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Episode Recap: "Rachel Ben Natan"
After a four-week break, it was nice to revisit the adventures of our favorite fantastically plastic duo. Too bad we still don't know what Eden put in that dang fruitcake four weeks ago. All we know is that it gives Julia spontaneous nosebleeds, which just makes Christian pout about being deprived of sex with his best friend's ex. Speaking of Eden, how lovely to have a completely Eden-free episode! Sure, the skank returns next week, but it was pleasant to get through an entire hour without her. Four characters returned that I enjoy: Dawn Budge (Rosie O'Donnell), Freddie (Oliver Platt), Aidan (Bradley Cooper) and, after a long time away, Gina (Jessalyn Gilsig). I'll get to Gina's return later.
Ever since we first met Freddie, it was beyond apparent that he was gay. Then when Freddie and Dawn started dating, besides thinking "Huh?," I was immediately reminded of Dana Carvey's character on SNL: "Lyle, The Effeminate Heterosexual." So leave it to Dawn to budge it out of him after seeing how happy he was acting on top of the "Hearts 'N Scalpels" float in the West Hollywood gay pride parade. They really like giving Rosie/Dawn funny ways of getting injured. First, the hilarious eagle attack, then this week, she was ran over by one of the "Dykes on Bikes." I was glad they gave Rosie (with tire tracks on her face) some serious scenes to play, too. How many of us went to school with gals like Dawn? You know the ones: pleasantly plump, always making people laugh, but always getting crushes on the gay guys. Dawn has "been falling in love with gay boys since high school. They were the only ones who seemed to get me." How very Nip/Tuck to follow that poignant scene with one that made me TiVo back three times because I was laughing so hard: After Freddie showed her sympathy that reminded her of an ex-boyfriend, Dawn slapped Freddie so hard, he fell off the bed.
I was also happy that the fabulous Roma Maffia got to do scenes with both Oliver and Rosie. You just knew Liz was going to try to get Freddie to admit his gayness to her and it was a great reminder that Dawn was the one who gave up one of her kidneys for Liz last season. I first thought the motorcycle Dawn purchased was for Liz, just as Liz thought: "Not all lesbians ride motorcycles." But not only was it for Jan (Brooke Dillman), the woman who mistakenly ran her over and then came to visit her and gave her flowers, but Dawn gave Jan $30,000 for a year's tuition at Yale for Jan's kid.
Somehow it wasn't a surprise that Aidan (channeling Donald Trump) wouldn't get along with Dawn: "Who let this beast on the lot? They don't let animals in here." Aidan wasn't having Dawn's earlier anti-gay comments, especially since he's "loved by the homosexual community," but Dawn felt she could say whatever she wanted since she was one of the "Hearts 'N Scalpels" producers now. Money can buy almost everything, including a producer credit if you pay for all the overages for your boyfriend's show. Dawn wanted Aidan to be more classy "like Clooney" or like Sean.
Meanwhile, Sean was busy being bitter about Christian and Julia's courtship. Payback is a bitch and her name is Gina. But before Sean hired Gina to be the new receptionist at McNamara/Troy just to piss off Christian, Sean hired the boob-a-licious blond Bettina (Diana Terranova). Anything to get Christian's mind off Julia. It didn't take Christian too long to bed Bettina...and then fire her. But bitter Sean hired Bettina back to avoid a sexual harassment suit. Just when you thought Sean was forgiving Christian, he paid off Bettina and hired Gina. Perfect opening line of Gina's to Christian: "Hey, a--hole." Seems Gina just got her real estate license so she figures she'll get lots of new clients in the lobby of McNamara/Troy.
Although I was pleased that Matt's rehabilitation nurse Rachel (Maggie Siff) was coming to Sean for surgical assistance for the pain she was having in her face, I could've done without all the Sean-hallucination scenes. Every now and then, there was suicide bomber Saaed (Dylan Ramsey) appearing in front of Sean. Sean even imagined a bomb being attached to his own body when he told Christian and Julia he wanted to move out of the house. I kept thinking: "Why is Sean having these visions? Shouldn't it be Rachel having the visions or even Matt, the meth addict, the one who spent significant time with Rachel?" But then I figured it was the writer (Jennifer Salt) comparing Rachel struggling to forgive Saaed for destroying her face and parts of her body with the bomb by giving his remains to his family to Sean struggling to forgive Christian for romancing Julia. Speaking of the remains, I found it fascinating that after Rachel realized that tiny parts of Saaed's blown-up body (like his teeth) were living inside her own skin, she freaked out even more and could only feel better once they were removed. Wouldn't you?
Further explaining why Sean related to Rachel was the moment that convinced Sean to make up with Christian after their knock-down-drag-out fight. Sean to Rachel: "The pain of being betrayed by someone you love can be worse than physical pain." Rachel: "The trick is forgiving the unforgivable." Cut to Sean confronting Christian: "You're a betraying son-of-a-bitch, but you're still my brother." Good thing Matt convinced his two dads to give Rachel the multiple corrective surgeries pro bono.
Since I especially enjoyed the humorous parts of this episode, I'd like to end with some of the other funny lines and scenes (at least the ones I can include without being censored):
— Aidan referring to Dawn as "your twin" when talking to Freddie.
— Dawn to Freddie: "No man of mine is riding in a fruit float, Freddie."
— Dawn: "I know a lot of gay people: my hairdresser, my stylist...how about Father Fabrizzi at St. Simons?"
— "Hetero" Freddie talking to someone on the phone bragging about the Cher impersonator he'd just seen. Turned out the person he was talking to was his mother.
— Freddie to Dawn (after he realized he was gay): "All of a sudden, my People's Choice Award just wasn't the most important thing in my life anymore. And that's when the light bulb went on." Dawn: "The gay light bulb?"
Let me know what you thought of the episode below.
And you can check out Nip/Tuck-related videos in our Online Video Guide.
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Jan 16, 2008 4:58 AM
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Great recap! I, too, was laughing hysterically at the scenes between Rosie, Oliver & Bradley, but especially the Rosie/Oliver scenes. When Freddie finally came out to Dawn, you could totally tell Rosie was trying desperately not to laugh since Oliver was so damn funny. Glad you pointed out how perfect it was to have Roma's Liz do scenes with both of them.
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Jan 16, 2008 6:14 AM
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Im so glad that Nip/Tuck is back. Its been a very long 4 weeks without my fav. show.
I didn't know that Rosie playing Dawn was going to be on tonights show. As usual she was hilarous. I also cracked up when Dawn slapped Freddie and he fell off the chair. I had to rewind it because I missed it the first time, but when I saw it......I cracked up laughing. I love Oliver Pratt in anything that he does.
I also didn't understand why Sean was having those visions. It didn't make sense to me what so ever.
Glad to have Gina back. Even though I can't stand Gina, I always loved it when she called Christian an a-hole. I thought it was odd that Gina didn't mention how was Wilbur. Since we only saw him for a hot minute on the Christmas episode.
Was there any good music selections on this episode? We usually talk about it after every episode. What gives?
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Jan 16, 2008 7:08 AM
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That was a good re-cap and they sure know how to keep me coming back for more! I am going crazy wondering about that old guy with the alien chip, and of course what is going to happen to Julia!
I love this show, it get's better every week!
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Jan 16, 2008 9:56 AM
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Great Episode !!
I thought it made perfect sense that Sean had the visions of the bomber. He has had visions on several episodes. He had many "conversations" with Escobar and Monica. I thought it was right in line with his character.
Jo
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Jan 16, 2008 10:04 AM
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Great recap!
I'm sooo glad N/T is back! I enjoyed this ep a lot.
The bomber hallucinations were kinda scary/disturbing for me. Just creepy...but I understood the parellel they were goin for.
Where the hek are julia's kids...she's with Christian all the time..who's takin care of the kids?!?!?!
I'm soooo glad to have an eve-free ep! We need more like this. Even Matt wasnt as annoyin as he normally is lol!
I wanna kno whats goin on w/ Julia..hope they dont drag that story line out for too long.
Loved Dawn & Freddie.
We need more Aidan..he always steals the show!
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Jan 16, 2008 11:21 AM
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Anyone else think its funny that Gina (Jessalyn Gilsigs character on NIp/Tuck) got her CA real estate license in the same week that Shelly (Jessalyn Gilsigs character on Friday Night Lights) got her TX real estate license?
I wonder if she got deja-vu?
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Jan 16, 2008 12:56 PM
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So Julia, Gina and Liz all cashed-out their rehab spa in Florida and followed Sean to California?
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Jan 16, 2008 2:10 PM
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WatchStudio....
I thought exactly the same thing.. I wonder if the actress went from one set to the other???
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Jan 16, 2008 2:33 PM
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Okay, Sean has always had hallucinations, but in this case, I wish that he had seen people that related more to HIM a la Christian right before he was going to propose to the ex-call girl. All of Christian's visions were of ex-girlfriends and related to HIM. I get that the writers needed a plot device for Sean to forgive Christian and Julia, but I think that they could have accomplished this a lot better.
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Jan 16, 2008 3:45 PM
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I refuse to believe I'm the only one who believes Aidan Stone is gay. The way he interacted with Freddy in the first episode, the hesitations in this one. That man is gay or at least bi. I'm sure of it.
Brilliant episode, glad to see it back.
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Jan 16, 2008 4:11 PM
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Loved tonight's episode & was glad to have it back. It was such a mixture of humor, sadness, betrayal & forgiveness. I honestly got all choked up when Rosie/Dawn told her sad story & then again with the exchange between Sean/Rachel. Fun to see Gina again, she'll definitely stir the pot. Another great line from Christian was him calling Sean a "bitchy high-school cheerleader!" Classic!!
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Jan 16, 2008 4:56 PM
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I don't think they originally planned for Dawn to have the bike accident. Rosie O'Donnell managed to fall face first on a waffle iron last summer (a Dawn-like accident in itself) and they couldn't cover it with makeup.
I'll echo some of the comments above: Why did Gina move to LA? (Puting Jessalyn Gilsig in the opening credits totally ruined the surprise of her being there, btw.) And didn't Sean call her "instant child care?" I thought she lost custody of Wilbur? Remember Wilbur, the child we've seen all of two seconds this season, in addition to Connor? At least Annie's been seen more than once...
Actually, here's my real hangup: How old is Matt? I know the actor's like 30 or something, but wasn't the character about 16 at the start of the series?
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Jan 16, 2008 5:44 PM
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By far the weakest episode of the season. It did very little to move the overall season plot. Also you had Rosie, which automatically makes it a bad episode. Fortunately Rosie's scenes were pointless filler, which made them easy to just skip over. Her character is even less likable then she is herself. I understand the reason Sean kept seeing the bomber, but it was still incredibly lame. The only bright spot of the episode was the return of Gina. She's always good for stirring things up.
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Jan 17, 2008 12:34 PM
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