picking victims at random. You need a blood test, then a tissue biopsy/tissue match test, and finally the kidney must be harvested within hours of being implanted in the matching recipient. You can't just stick it in a Ziploc freezer bag with a date and a blood type written on the label and save it for later!
Stupid, sloppy, lazy writing.
/end rant
//breathe...breathe... ;)
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11-05-2006 @ 8:14AM
Dan said...
I enjoy the show on a soap opera level now but it's not living up to it's first couple of seasons. How many times, in how many shows, have we seen a character dying when another character refuses to give him medicine? Bette Davis did it in the 1941 film "The Little Foxes."
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11-05-2006 @ 8:14AM
Mitch said...
After reading other comments made about the "shenanigans" occuring within the current storyline on N/T I'm glad to know that it just wasn't me. I was/am steadily losing interest in the show because it has gone from "different, unique, slightly pushing the envelope, engrossing, absorbing..." to mention a few to "weird, waaaay over the top, annoying (taking the place of edgy), information overload, hence boring..." and it's all happening at a breakneck speed that reminds you, when have a moment to stop and reflect on it all, that it's not only unreal and out of the realm of plausible reality, it's really ridiculous, bordering on soap opera inane! I have lost interest so much so that only last episode did i realize I don't know who the carver is! And I wonder if anyone else does either. Which means either I am becoming so disinterested I forget to watch the carver reveal or he never was, which is even more annoying! I am still somewhat "fascinated" by the actors/characters, so I'll continue to watch, but not for long. And I LOVE LOVE ROMA MAFFIA, I want to be her gay boy toy...that I'll even watch if she just ends up spending 60 minutes knocking people out!
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11-05-2006 @ 8:15AM
Joey Geraci said...
I have to disagree with you that this is the best episode ever, or this is the best season ever. This show has always been about ridiculous happenings, but it never SEEMED that ridiculous. (All the happenings with that wonderful drug dealer character, for instance). The quality of the writing has never gotten back to that level. I think of this show like the NUMB3RS review said, it is "consistently" good, never great. It used to be amazing, but I think it has lost that.
I have to ask if the reviewer if he has actually watched all the seasons of this show. Go back and watch it from the beginning, Jonathon. If you think the show is amazing, you will die and go to heaven watching the first two seasons.
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11-05-2006 @ 8:15AM
Jim said...
I agree with Joey. Seasons 1 and 2 were fantastic. The show is so poorly written now, I wish I could break the habit of watching.
I'm looking forward to this season ending so I can watch SVU again.
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11-05-2006 @ 8:15AM
maria said...
Uhh yea I would have to agree... Matts storyline which none of you remember has been ridiculous from about day 1.. you want to make an angst ridden teen out of him... and you have him trying to sleep with Kimber? thats not angst thats sick.. why must he be portrayed as a retard... not enough ridiculous characters to get him mixed up with huh? cant we make him umm semi normal.. and wheres the daughter when all this debochery and cheating is going on? did they trade her in for the new baby?
christianand the liver stealing scandals.. ok.. while i love that you romas character with a larger role why must she be a constant victim too... cant she do something stupendous this year to save maybe christian ... they all love each other.. this i know it stopped being touching after the ninth time it was thrust in my face... give her back her dignity.. make her confront poppy and make poppy gain about 50 pounds and then we will see..
i cant wait each year the minute they end for my shows to start again...but honestly... sean baggin the small town nanny and julia with the midget.. well.. ok i have to admit im just the teeniest bit curious as to where you are going with the whole marlowe storyline bc i wanna see if you will actually make him stand on a box to kiss her after the leg lengthening surger...
this show went from different and cool... to boring, stupid and offensive... please... god let the writers be reading this... those drs are too cute to take off the air...
ps. i know julia does an american accent but can someone teach her to speed up the pace of her words a little.. mean how many years has it been.. and that it is not ok to sound out.. chrisT-I-A-N werent there enough american actors that could play the immoral naggy businesslike superhousewife?
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12-20-2006 @ 12:55PM
Rachel said...
I love this show and I have seen every episode. Season 4 has definately been better than last year. The midget thing is a little funny, almost embarassing for me to watch for Julia. I do think that the James thing is also a little weird, but that did come to an end quickly. This was a great episode, and yes, great acting. One thing that I do appreciate is that the banter between Liz and Christian has gotten much nicer and helps viewers know their characters better. Also proving Christian does infact have a heart and will love a few. This show is definately cutting edge, so ofcourse we will see things we do not expect. It is infact nip/tuck. AGREED
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