Nip/Tuck: Season 1, Episode 2: Mandi/Randi Review

Mandi/Randi

Original Airdate: July 29, 2003

Writer: Ryan Murphy

Director: Ryan Murphy

Being the second episode of a series is a thankless task. You’re competing to maintain the quality of the pilot or prove that you could do better while maintaining the viewer’s interest. Nip/Tuck proved to have a lot of potential with its 90 minute premiere, but how would it be able to fare as a series?

The continuity between this episode and the pilot is consistent, which can be difficult as pilots are often filmed far in advance from the rest of the season. Troy/McNamara have recovered from the events of the pilot and have changed their operation. Now we see there is a psychologist on staff and they now do pro bono work, helping the woman with the ruptured implant. However, the psychiatrist can’t handle the sight of seeing the operation, a sign that he won’t be around long.

Following this, we meet the titular patients, twin girls trying to form their own identities. Seeing how they act it’s clear that they really don’t want to be different from each other, as they have the same haircut, the same type of clothes on, make-up, etc. They haven’t come to grips with the fact that they will always be confused for the other twin for the rest of their lives. Both of them losing their virginities to the same man was the nadir for them and they thought surgery would be the solution. Maybe they should spend more time away from each other to find themselves. Well, it’s clear that by the end of the episode that surgery was a mistake.

If there was any purpose to the twins it would be to introduce the fifth lead, Valerie Cruz as Grace. In retrospect, it didn’t make sense to have her as a lead. She is absent through five episodes, several critical to the development of the show. Her character served two purposes. One will be discussed in a future review. You could argue that her secondary purpose is to appeal to Sean in a moment where his mid-life crisis is still affecting him. Along comes a beautiful woman who doesn’t believe in half measures. It convinces him to change his menu choice from what he usually has to what she is having. However, his poorly timed line showed this wouldn’t be the right way to change his life.

Perhaps it would’ve been a better decision to have a few different psychologists on the show or stay with Dr. Pembleton. He felt like a wasted opportunity, as if they couldn’t get Valerie for this episode and had him substitute, with her scenes shot later and mixed in. The impact of his firing is somewhat diminished since it recalls too much of Sean’s dismissal of Julio in the pilot. There was tension between them as we saw regarding Mr. Brancato, but hardly enough to make this payoff worthwhile.

Sean’s still resorting to half measures trying to talk to Matt about sex. He clearly meant the best by sliding the condom across the table, but this is what makes it hard for Matt to talk to his dad. So he consults Christian because he is easier to talk to about sex, but the advice he gives isn’t the type you’d want a young man to follow, like sleeping with a stripper so he can gain experience equipped to please Vanessa.

Christian also has trouble with women in this episode because of Julia. He is impotent towards every woman he is with unless he is thinking about Julia during it. No one in Christian’s life has touched him the way Julia has. Since the “consultation”, he has become fixated on her. But when they meet towards the end, they have a heartfelt discussion, which revives his sex drive.

Julia is still living a desperate existence. She’s bored and creating gift baskets to avoid thinking about going back to school so she can get what she wants. Neither she nor Sean is sure what to do about their relationship at this point. Matt has to intervene because both of them aren’t doing anything to face the problems in their lives. He has a good point, but Julia continues to make the baskets.

However, this hobby will be dashed with the consequences of killing Frisky the gerbil. Considering how obsessive kids can be with their pets, it doesn’t make sense that she would wait a month and a half before putting up “Missing” ads. Also it has taken this long before the plumbing problems started. It was funny how she confessed to it. They laid it on heavily by mentioning it could’ve been Matt and that’s how Ted Bundy started, killing small animals. Their utter disgust when Julia admitted she killed it was priceless.

Liz plays another part in Sean’s decision to commit to change. Being held at gunpoint changed her perspective so that she left her deadbeat girlfriend to pursue what she wants in life. It takes Sean some convincing to get her to come back. Not knowing the name of Liz’s ex didn’t help. Nevertheless, doubling her old salary worked.

Sean is willing to leave Julia, but still doesn’t want to go out and see other people. He has only changed his mindset, taking half measures but thinking he’s going all the way. There isn’t any joy in this marriage. When faced with Julia again, he decides it’s better to have amazing sex as if that will remedy their problems. It doesn’t. He seems to want to please her only to spite her. Earlier Grace spurned his advice. Sean wanted safety after that and he resented it.

Unlike her husband, Julia seems more interested in a drastic change following Christian’s visit. He has always been more open, but still isn’t the right man for her. Brushing off an erection he got during a close meeting between them and then having a three way with the twins on the same night he was going to console Julia (describing it as a “Doublemint moment”) isn’t the type of man likely to settle down, even though he desires Julia more than any other woman.

Matt is in a tough situation being a self conscious teenager. Vanessa likes Matt, but her reaction to his penis caused him to recoil. That caused her to shy away too. Her saying they should just stay kissing was about as hurtful as if she left. All of the pressures he is facing, added to the fact that he can’t effectively communicate with anyone close to him, makes him try to circumcise himself. I'm sure I wasn’t the only guy to cringe a bit when that snip was heard. The creepy voice narrating the webpage where Matt got his information shows how bad it can be if you have no one to turn to so you rely on questionable sources because they are more open. To have someone do that on TV is unbelievable, but it’s not just for the sake of shock value.

This episode performs well following a great premiere, but suffers from some minor faults in the writing. The continuity is strong as it sets up the season arc. Mandi/Randi is good, but not the indicator the greatness ahead in this season and the next.

Score: 7/10

Nip/Tuck: Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot Review

Pilot

Original Airdate: July 22, 2003

Writer: Ryan Murphy

Director: Ryan Murphy

Following the success of The Shield, a show emphasized for being too hot for network TV, FX decided to try to repeat their success and develop a reputation of having controversial, but artistically defendable programming. Nip/Tuck was the perfect addition to solidify this status. With its graphic depiction of plastic surgery procedures, explicit language, sexuality and occasionally violence, Nip/Tuck was fearless from the opening moments of the pilot episode.

It’s great how much characterization appears in the show’s prologue. Sean is clueless about Spanish, which everyone around him knows because of Miami’s Latino community. He can’t see that Perez has ulterior methods behind wanting surgery. The Spanish compels him to have Christian intervene. When Sean does, Christian is doing a butt implant. Liz is disgusted by it, which helps set what her character is for the rest of the series. The implant was put in wrong, and Sean pointing it out showed that he is more talented than his partner is.

Christian knows that Perez is lying about not being able to speak English and that he isn’t telling everything regarding why he wants the surgery. However, even Christian doesn’t know the whole story, but what he hears (that Perez was with the boss’ daughter) appeals to his ladies’ man personality so much that he doesn’t learn the age of the girl. In addition, the $300,000 was an easy way to get him not to ask any more questions.

Now we get to the sex. It’s shocking how raw Christian and Kimber’s romp is. Juxtapose this against Sean with Julia. Christian is having the sex mere mortals dream of whereas Sean and his wife don’t look at each other during sex and think about shopping or firing the gardener.

Both men deal with the plastic surgery concerns of their lovers. Christian ruins Kimber’s fantasy of being the perfect 10 by mentioning flaws most of us wouldn’t care about or notice, even marking her body heavily with lipstick. Kelly Carlson is very pretty, but through Christian’s charm, she’s made to believe she is ugly. Sean treats his wife’s desire for breast implants differently. While Sean is more courteous of Julia’s body, he treats her like one of his patients. Moments like this further reinforce how out of touch Sean is. Later at breakfast, we see that he doesn’t remember asking about a book his son Matt was reading and Matt notices that he doesn’t listen.

Since Matt doesn’t feel recognized, he consults Christian regarding a circumcision. Christian’s relationship with Matt is a close one and eludes to what we learn about them in the future. He has no problem with Matt cutting a few classes and even gives him a doctor’s note. Although Christian is much more permissive and open with his relationship with Matt, he still sets boundaries like the need to include Sean and get his consent.

Sean’s disillusionment continues when he can’t help the mother of a burn victim because she doesn’t have the money for an operation. Then he curses his job, saying he doesn’t want to “poison” his family by conducting vanity surgery on them. Christian doesn’t mind this and reminds Sean that they are close “to setting [themselves] up for life” with their work. Considering Christian also can seduce a large amount of women through his job, we can see why he wouldn’t want to relinquish it.

One of Nip/Tuck’s trademarks is its incredibly gritty and unforgiving surgical scenes. Carving Perez’s face to The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” is gruesome even if parts of it go in fast forward. The blood flows freely and even splatters on Sean’s mask as he drives the chisel into his patient’s nose. I'm not sure whether the blood was meant to be realistic or sensationalistic, but it is compelling either way. Throwing the tools into the sterile bowls or the sterilizing material was a great way to end the scene because it is so blunt.

Sean isn’t even aware of the fact that Christian took Perez’s large offer, which snaps him out of his complacent existence. Christian is not phased as it is $300,000. Later he’ll learn that Perez is a pedophile, which brings up many bad memories of Christian’s childhood. We’ll learn more about it as this season progresses, but it’s good that they hinted at Christian’s demons early in the season.

The biggest thing Sean is unaware of is Matt’s burgeoning sexual relationship with Vanessa. He’s been dealing with peer pressure in school regarding how his penis looks and how she’ll react to it. However, because he believe his dad doesn’t listen, he doesn’t talk about it with him until the consultation. Sean and Matt’s inability to discuss issues drives Matt’s character and his actions in future episodes.

Kimber’s arrival at Troy/McNamara is the deciding factor for Sean to leave. Sean was ignorant of Christian’s methods of picking up clients and as a result, he was being made foolish. His mid-life crisis has been put into action. Boredom has made Sean numb to his life and now he realizes his life isn’t what he wanted it to be. He is jealous of and frustrated about Christian’s lifestyle. Christian does whatever he wants in pursuit of pleasure and often doesn’t think about the consequences or the lives he hurts like Kimber’s. However, we will see several costs for Christian’s playboy life throughout the show’s run and one by the end of this episode.

Christian, Sean and Julia have played a huge part in each others’ lives since they went to college. Christian is especially close, almost like a second husband or dad to the McNamara family. Julia still has feelings for him as we see her during her breast exam. It gets extremely sensual when the diagnosis comes down to a whisper. Nevertheless, looking back on the video of what they were like 16 years before shows that they aren’t as happy now. Julia hasn’t pursued her goal of becoming a doctor and that, added onto the intense fight with Sean about his mid-life crisis, causes her to kill her daughter’s gerbil.

Nip/Tuck’s title becomes vivid when Christian meets with Sean in his “office”. Nip/Tuck refers to a subtle change, whereas Sean is going for “a full lift” by re hauling everything in his life. Christian makes him aware by telling him that Sean isn’t equipped to handle such a dramatic change and that he may lose everything when Christian takes care of the legal implications of dissolving their company, which means draining their funds, something he is adamant about doing despite their friendship. This is clearly in the hopes of convincing Sean to reconsider.

Christian faces what he did when he’s confronted by the victim’s father, drug lord Escobar Gallardo. Robert LaSardo does a terrific job making Escobar a charismatic villain. Thankfully, they decided to have him recurring, if only to reinforce the consequences of Troy/McNamara associating with drug dealers. Christian’s ordeal having botox injected all over his face was bad enough, but the one in his penis certainly made most guys cringe. Nip/Tuck isn’t satisfied enough with submerging Christian in water.

Perez’s final procedure is almost as intense. Seeing Alejandro turn on his brother after learning about his girlfriend’s pregnancy was a chilling moment. Then having his lipo tube come loose and spray everyone with the fat was disgusting. I can’t speak much for mob morality, but apparently killing someone you hid for a while makes up for the hiding. However, it’s likely Escobar killed him after they left the room. We’ll find out that Escobar isn’t finished with them yet, but for the purpose of the pilot, they treat it as a self contained event which was wise.

To finish the episode they buy ham from the store and use it to lure alligators to Perez’s body. This part of cleaning up feels a little sloppy, as Christian had cuts and bruises on his face and they were buying 12 hams and only 12 hams. Nitpicking that isn’t as important as the fact that Sean was listening to Matt when he said that earlier. In shows, whenever useless information like this is dispensed, it will become useful in a key part later.

After this, they learned that they have to screen their patients so to avoid having another incident like this one. Sean’s demand for pro bono work also helps to bring him back to the practice and begin mending after the events of this episode. Ryan Murphy has described this show as a “love story between two heterosexual men…in the end they will always choose each other.” This episode was a good example to show how far that would go. Liz quickly ditched them when faced with the task of disposing of Perez’s body, but they stuck around each other and agreed to fix their practice.

Few shows get to make as good a first impression as Nip/Tuck does. It is fearless in its depiction of sex, violence, language and surgery. However, the show is raised with good characterization, daring writing, great acting and stylish direction. Luckily, the show to date has delivered on the promise made in this episode.

Score: 9/10

24: Season 4, Episode 14: Day 4: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM Review

Day 4: 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Original Airdate: March 21, 2005

Writer Howard Gordon & Evan Katz

Director Tim Iacofano

Like the last two episodes, 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM is another transitional episode connecting the kidnapping and nuclear override plot to what comes next. The pacing has increased, but it is still slow compared to the first half. Not much in the area of significance happened in the episode, just further steps necessary to get to a more exciting part. Paul was in surgery and Audrey was watching. Jack spent most of the episode as a hostage trying to get to Marwan. Anderson kidnapped and murdered a pilot so he could use his credentials to get onto the airplane hangar. And CTU was trying to keep up with the hunt. This would be more acceptable if they got this within the first two acts of the show. I would’ve liked to see more from the Michelle/Tony dynamic, since that was one of the last episode’s assets.

Audrey is in a difficult position. When this day began, she was ready to let go of her marriage to Paul and officially start her life with Jack. Seeing Jack torture Paul hours earlier gave Audrey a glimpse to how dark Jack can get and hearing that Paul was shot saving Jack reminded her of why she fell in love with him. Now it’s likely because of her ex-husband’s sacrifice he may be paralyzed and such an action should spark her reaction.

One aspect of the episode I thought didn’t get an appropriate introduction was the possibility of President Keeler declairing martial law if another attack happened. If Keeler does decide such action, the consequences would be huge. However, it’s only mentioned briefly; as if to set up what Heller will be doing. Heller has been in a lull since being rescued from Omar and his character has been used as leverage for CTU workers to get what they want or as someone to react to Audrey. Thankfully they’re taking care of it.

Adultery never goes well on 24 and John and his family are the latest casualties. Aspects of this plot are similar to the pilot episode where the cult favorite Mandy slept with Jonathan so she could steal his identity and give the terrorists access to the area vital to their plan. Although this time there is the added impact of having his entire family killed. However, when John finds out and is murdered shortly afterwards, it feels like an afterthought. Granted Anderson’s delivery was appropriately merciless, but it was so quick that the impact isn’t as deep as they were hoping for, especially since this is a character just introduced.

But what does Anderson want? After spending an episode getting to the hangar, they had better make sure he does his part in the next episode or else it will be more filler. Considering Keeler is now accelerating to a martial law plan, it’s likely Anderson will come into play next week.

Bringing Chloe back helped to remedy one of the biggest problems in the writing in the first half. Mary Lynn Rajskub had to leave temporarily so she could work on “The Sketch Show”, but couldn’t her exit have made more sense? She sided with Jack who never got in any trouble for his actions and became the heading the search. Plus, they have mentioned several times that she is the best in her field. I am worried about the possibility of removing Edgar because I have grown to sympathize with him, even to where I liked the subplot involving his mom. Not to mention he has proven to be very effective at his job when others were petty.

How great was it to have Shorheh back on the show? You could almost connect the lack of quality from the last two episodes to the fact that she wasn’t in them. Fayed’s connection is implied that he is another sleeper cell in Marwan’s control. While it’s improbable that they would know each other, I’ll allow it simply because it brings her back, even for one episode. Seeing Jack and Dina interact was great, especially when Jack stabbed himself to add weight to their story. She probably didn’t think people were as dedicated to preventing these attacks as she and her associates were towards committing them.

Watching Dina say goodbye to her son felt almost incestuous considering how affectionate she was to him, but it could’ve been slightly misplayed. Dina knew that she may end up dead because of this mission and that she was doing this for him. Throughout this day, Dina has shown that she loves Behrooz enough to put him above her cause. Combine the two and you can argue that her affection wasn’t dirty.

Fayed and Marwan’s conversation was intriguing because of the plot convenience friendly interference in the phone call. Marwan knows Jack since he was able to alert Fayed. How Marwan knows Jack is unknown, but for dramatic purposes we should assume that they’ve met. I hope that they won’t go the route of tying it with a previous season like last year and have a connection that initially is intriguing, but in the end doesn’t pay off. In Marwan’s case, it would likely involve Syed Ali or any of the terrorists from the second season. Jack must have a reputation considering how effective he is with his work, so they may be better off creating another past incident that would involve Marwan and Jack.

Seeing CTU use more cool techie toys to monitor the terrorists was fun, but it was predictable how Dina and Jack were switched. It reminds me of an Alias episode where something similar happened. We should have found out about the switch when CTU did. Side note: at one point Michelle advises them to maintain a safe distance and it comes off almost like a Jedi mind trick.

There were several repeated events in this episode; the adultery kills theme, removing a thumb to use its fingerprint and Jack injuring himself to give the impression of a struggle. These events can be easily forgiven as they worked dramatically, but the recycling could be a poor indicator of what’s to come.

Another repeated event was the confidence game, played last year when Ramon asked Jack to prove his loyalty by pulling the trigger on Chase (both episodes were co-written by Howard Gordon). This time it was played differently. To a degree, it seems right that Dina would forsake shooting Jack because it could mean that the deal to go in witness protection with her son would be voided. However, Jack believes that keeping cover is the most important thing to do, and that’s what kept him and Chase alive. Dina clearly said she wanted Jack dead.

One nitpick some 24 fans have with the show is that Jack has infallible intuition. Jack has an incredible sense of knowing what the terrorists are going to do. However, having Dina take him to Marwan via Fayed was a mistake. Had they rushed into Fayed’s house, they could’ve snuck in and got him. Dina was able to make it to the front door without a problem and Fayed was watching the news away from his weapon when this happened. Had Jack tried this he could’ve ended up with at least another person to interrogate. Instead, he wound up getting Dina (as far as we know) killed and he’s now a hostage of the mastermind.

Dina’s assumed demise is interesting, as it further fuels speculation that she could still be alive since we never actually see her get shot. I hope that she’s still alive, but I'm not optimistic that that is true. Although if she is alive, what was the importance of making Jack believe that Dina was dead? Next week we should find out her fate definitively, at least to ease speculation. Her death does reinforce the notion that anyone could go at any time.

Behrooz, we have to assume, is an orphan. Combined with the death of his girlfriend, he has had a terrible day. It would be too corny to have him after this show active interest in becoming a CTU agent or something to that affect, but I hope that he can get a new start since he has proven to be a good person.

While this episode is above what 24 has been the last two weeks, it still isn’t quite the level of the first eleven episodes of the season. Some of the repetitive things and the slow forward movement hindered the episode. However, 24 has always slowed down midway through a season, likely so the writers can have some time to concoct a good second half. Even though it’s expected now, it doesn’t make the wait for the next arc better.

Score: 6/10

Angel Season Five DVD Review

Can you change an evil organization working within the belly of the beast or will you get digested in the process? A gang of supernatural fighters finds out in the fifth season of Angel, which was released last month on DVD. The vampire with a soul is handed over control to the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart, an evil multidimensional law firm that has been fighting him for four years. He and his team are determined to use this resource for good, but they are faced with obstacles that are far bigger than they expected. In addition to cleaning out the top evil in the clientele, they also must deal with the resurrection of Spike, Angel’s long time rival and another vampire with a soul.

Following the highly serialized nature of the fourth season, the fifth season took a more self contained approach to help appease critics of that season and to reel in new fans. Some of the new viewers tuned in for the addition of Spike, who was extremely popular on Angel’s big sister show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although some complained that Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia since the beginning of Buffy and had been a pivotal figure since the beginning of Angel, wouldn’t be a regular in this season, the addition of Spike and Harmony, the ditzy vampire from Sunnydale, makes up for Cordelia’s comic wit and often blunt opinions. While some of the self-contained episodes early on are uneven, there are some great episodes, like "Lineage" and "Destiny". Cordelia does return in "You’re Welcome", the show’s 100th episode. This usually dark show gets away with the hilarious "Smile Time", involving evil demons controlling a children’s show who turn Angel into a puppet. Two of the series best episodes, "A Hole in the World" and "Shells", make a profound statement about losing a loved one that is comparable to Buffy’s "The Body". The show comes to a satisfying conclusion with "Not Fade Away", which was my pick for the number one episode of 2004.

One of the biggest shocks of the season came not on the show, but behind the scenes, as WB executives decided to cancel the show. Fans were justified in their outrage, as no reason given made any sense and a few contradicted previous reasons, since Angel was still one of WB’s biggest hits and had gained viewers from the prior season. Considering the line up now, it’s unbelievable that The WB would part with talent like Joss Whedon and his crew, especially now with a resurgence in the popularity of scripted serialized TV. I would’ve loved to have seen a special extra on the sudden cancellation and those who tried to save the show.

Mutant Enemy, Joss’ production company, has indefinitely suspended TV operations and now all of his shows, Buffy, Firefly and Angel are available in their entireties on DVD. Until Serenity, the motion picture based on his short lived Firefly, comes out on DVD, which won’t be until at least a year from now, this will be the last Whedon related release for a long time. Will it be enough to tide us over? For content, it will, but not for extras.

The set could’ve benefited from putting all the extras on a bonus disc, but instead they scatter them throughout the set and nowhere on the package or booklet do they say where they can be found. Oddly, the fun featurette on "Smile Time" is on the first disc, whereas the episode doesn’t appear until the fourth. However, some of the extras are worth checking out, such as commentary by Joss Whedon on the season premiere and "A Hole in the World", the latter done with Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker. The other commentaries are worth listening to as well. Other extras are little more than thinly veiled advertisements for the first four seasons on DVD, which most fans likely have. Joss’ retrospective on "The Best of Angel" is far too short to do the show justice. Only an episode or two from each season is covered and season five isn’t covered at all. This should’ve been at least a half hour. I would’ve liked to see more of the 100th episode party. A tribute to Glenn Quinn, who played Doyle in the first season, would’ve fit with the retrospective mood of many of the extras.

When I played the episodes on my computer’s DVD player, the image was slightly softer than when I played it on my home player. Either way, the colors look great, which helps on sci-fi/fantasy shows like this one. It sounds great too. The fights, the supernatural languages and noises are crisp. Unfortunately there isn’t a "Play All" option, which would’ve been great on this set, especially towards the end as the story became more serialized. The disc packaging is like other seasons, six discs whose sides fold in on each other like a map, which can be frustrating if you want to play the first or last discs. It would be more practical to use small containers like on the Firefly or Family Guy sets.

It is a shame to see the show go so soon, especially since the show gained a momentum that could’ve carried it through at least one more season with the introduction of Illyria, the aftermath of the series finale and the unfulfilled reunion between Spike, Angel and Buffy. But while it is still a sore subject and they didn’t have a choice, they left while people still loved the show. It’s sad to see a show that is great for so many years fall apart and drag on for even one season too many. That’s not the case for this heroic bloodsucker. Angel went out fresh, with style and fighting, which is how it was supposed to be.

Damn That Television!: My New Cable Access Show

It’s been a while since I've updated this. I've been busy. Well the big news for me is that I got my TV show, Damn That Television! on the air. For those who don’t know, this show is a new roundtable discussion show about anything TV related; TV News, Reviews, Retrospectives, DVDs, etc. We did a broadcast along with ASSS-TV24 (Aggressive Skiing, Snowboarding and Skateboarding). Aside from a few technical difficulties (none of which were too problematic) and time constraints which kept me from discussing everything I wanted to talk about, the show went off smoothly. Among the topics discussed were Oscar coverage, The Contender Suicide Controversy, gay cartoon characters, music channels that don’t air videos and a segment on Arrested Development (PLEASE watch! I’ll be your friend.)

The show went off so well there will be one more episode before summer break this Wednesday, March 9^th at 8 PM. It will be broadcasted on the UNH Campus on channel 24. Sorry, it’s not available anywhere else for those who don’t live on campus. We will need panelists, so if you’re interested or you want more details about the production, please e-mail me at mattstv2005@yahoo.com.

Until then, I hope to get some clips on the website, as soon as that’s done or I know if I can do it, I’ll let you know.