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« Roush Dispatch
Nip/Tuck: Not Quite the Bomb
Dylan Walsh by Michael Becker/FX
There are still moments, fleeting though they are, that remind me what I used to enjoy about Nip/Tuck, back before it became a burlesqued send-up of itself. A few of these moments were on display Tuesday night in the haunting storyline involving Sean (Dylan Walsh, in top form) and Rachel, the grotesquely scarred victim of a Palestinian suicide bomber. Rachel is one of this show's few unironic heroic figures, helping Matt get through his injuries after the meth-lab explosion. Her dilemma this week was classic Nip/Tuck. In an exam to help get to the root of her lingering "exquisite" pain, it is discovered that parts of the suicide bomber have been embedded into her flesh. "Human shrapnel," Sean calls it. Ugh, and wow.
As they head toward surgery, Sean is visited by the ghost of the bomber, a reflection of his own repressed rage and pain over the betrayal of Julia's resumed affair with Christian. Sean's inner demons gnaw away at him until he ultimately explodes in a fistfight with Christian in the operating room. Ultimately, after helping Rachel reconcile with the family of the bomber, Sean realizes that forgiving the unforgivable is the only way out. Yes, all of this is a little on-the-nose, not unlike the way the cases on Grey's Anatomy tend to reflect the romantic crisis of the week or the way the ghosts of the dead often commented on the family angst on Six Feet Under.
But by Nip/Tuck's increasingly crass standards, this was more psychologically provocative than the show has allowed itself to be in ages. Too bad too much of the episode was wasted with the reintroduction of the vulgar Dawn Budge and the prissy Freddy Prune, played with no cliché left unexposed by Rosie O’Donnell and Oliver Platt, respectively. Even that campy subplot, in which Dawn's face was run over by a lesbian on a motorcycle (the old dykes-on-bikes joke) during a gay pride parade, tried to tap into the theme of the week, as Liz confronted Freddy to help him face up to his inner (and now outer) queen: "Aren’t you sick of holding it all in? Don’t you want to blow it sky-high?" Which led to lifelong fag-hag Dawn forgiving Freddy, but not before slapping him off the bed.
Wish someone would take TNT to those characters. Now I no longer even look forward to the scenes at the fictional "Hearts & Scalpels" show-within-a-show, which seemed so promising at the start of the season. Like nearly everything else on Nip/Tuck these days, the satire may as well be delivered by sledgehammer.
No amount of reconstructive surgery can restore this show to its former darkly compelling glory.
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Jan 16, 2008 11:07 AM
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I used to love Nip/Tuck, but even the new episodes are starting to feel like reruns. It's the same thing week after week. And the Julia/Christian romance is ridiculous. How is the audience supposed to take it seriously when Julia is still technically with Olivia? And haven't we been down this road a million times before anyway?
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Jan 16, 2008 12:47 PM
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Matt, it's obvious you don't get this show. And that's a shame.
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Jan 16, 2008 1:57 PM
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I still love this show, no matter what anybody says about it  Sean and Christian fighting over Julia, why. I've never liked Julia, she's not worth all that turmoil.
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Jan 16, 2008 3:23 PM
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Matt, I couldn't agree more. I stopped watching just a few weeks into this season. Betty: you need to elevate your expectations - Nip/Tuck was a terrific show for the first couple of seasons. Now, it's right down there with C level horror movies in my estimation.
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Jan 16, 2008 4:08 PM
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That's why I stopped watching after the disappointing reveal of the Carver. I asked friends who still watch how the show is going, and they're not happy. I jumped ship at the right time and have no regrets.
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Posted by
Guest
Jan 16, 2008 4:42 PM
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I still like the show but I couldn't agree more 'Rosie's' got to go!! She's an ugly,unfunny,irritating,self-righteous,egomanical,bigoted,HYPOCRITE whose 15 minutes should have been up 13 YEARS AGO. Why do the Nip/Tuck writers think having this stupid,loud,no-talent shrill is worth ANYBODY'S time give it up people. She brings down any show she's on and the good air as well she's an ugly,wretched waste of space. That also goes for Brigitte Nielsen what the HELL is wrong with Ryan Murphy?!
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Jan 16, 2008 6:48 PM
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Betty, why don't you give some reason as to why Matt doesn't get the show? Making a comment like that is pointless as most of us (probably Matt included) have no idea what you're referring to. Very ineffective.
That said, wow Matt, I was going to email you about this very topic right when I noticed you has posted on Nip/Tuck. While I don't care for that particular storyline (the burn victim), it was remniscient of NT pasts. This show is supposed to PUSH the envelope (not rip it to shreds)and leave us haunted--it did that beautifully in seasons 1&2 with a biting commentary on beauty and multidimensional characters who you could forgive for their flaws. I never though Nip/Tuck should be as funny as it tries to be now.(unsuccessfully I might add) Humor is appreciated, but camp and parody and whatever term you would have for the painful Dawn Budge storyline has no place on this show. And the characters have completely lost the depth they once had. Christian screwing the secretary? I highly doubt even the most libidinous of men would risk it after pining for the woman they've finally gotten after 20 years. Also, Matt and Julia HAVE GOT TO GO. They pretty much picked up the entire cast and moved them to LA as there is no difference at all in the movement of storylines. Why is Gina in LA all of a sudden? Why are Matt and Julia there? I know this was explained, bt COME on. Ugh, end rant.
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Jan 17, 2008 3:38 AM
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Gee, Matt, a little harsh. At least it's new television.
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Jan 17, 2008 1:46 PM
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I also stopped watching after season 3. I loved the show in the early days, it was so different and interesting...= At first, the Carver storyline elevated everything to a new level because it was this big, looming, external threat, and it was brilliant because he was the Anti-Mcnamara/Troy, in a sense. I had hoped the identity of the Carver would be one of those spectacular, never-saw-it-coming moments, but i was wrong. I wasn't even close.
Not only was I not surprised, but I couldn't care less. And the even stupider reveal that the cop was his sister and in on it the whole time? Blech. I will say that the scene with Christian and Sean strapped to the operating tables was perfectly acted by Walsh and McMahon...but everything else was pathetic. I spent a season and a half on the edge of my seat only to be heavily disappointed. I will add, though, that the scene with Matt and the transvestite being tortured by his nazi girlfriend's father were incredible. Everyone elevated their performances in those scenes.
At any rate, the show seemed to become less stylistic, edgy social commentary and more full of itself with each episode. I'm glad I stopped watching when I did.
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Jan 17, 2008 9:34 PM
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Oh, please. He doesn't get the show. Period. I'll grant that the show has had its ups and downs. I'll grant that the third season is definitely not my favorite. I didn't like the Christian/Michelle love story of Season 4.
But the show is STILL about a love story between two heterosexual males. I don't care what new storylines and new characters are thrown at us (and I loved the Freddy/Dawn storyline ... it was touching this week and there was love between them, that's what that final slap was all about ... Rosie [and I'm not a huge fan of hers] was great), the show still maintains its original premise, and does it VERY WELL.
Matt seems to think the show is no longer "darkly compelling" to use Matt's words. Maybe he just can't see the forest for the trees in HIS forest, but MY forest is just fine.
The show has taken different turns. Sometimes, those turns may not work for some, and I realize there are those who think it should have remained the same. I don't. That would make it boring. Television is boring enough with the strike going on. I do not think Nip/Tuck is sloppy seconds.
And the comparison to Grey's Anatomy? Please. Nip/Tuck was there first and still does it best. Grey's Anatomy is a poor copy-cat of Nip/Tuck's plotlines at best. Several of my friends have even pointed that out, and have stopped watching that show, thinking that if it has to copy another show, it's not worth their time.
Hope that's enough for those who had problems with my comment, which I stand by: "Matt, it's obvious you don't get this show. And that's a shame."
To each his own. I'm entitled to my 2 cents just like anyone else here, and I'm surprised that people jumped on my remark. Hope this clears it up.
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Jan 18, 2008 1:44 PM
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Matt gets the show, period. Plenty of people get the show, period. We all get the show and there are many at this point who just don't like it, period.
All shows have ups and downs and yet it seems this show is all about the downs at this point, that's what's so upsetting.
The show is NO LONGER a heterosexual love story between two men. What is the meaning of the word love? friendship? That's done. A true friend would NEVER do what's been done. Having Sean in 1-2-3 fashion once again being "over" this is just so unrealistic. No matter what's done now, the foundation of the show is destroyed. They can never be what they were because without trust, without being able to count on someone there's not enough there to truly bond. No matter what's shown now, it doesn't have the true feel anymore. Without that, what's left?
Amazing that Christian was attacked and raped by the carver(that wasn't even really dealt with, a three way to handle this does not count) and had years of abuse as a child and yet Sean is always the character having visions?
I'll even go as far as to say that Julia and Christian have much more in common psychologically with the mindset of the suicide bomber than Sean.
Matt and many others can see just perfectly the forest for the trees.
Wonder why some think it's ok that they get to express their views but not ok for others to view theirs.
This is Matt's column. He's always been a champion of N/T before and even in this article mentions what he still likes about it, even though it's less than ever before.
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Jan 19, 2008 11:22 PM
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I still love this show. The only misstep they ever made, in my opinion, was the anticlimactic Carver reveal. The comedy, the campiness, the over the top plots, and the ability to weave in powerful dramatic stories like the one of the suicide bomber are what make the show so great.
People act like this show suddenly got over the top and crazy, somehow forgetting that the very first episode involved such things as tying hams to a corpse and dumping it in a swamp. Nip/Tuck has always been nuts.
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Jan 21, 2008 10:28 AM
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I think your column is right on point Matt. A "burlesqued send up of itself" is a great way to describe the show now. It was my favorite show on the air for the first three seasons, now it is to the point of being painful to watch. I used to love the dark sarcastic humor of Nip/Tuck, but now they try so hard to be funny, and the "humor" is so bawdy and adolescent, it's just embarrassing. It's a shame, Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh are such great actors, they really deserve better. Every once in a while there are glimmers of what Nip/Tuck used to be, but the glimmers are few and far between. Thanks Matt for saying what alot of viewers are thinking about what has happened to this show.
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Jan 21, 2008 2:06 PM
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Well, I won't say that Matt doesn't get this show because I think that he does. However, I think that he is being a bit harsh on this particular episode. The Sean/Rachel stuff was excellent and made the entire episode work. I know that a lot of people don't like the Dawn Budge stuff, but I thought this was well done. Oliver Platt was hysterical! I have watched Nip/Tuck from the beginning and I have no plans to stop anytime soon. Sometimes they miss big (i.e. The Carvel reveal) and you know what? That's okay. No show is perfect. Considering that this is one of the few shows airing new episodes, I can't complain.
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Jan 21, 2008 4:24 PM
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