Nip/Tuck: Season 1, Episode 8: Cara Fitzgerald Review

Cara Fitzgerald

Original Airdate: September 16, 2003

Writer: Ryan Murphy

Director: Jamie Babbit

I wasn’t crazy about this episode when I first saw it, but looking at it two seasons down the road, it has improved dramatically. What do you do when you do something horrible, but easy to hide? Matt, his friend Henry, Sean and Christian deal with three different crisis of conscience. This parallel action strengthens the writing of the episode while advancing the story.

Under the bleachers, Matt and Henry smoke weed. Prior to this episode, not much had been explored regarding Matt’s school life. All we knew were his relationships with Vanessa and Ridley, both of which are forgotten in this episode. Matt’s function on the show is focused on his interaction with Christian, Julia and Sean, which is appropriate since the practice is the center of the show. This seemingly ordinary afternoon will change their lives.

Before that, it’s important to establish Matt’s friend Henry’s beliefs and their stoner discussion about life. He believes that his strong Jewish faith will reward him with a good life. They are on the verge of starting their lives in college and beyond. Their faiths are tested hours after their talk.

While driving home, Matt is high and distracted by the radio and hits Cara, who was picking up her things on the road. In a moment, everything they’ve invested in has been wasted. The director does a great job establishing that initial shock and the panic that ensues with a brief silence. The camera serving as their point of view provided an excellent source of suspense as we didn’t know what was behind the car until they did.

Last week’s episode focused on the exotic side of sex; this week it was the dark side. One of their patients, Devon, wants her nose done so that it doesn’t resemble her father’s, who raped her when she was younger. Though Christian is blunt, he makes a valid point that changing her nose may not be what she needs to get over it. Unfortunately, victims of sexual violence are never done with the ordeal their perpetrators inflicted upon them. Even if she was given a new nose, Christian argues, she would eventually find another part of her body that reminds her of him.

Another patient, Mike Shane, is getting the bandages from his surgery removed. He had a birthmark from his genitals taken off, but a small red mark remained, which needed to go away quick for “his honeymoon”. Of course, this appeals to Christian’s ladies man, and they crack jokes to ease the tension as he gives him a bleaching cream which should expedite the healing process. When watching this for the first time it feels like an ordinary surgery, but now it can be paralleled to the pilot episode.

When Christian is watching the news, he finds that Mike is actually a priest and the procedure was meant to hide an identifiable mark so his accusers couldn’t confirm who he was. This is similar to Perez wanting to change his face to hide from Escobar, whose daughter he raped. Both incidents disgusted him, but in this episode, we go further to find it’s deeper than human decency.

This episode’s strongest scene was the corresponding action between Sean and Christian & Matt and Henry deciding how to deal with their respective dilemmas. Both could lose everything if they come clean. McNamara/Troy could hurt their reputation by going against doctor/patient confidentiality or stay quiet and let this pedophile go. Matt and Henry could go to the authorities and be arrested or stay quiet at the cost of their conscience. They fit together so well that dialogue segues between the two pairs seamlessly.

Matt’s way of redeeming himself for hurting Cara is to use his dad to repair his mess. This helps us not totally turn off from Matt, but this action is only a half measure. Henry knows that more than Matt does. By keeping it secret, he won’t be absolved of his actions. However, he thinks he can live easier if she doesn’t have the scars on her face to remind him. Cara is a Christian Scientist, who doesn’t believe in such treatment. It’s surprising how neither Sean, Christian and Julia noticed Matt’s sudden interest in her. Part of him is sincere, but most of it is to quell his guilt.

Sean’s affair with Megan continues to grow. Megan is in love with Sean and she wants implants to be able to enjoy their love fully. Their exchange is tender, but awkward as Dr. Santiago is in the room witnessing the whole thing. Grace isn’t stupid and can tell by the obvious signs what’s going on, so she informs Christian. She doesn’t have much choice professionally to tell him. It backfires when Christian, not surprisingly, takes his partner’s side. Christian has had contempt for her from the moment they met, whereas he has a bond with Sean that has survived almost twenty years.

During this confrontation, Christian and Grace’s fling is revealed. Sean hypocritically denounces Christian for his behavior even though he has used the office to conduct his affair. After Grace is dismissed, Sean tries to hard to make an argument as to why he wouldn’t have an affair, as if he was trying to convince both himself and Christian. Christian doesn’t call him out though.

We knew that Christian had problems with his father from the brief flashback in the pilot episode. In this episode, we find out what happened. When he was a child, a man named Mr. Troy adopted him and raped him. Mr. Troy gave Christian hush money and he didn’t tell anyone. With his foster father’s death, Christian thought he was done with it, but he never will be. This is the second time that a child molester exploited McNamara/Troy for his own benefit. Perez died before paying the penalty. The only way Christian could find redemption is coercing Father Shannon to do the right thing and confess. It’s an intense scene, both emotionally and violently, as Christian brandishes a scalpel, at one point stabbing Shannon in the leg, to get out the truth.

Afterward he is still haunted by his past as he cries in Sean’s arms. This continues what Ryan Murphy called a “love story between two heterosexual men”. Their bond is that deep so as they can reveal their secrets to each other and somehow overcome them.

This is an intense episode throughout. It deals with the many darker sides of humanity as a piece that explores conscience and what how humans deal with it when they have the option to hide the truth. “You’re going to jail, whether you go to hell is up to you,” as Christian says to Father Shannon, sums it up perfectly. The past will inevitably come back, how we handle it is our choice.

Score: 9/10