Nip/Tuck: Season 1, Episode 7: Cliff Mantegna Review

Cliff Mantegna

Original Airdate: September 9, 2003

Writers: Brad Falchuk

Director: Scott Brazil

Now at the mid-point of its freshman season, Nip/Tuck had proved it was willing to shock their audience in ways mainstream networks wouldn’t dare. Already they dealt with self-circumcision, teenage threesomes and porn. Despite this controversy, there was still artistic merit. Following this episode, things would only improve to an unforgettable season finale. This episode is provocative, but doesn’t have much dramatic impact as later episodes.

Cliff Mantegna is looking to boost his status as a swinger by having his man breasts removed. “Thirty women in one night” have rejected him because of them. Despite the pain that will come with the procedure, it’ll be the end of a lifetime of ridicule and the ticket to The Scene, an exclusive club for swingers. During a special blood test Christian ordered, he found that Cliff has Hepatitis C and won’t likely be allowed at parties like The Scene ever again. This storyline draws parallels to Christian and Kimber’s ongoing dysfunctional relationship.

It isn’t a good sign that they are already bored with each other. Now Kimber’s desperate to please Christian, role playing as a prostitute and a nurse to arouse him. Maybe this would work if Christian was more willing to fulfill one of Kimber’s fantasies, but Christian can be selfish. Although she is uncomfortable, she agrees to go to The Scene and fool around with a girl for Christian’s enjoyment. When they leave she thinks they’ll be alright, but we know they won’t.

Jude is a mid-twenties answer to Christian. Listening to some of their dialogue it could’ve come from either of them, especially regarding their stance on women. They use their charm to lure ladies. While Christian likes a variety of women, Jude focuses more on middle aged women. He makes Julia a fancy snack during their studying. When he is waiting to meet the doctors on the first day of his internship, he charms another woman enough that later she accompanies him to The Scene. Jude’s magnetism sent Julia over to McNamara/Troy to convince Sean to give him an internship.

Returning home, she discovers Matt’s threesome. Why didn’t they lock the door? Of course there is tension between Julia and Sean because their lack of communication over how to discuss sex with their son is still flawed. Sean’s secret urge to congratulate Matt doesn’t help either. Julia is right that there are consequences, explored later in this episode, but Matt doesn’t care because he thinks threesomes aren’t as destructive as drugs or violence.

Sean and Julia had a good idea to have an “intervention” to discuss Matt, Ridley and Vanessa’s threesome. An open dialogue is important to establish trust. They lose because the girls’ respective parents’ personalities are two extremes. Both are not realistic dealing with sex. Ridley’s mom believes that kids are going to do it regardless and doesn’t do much to interfere. She’s read about preteens giving sexual favors, so she thinks her daughter’s sexual experimentation is normal. Vanessa’s parents are the other extreme. Instead of encouraging a reckless attitude about sex, they prefer to repress and ignore it. They deny her lesbianism and prefer to believe she is still a virgin who will live a “traditional” life. Sean and Julia represent a moderate perspective, but their lack of connection with Matt didn’t help. If they had continued, perhaps these dialogues could’ve yielded positive results.

Matt took some advice from Christian about the three-way in the prior episode. His influence continues when Vanessa confronts Matt with the fact that he has been secretly seeing Ridley. Vanessa loves Ridley, even though Ridley was more into experimenting with girls than falling in love. Matt knew this and pursued Ridley anyway. Vulnerable, Vanessa is heartbroken when Matt betrays her and the trust they formed in this threesome.

Multiple partners aside, this episode also dealt with another sexual taboo, the less exotic, but still destructive adultery. The tension between Jude and Julia is getting strong in this episode. He’s attracted to her because he likes women her type and she’s attracted to him because of his resemblance to Christian. When she finds suggestive pictures, place conspicuously near their school books, she steals one, discovered by Sean later. This turns to be a pivotal reason for what he does with Megan next.

Before finding Jude’s picture, Sean had been indirectly hinting at wanting to see Mrs. O’Hara again. While complaining of back pain, Christian suggests seeing her, since she’s a chiropractor. Sean pretends that he forgot her profession. We know this is a lie because Megan’s impact last week was too big for him to forget. His back problems are a way to get him to see her, even though the ulterior motives were clear. Perhaps he subconsciously slept irregularly or exaggerated his back problems.

During his first appointment, he gets an erection, an obvious sign of his feelings for her. Initially he doesn’t want to admit this, which ties into his back problems because he has tension accumulated from repressing his emotions. He has kept his feelings for Megan to himself, along with many other issues in his life. Starting an affair with Megan is the only way he sees to address this. Dramatically this affair turns things around, even if it isn’t the best thing to do morally.

While Sean is drawn to Megan, Julia is turned away when she learns of Jude’s lifestyle. Jude is trying to get into The Scene as well, which explains the body shots Julia found. She finds out about this when she seeks advice about how to deal with Matt’s threesome. Her appalled behavior contrasts with Jude’s indifferent attitude towards her son’s experimentation. This revelation is what keeps Julia from straying, although she still has thoughts about it.

Jude going to the party draws the ire of Christian, especially since his date was the woman he charmed on his first day as an intern. The next day, Sean and Christian decide to fire Jude. Christian reason isn’t much for going to the swingers’ party, since he too was there with a patient, but because of this patient’s resemblance Julia obviously knew that when she confronts him at the end. He did it because he wants her but can’t have her and a guy who is much like Christian is trying to. Because he hurt her friend, she hurts him back by kissing him, leading him on and saying he was thinking about Jude when it happened.

This episode deals with sexuality and the consequences. It can break hearts (Vanessa), make you literally sick (Cliff), divide your relationship (Christian and Kimber) or drive someone away (Julia) or towards someone, even if the conditions are morally reprehensible (Sean). The second stage of the show is complete. Although the threesome plot was suddenly dropped after this episode, it won’t be the last interesting thing to happen to Matt. Megan and Sean’s affair, while on the surface not encouraged, is understood because of all the sadness and lack of fulfillment in his life, and it would serve well for future episodes. Many of the more controversial elements of season one are featured here and while it isn’t one of the best episodes, it is still a worthy establishment to advance the story.

Score: 7/10