Nip/Tuck: Season 1, Episode 10: Adelle Coffin Review

Adelle Coffin
Original Airdate: September 30, 2003
Story: Dell Chandler and Ryan Murphy
Writer: Dell Chandler
Director: Michael M. Robin

Adelle Coffin is a landmark episode. The events that occur in this episode, their presentation and the aftermath deliver on what was promised early in the season. Through great acting, we are fully entrenched in the action of this episode. This is probably the best episode of the first season. It is an episode that changes where the show is going.

To start, Christian reattaches several fingers of a man who sliced them off in a garbage disposal. Liz realizes that Christian has attached the middle one where the pointer should be and vice versa. She informs Sean, who substitutes. This is a funny reminder of the significant difference between Christian’s talent and Sean’s. Christian resents and is frustrated by it. He feels like a little kid, even calling Sean “dad”. Sean bluntly reminds him that the patient’s been under for four hours and he could correct it in two instead of an additional four.

This incident isn’t random like the butt implant from the pilot. After his mistake, Christian worries in the waiting room. Sean and Christian are up for recertification and this incident significantly diminished his confidence. Christian has always known that he is the showman whereas Sean is the talent in the practice. Sean tries to cheer up Sean by reminding him that he is extremely proud of the practice they created from scratch. The bond between these two men has lasted since Sean tutored Christian relentlessly until he passed and Sean’s not giving up on him now.

Sean’s resolve extends over to treating Megan. Despite her doctor’s lack of options, Sean wants to get a second opinion. They discuss it again over dinner, but Megan gets sick and they leave early. Although Sean tries to reassure her things will get better, she doesn’t believe it. As their car pulls up, she says that she doesn’t want to die a slow painful death because of the cancer. Sean says that that’s all anyone could want. Megan then tells him she will do more than hope for a peaceful death.

If one thing doesn’t quite fit in this episode, it is Mrs. Grubman and her fiancé’s consultation. Perhaps this is meant to be comic relief in a serious episode. I never would have expected to hear Jerry Hardin (Deep Throat from “The X-Files”) ask for a scrotal lift, and that image will be stuck in my head forever. Mrs. Grubman wants a vaginal rejuvenation and to have both procedures free. Although Christian argues the loophole, Mrs. Grubman reminds him of her lawsuit, which could be brought back with a phone call. To insult him further, she asks that Sean perform her surgery because he is more talented.

When they sign in, we’re told right away the importance of this exam. In addition to certification itself, the entrance fee is non refundable and if they fail, they’ll have to give up another week to retake the test. They won’t be able to practice during this time either. At the welcome desk they run into Bobolit, still cocky, but hiding his meetings with Christian. Sean brings up that Christian has been seeing Bobolit, but before they confess to anything, he clarifies by saying that he’s seen his billboards. Odd that there wasn’t much follow up from last episode, but this episode’s events were more pressing.

They have to operate on cadaver heads to prove their efficiency. We don’t see much of the first day aside from the sparse, white room and the eerie clicking of the hammers as several doctors perform rhinoplasty simultaneously. The two have trouble immediately as their exam begins its second day. Christian’s pops out of its position. Knowing that his head committed suicide, Sean engages with his subconscious via his head, the titular Coffin. This feels a lot like the show Six Feet Under, in which dead bodies talk to the characters and elaborate fantasies illustrate what the characters are thinking. While it is indulgent, it’s probably better dramatically than learning about Sean’s medical knowledge of suicide through books or dialogue, which may be hard to transition.

Through this fantasy he sees Adelle as a bored old woman who died similarly to the way Megan wants to go, but wound up suffering immensely before because she did it wrong. Her advice sounds more like something Sean would know as a doctor, which still works as opposed to an actual ghost recommending this. However, she is far more mocking outside of this brief moment of compassion, which is representative of the way Sean picks on himself.

Christian isn’t as talented as Sean is, but Sean’s advice to practice turns out to be more practical than he thought. Christian originally dismisses it since finding a practice head would be more difficult than in school. However, through a chance article Liz found, he has an opportunity to practice on a homeless Jane Doe. Sure, it’s contrived, but on a show like Nip/Tuck, this is normal and fun.

The pivotal piece of this episode centers on Megan. Without hope, she prepares to die on her own terms while Sean tries to convince her to live. He had just met her, but he would have to let her go. Her speech, comparing life to a trip to the carnival, was particularly moving. While she wants to continue living, her life is more painful. It’s exhausting and tragic.

Sean agrees to help her, as we saw with the glass of milk hint before we saw his tear stained face during the “Rocket Man” sequence. This scene holds up near perfectly. Watching it for this review, I was caught in the emotion again. Elton John’s music fit exactly within this scene, but with the space analogy symbolizing death instead of isolation. It’s a shame that Julie Warner wasn’t nominated for an Emmy. Her powerful performance enhanced this episode. Despite only being around for a few episodes, Megan’s death became a turning point in the show, and she played a big part in that. They utilized how her situation was out of control so we were fully involved in it.

Her death causes Sean to break down. The following day at their exam Sean’s subconscious gets the best of him. Adelle is right when she says that the affair only made his pain worse since they had to part soon after meeting. He could have gotten away with the affair, as it died with Megan, but he can’t keep his grief private, nor deny Julia’s request to attend Megan’s funeral with him.

At the ceremony, Jim O’Hara, who Megan criticized for not wanting her to feel remorse for her condition, finally allows himself to cry. Unfortunately, her death was what it took him to feel. He never thought about how out of his control it was until that moment. He thought by maintaining his composure he’d handle the situation. Sean knew the situation was out of his control, but denied it for as long as he could.

What gives Sean away is the way he dispenses his part of her ashes in the sea. The directorial queues intensify the emotions, as the ashes fall at different speeds for each of the three who attended. Julia’s dumping is done in real time. Sean can’t let go initially, but eventually does and the ashes scatter in slow motion. Julia’s expression as the camera cuts to her is interesting. She is mad, but not furious, as if to save it until later. The camera is tilted upward too, which shows Julia having the advantage in this situation.

When they come home, she confronts him about it and he tells the truth. Julia certainly has every reason to be furious with him, but her lack of aggression makes this scene more intense. Both of them cry so convincingly that it could’ve been that the actors were deeply immersed in the scene. They finally come clean about how they’ve been feeling since the beginning of the show. It’s too bad for their sake that they couldn’t have done this earlier, but for the audience, the pay off was worthwhile.

This episode is an emotional knockout that shows how successful the writers can be at delivering a conclusion to an arc while starting another. Julie Warner, Dylan Walsh and Joely Richardson are all exceptional and deepen this episode’s impact. Adelle Coffin was one of the episodes that had everyone talking and surprisingly, it’s one of the least risqué of this season, although suicide will always be a taboo subject. When it’s over and the audience has caught its breath, they can only ask “Where do we go from here?”

Score: 10/10