Nip/Tuck: Season 2 Episode 1: Erica Naughton Review

Erica Naughton
Original Airdate: June 22, 2004
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Director: Ryan Murphy

Nip/Tuck exploded in its volatile first season. It proved that the fledgling FX network could compete with the hottest cable networks regarding quality original edgy programming. Since that season had aired, the pop-culture landscape would change dramatically regarding what is indecent. Janet Jackson's stunt at the Super Bowl sent many networks running for cover at the risk of high FCC fines. Fans feared that graphic and vivid shows like Nip/Tuck would go soft. Nip/Tuck would lose either way, so they decided to push the boundaries even further. This season turned out to be even more fearless than its predecessor was, but it still was dramatically defendable.

Last season started with Sean's mid-life crisis. Murphy escalates the drama this season by featuring both leading men having mid-life crisis. Both are about to hit a major age, forty, which triggers many feelings of misspent life and the dread over age. Their careers are a major cause behind it, since they "sell youth for a living". Some blame the plastic surgery industry for worsening people's insecurity about their bodies. Christian and Sean have been able to avoid it until now.

Though Sean's life is good, he is growing insecure about his looks. Checking out his reflection in the toaster oven, Christian surprises him. They talk about Sean's 40th birthday and the difficulty in hiding age. Christian gives him a shot of Botox as a present, but Sean refuses. Sean claims that he would rather age gracefully with help from a healthy lifestyle instead of plastic surgery. It's ironic that he is denying himself what he does for hundreds of people. Christian embraces it, believing that it goes with the job, like a personal trainer staying fit.

Later that night, everyone (except for Grace, who came down with Chuck Cunningham syndrome late last season) greets him for "surprise" birthday party. This confirms what Sean had said, that his life is going along very well. Everyone is smiling, cracking jokes and enjoying themselves. It also serves as a good reminder of how everyone was at the end of last season, which is interesting to watch after seeing what everyone undergoes this season.

During the party, Julia tells Sean that her mother, Erica, will be coming. Erica believes that Julia has excluded her from their family. Sean isn't worried about her. She doesn't bother him, so he'll serve as the intermediary. We also learn that she is an accomplished writer and that Christian had a thing for her, which he quickly skirted away from after he said it.

In the wake of the FCC crackdowns, worrying that Nip/Tuck would go soft had some weight. They proved me wrong. Within minutes of the party, Gina takes Christian aside and tells him to milk her so it won't stain her blouse. She takes off her blouse and Christian remarks about how big they've gotten because of lactation. He doesn't want to do it, but she plays the Wilbur card. If she isn't milked, then the baby could get sick. He literally sucks it up to his chagrin.

Another great music choice, Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" plays, which sums up how Sean is feeling. As he reaches this age milestone, he yearns to get what he had when he was younger. In this case, it is his youthful appearance, but soon he sees that there may be more to aging than he thought. Cutting the cake, Sean notices his hand twitch slightly. No one else sees it, but Sean grows increasingly worried about the toll aging is taking on him. After the party Sean looks at his naked body, noticing some flab and wrinkles. He decides to inject the Botox after all.

The doctors consult Libby Zucker. At first, we don't see for what she in there. She tells them that while celebrating her 34th birthday, she and her close gay friend Chad got extremely drunk and got depressed about failed dreams and age. After saying half heartedly that she should kill herself since the peak is over, she pulled out her gun. It accidentally went off, leaving half her face horribly disfigured. It's clearly not going to be an easy process for her. It'll probably take several surgeries to correct it, but she doesn't care. She's tired of kids crying when they look at her.

Julia's mom arrives and asks for a facelift. Sean and Julia are confused, as she has always been confident about her wrinkles. Unfortunately, Erica knows that sex sells and that she can't use the same jacket cover photo she used when she was forty-one. She is a woman in a man's profession and the only way she can survive is to look the way she did during her prime.

Erica represents everything Julia wishes she was but wasn't. She didn't sacrifice her career for family and is extremely successful. Having her around obnoxiously reinforces this notion to Julia. She is open and frank, describing the photographer's erection when her jacket photo was taken. However, she is flawed, as her husband left her for a younger woman, further worsening this funk over her age.

While they're prepping for Libby's surgery, they discuss the game Libby played before shooting herself. Who has achieved their life goals later in life? Christian remains optimistic that they will. Their business is booming without Bobolit in the picture. He also plans to fully enjoy his playboy lifestyle, aspiring to sleep with "twice as many mamazons" in his forties. Wilbur doesn't stand to interfere. A nanny will help Christian. This is much different from the Christian we saw at the end of the first season, however we will see that one return later in the hour.

Libby's surgery is hard to watch. It is a series of graphic removals and replacements of the bolts to keep her skull together. Also, skin on her arms is sliced off and grafted to her face. Sean also employs micro laser surgery to work on her jaw line. Later, his arm jumps slightly when he yields a scalpel. After surgery in the break room, he looks at his hand in horror.

Sean's concern causes him to visit his neurologist friend. After CAT scans and other tests, the doctor diagnoses Sean with the Yips, a nervous tick that's psychological in origin. It primarily affects those who are in their prime. Sean doesn't inform Christian, but rather self medicates. When Christian finds out, he is furious, but Sean maintains that only he could handle complex microsurgery like the type done on Libby. Sean decides to self-medicate.

Christian's job interview consists of having sex with the applicant while looking over her qualifications. Now that is true multitasking. The only problem comes when she calls him "daddy". While he wants to enjoy his wild lifestyle, it's not as easy to avoid his current responsibility. When Gina finds out, she has the nanny fired and takes Wilbur back to her home. Later, as he's sleeping with the rehired nanny, Wilbur starts crying. To get him to sleep, the nanny dips his pacifier in a cold medicine bottle. Appalled, Christian's paternal nature overrules his need to have fun. Like Gina reprimanded, he can't raise Wilbur if he still acts like a child.

Unlike other experiences, a twenty-five year old woman rejects Christian's advances. Meanwhile, Sean tells Erica that he's diverting her surgery to Christian, not saying why. Christian and Erica meet in private, where she opens about her desire to be desired. Both characters are hurting from being rejected because of their age. Because of that, they sleep together. This is reminiscent of when Sophia Lopez and Liz had sex. On soaps, it's common for people to sleep together out of loneliness to dull the pain that comes from it.

Sean helps Libby remove the bandages, revealing a face that looks better. She's unhappy about the progress so far, and it gets worse when she discovers that her gay friend has a date. He needs a break from the constant stay in hospital rooms. When he leaves, she tells Sean that her gunshot wound wasn't an accident. They had made a suicide pact, but she loved him too much to pull the trigger. Sean asks if she wished she was dead, but she doesn't. She believes that "aging is a privilege." It's an important message of the episode.

During their workout, Erica reveals that she slept with Christian. Julia is disgusted. Then Erica reveals her body to Julia, which only shocks her more. Though she has prevented some aging through exercise, she wants to be desirable throughout her body. Erica mentions that Christian was unable to look at her while they were doing it. Julia construes this as a subconscious way for Christian to have Julia because of their similar appearance. Later that night Sean laughs it off, but Julia can't. When Christian calls for help with Wilbur, she goes over, then scolds him for his action. Then she finds out that he slept with her at Sean and Julia's marriage.

Nip/Tuck's surgeries this season have escalated in their graphic nature. Libby's surgery is shocking, but Erica's is almost as gross. They slice into the top of her head, pealing the forehead skin off to allow them to pull it up. Whoever thought we'd see Vanessa Redgrave this way? After he forehead is stitched up, they proceed to her cheeks, sticking a long needle through the skin and pulling the cheeks up to an unnatural shape with a thread.

Chad finally admits to Libby that he is falling in love with the man he has been seeing. She can't stand to hear this. This is the dark side to the lighthearted straight girl-gay guy relationships we see on TV and in movies. Somehow, she believed that she would be with this man as if it would substitute as a husband. She kills him. This whole scene feels too contrived. How could she get a gun in the office? Also, the "aging is a privilege" attitude doesn't fit as well as the one obsessed with this man.

Later, Christian celebrates his own 40th birthday alone with Wilbur while Sean practices cutting on the cake. Christian hopes that he can be a good father as his birthday wish. Both of these people are dealing with their lives alone. Already their contentment with life is over. But this is only the beginning of another crazy ride the McNamaras and Christian will go through.

Going into a new season, Nip/Tuck had a lot of promise to fulfill. It was great, but it could've been merely a fluke. Thankfully, they didn't have any problem, taking the calm from the end of last season and destroying it with the introduction of Julia's mom, played by Joely Richardson's real life mother Vanessa Redgrave. This is only the beginning of their problems, which means that the best drama is yet to come.

Score: 8/10