TVSquad

(S05E22) "Can I call you Mommy now?" - Wilbur

Well it took about a year and a half (thank you WGA strike), but Nip/Tuck's twenty-two episode fifth season has finally come to a close. As a finale, this episode delivered exactly what I was looking for: a few unanswered questions to leave us hanging as well as a few answers we've been waiting to have addressed since the first half of the season. Even better? There wasn't another one of those weird lip-syncing montages. One of those was enough.

(S05E21) "It's not easy knowing that your whole life is gonna go on without you." - Christian

It's hard to imagine what this show would be like if Christian were to die now. I'd like to think that Ryan Murphy and Co. will actually follow through on what's been an emotional rollercoaster for fans, watching Christian's cancer's ups and downs. If he somehow survives, I'll honestly be disappointed. Dr. Troy needs to die for this story to pay off. So the question is, when's he gonna kick it?

(S05E20) "I had sex with a doll once." - Sean

That was a funny line, huh? Especially since Kimber, the model for "the doll," was right in the next room. That was it in for funnies though in this week's episode of Nip/Tuck. Instead, it was one of the saddest, most depressing, and thought provoking hours the show has had in a long time. It was excellent.

Between Sean's new found free spirit and Christian's two life changing events, there's been a lot set up not just for the final two episodes of this season, but for the final sixth season (or sixth and seventh if those 19 eps get split up) as well.

On top of that, the episode featured one of the more interesting cases Drs. McNamara and Troy have had in some time. The show returned to its roots (no pun intended), and took on the case of Budi Sabri, a man afflicted with the same warts as the Tree Man from Indonesia. Very much a "ripped from the headlines" surgery. Or "ripped from the ground." Pun intended that time.

(S05E19) "Namaste home at night and play with that thing, oh yeah!" - Nurse Linda

I clearly don't have the same set of skills as Manny Skerritt or else I wouldn't own a TV and would therefore have never seen this episode of Nip/Tuck. As this week's patient-du-jour, Manny "I've got a Tyrannosaurus prick" Skerritt reminded me of how funny this show can actually be. The guy that got breast implants in season two comes to mind. However, if there's one lesson to learn from Manny's "addiction," it's that just because it feels good doesn't make it right.

(S05E18) "Sometimes I think that the only way for me to stop him is to cut off my hands." - Raj

It's rare when it happens, but every so often on Nip/Tuck, I just don't care about Sean or Christian. Either because their circumstances have become stale or there's a better sub-plot taking place. In this instance, both reasons played a role. The Christian/Liz plot has become annoyingly predictable and Sean's continuing woe-is-me complex is starting to give me one of my own from watching it. But underneath all that, the Raj and Ricky Wells threads were extremely entertaining.

(S05E17) "Christian, I don't like men. I like you." - Liz

Christian and Liz?!? Can anyone honestly say that they ever saw this coming? Of course, the opposites attract argument exists - "butch lesbian anesthesiologist" and "slightly mysoginistic sex-crazed plastic surgeon" are just about as far apart as you can get. But I suppose it only makes sense that the guy who uses woman before he trusts them starts to fall for the woman he in theory shouldn't be able to have because, Christian put it best, "she's a lesbian!"

Despite all the pitfalls that this relationship certainly has (Christian is not a one woman guy - especially when that woman plays for the other team), at least it's something different. Once again, the "Sean still loves Julia" plot reared it's annoying head. We get it already. The proponents of this awkward courtship will argue that we don't know who Sean is without Julia and that's why he's always carried the torch. But that's just it - I don't know who Sean is without Julia either and it doesn't seem like Ryan Murphy and Co. plan on telling us.

(S05E16) "Let me tell you what I don't like about yourself." - Raj

Eh... not so much. It's not that "Gene Shelly" was a bad episode, it was just awfully predictable for the whole hour. Every time something new happened, the result was painfully obvious. It took away the impact from a few things that otherwise, should have been pretty powerful moments. The one highlight? Dr. Puresh. Everything that kid says is comic gold.

(S05E15) "Shaft had tit cancer?" - Christian

She sure made it look easy, huh?

After the way part one of this season ended, with Sean finding out who Colleen really was, most were amazed when they saw Colleen jamming a knife into Sean's back in the mid-season finale. With his new celebrity status, the likely restraining order Sean had out on Colleen, and the assumption that there must have been some sort of security at the new McNamara/Troy LA office, it seemed unlikely that Colleen would have been able to get within 100 feet of Sean. Not the case.

Again, she made it look easy.

It's hard to believe, but there are only 27 episodes of Nip/Tuck left. Not that many, is it? Granted, those final installments will be spread over the next three or so years, but it's really not many if you think about it.

As you may recall, when season five of Nip/Tuck was initially greenlit, FX ordered 22 episodes. Prior to that, no season had aired more than 15. I was ecstatic at the time and when season five finally arrived, I couldn't contain myself. Then the writer's strike hit and suddenly, 22 turned into 14. Eight episodes remain and the "disturbingly perfect drama" finally returns to FX to wrap up its fifth season on Tuesday, January 6th at 10PM ET.

Last we saw the McNamara/Troy family, tragedy had struck in numerous ways. The mid-season premiere, "Ronnie Chase," picks right up where the season left off last winter.

(S05E14) "I pretend to do the thing I actually do and suddenly I'm cool." - Sean

Going into this episode, I was really expecting it to be just be so-so. With the trend of so many other shows being cut short because of the WGA strike, I just assumed Nip/Tuck would fall victim as well. Not the case. Even if this season's full order of 22 episodes had been met, this installment was still clearly meant to be a mid-season finale. There's no way an ending like that gets a new episode the very next week. It worked here as the season ender and it worked well.

Gallery: Nip/Tuck - Season Five

(S05E13) "Wait... you met your father?" - Matt

This is the way I remember Nip/Tuck. Hands down, best episode of the season right here. Controversial, all the main characters played a big role, and best of all? It was funny! The one thing that depressed me was the very end. Why? Because of that ridiculous "future" episode from last season, we know Julia can't die.

Gallery: Nip/Tuck - Season Five

(S05E12) "There are seven signs of the apocalypse, right? Not two?" - Christian

One of the things that I've always enjoyed about Nip/Tuck is the way that Sean and Christian are constantly compared to each other. No matter how much they fight, no matter how much the writing may lead you to believe that they clash, no matter how much you juxtapose them in any number of varying scenarios, they always turn out looking far more similar than different. This episode was a prime example.

Gallery: Nip/Tuck - Season Five

(S05E11) "Mommy's not coming back because Daddy killed her." - Christian

Um... wow. I'm never going to a Build-A-Bear Workshop ever again. I'll come back to that later, but let's touch on the theme of this episode first: cannibalism. There's a topic that Nip/Tuck hasn't tackled before and Ryan Murphy and Co. didn't hold back either. From the teacher who bites her Kindergarten students, to the metaphors of Hollywood agents eating you alive, to the newlywed couple that actually... ate each other, all the bases were covered. Who's hungry?

Gallery: Nip/Tuck - Season Five

(S05E09) "I was never in any danger of being drugged by the gays." - Freddy

After a month off, Nip/Tuck is back. Only 14 of this season's 22 episodes were finished pre-WGA Strike, so it makes sense that FX threw that mini hiatus in there. I was really looking forward to this episode, and even though I liked it, there was still a lot of stuff that just didn't feel fresh to me. Recycled is probably more accurate. I love this show, but c'mon... Sean and Christian fighting over Julia is really getting old.

Gallery: Nip/Tuck - Season Five

(S05E08) "Your promises are sh*t, Matt." - Sean

They really are, aren't they? Matt is pretty much full of it, most of the time. Granted he escaped death here, but when you consider his track record (white supremacists, transvestites, Scientology, foreskin removal), it's pretty safe to assume that he'll get wrapped up in something else before too long. That's why I found it so amusing when Sean apologized and Matt said he just really needed to grow up and stop being Sean's "child." Why? So he can graduate to more adult scheming? He's there already! Last I checked, you don't see too many eleven year olds cooking meth and raising a child with a former porn star. Matt has always led a screwed up life, so it's not as if any of this comes as a surprise. Fortunately, the rest of this Christmas themed episode took the torch from previous Nip/Tuck holiday installments and the results were hilarious.