Nip/Tuck: Season 2, Episode 2: Christian Troy Review
Christian Troy
Original Airdate: June 29, 2005
Writer: Sean Jablonski
Director: Jamie Babbit
This episode may be considered filler, but it is at heart a good exercise on trust. The characters this week all have to risk some security for the greater good. It's hard to take that chance with so much on the line. Some take it, others don't. It really doesn't affect much of the second season, but that's OK.
Although Christian has matured since Wilbur's birth, he is still up for fun. In the opening, a model is pleasuring him. He reciprocates. She breaks his nose accidentally when the pillow she was clutching triggered an allergic reaction. For a man as vain as Christian, having his nose broken bruises his ego badly. Now he needs to place his trust in Sean to fix it. This is a tough thing to do considering Sean's problem with the yips.
The next day at work, Sean assures him that his yips have subsided. They proceed to operate on a man's enormous melanoma. Things run smoothly until Sean's hand twitches mid-cut, nicking an artery. Blood spurts all over Sean's mask as the staff work frantically to stop the bleeding. The patient stabilizes, but Christian is left asking Sean what happened.
In their consultation room, Christian shows reluctance getting his nose fixed. Christian demands that his nose be perfect as he saw it before. Because he doesn't want to risk being another incident, Christian secretly goes to another surgeon. There he meets a guy with a third nipple. Thinking about his own business, he gets him to go to McNamara/Troy for his surgery. Christian stays and talks to the doctor, a sexy woman named Dr. Jordan.
One common complaint from the last few episodes of season one and this season's premiere was the lack of addressing what happened to Matt regarding Cara Fitzgerald. Last time we saw it, Henry was ready to tell Cara everything. Now we see sometime later that things have culminated in tragedy. Henry had raped Cara and implicated him in the hit and run.
Sean does a follow up on the man with the melanoma. He is healing fine, but because of Sean's mistake, the patient will needed to stay an extra day. When he asks why, Sean tells him that it was the result of a bad reaction to the anesthesia. An even worse decision was saying this in front of Liz, who deals with enough of Sean and Christian to begin with. While I can understand his need to lie, he certainly should've been more respectful of Liz's position instead of incriminating her.
Nurse Linda informs Sean that Henry's father is calling for him. Later that night he and Julia confront Matt about the accident. Matt is a rather convincing liar, making sure he mentions the rape first instead of the hit and run. They go along with it, but Sean isn't convinced. He realizes that Matt begging him to operate on her wasn't because of honorable intentions. Matt still denies involvement.
Sean does Triple Nipple's check up before surgery. Trip nip slips the fact that Christian referred him at another doctor's office. Sean's obviously not pleased. Moments later Sean confronts him, and they have a stare down. Sean relents and lets Christian do the surgery. Christian dismisses him. Sean leaves quietly furious.
Meanwhile, Julia visits her mother, recovering from her surgery. She tells her about the problem with Henry. Erica offers her professional opinion: Henry did what he did because he snapped under the pressure that his parents put him under. This summary also applies to Sean, who is constantly aware that his talent keeps his business alive. They are placed in situations where failure isn't an option, and that stress causes people to lose control. Simultaneously, Sean is leaving work after Christian ejected him from the OR. In the parking garage, another car is blocking Sean's. Sean snaps, ramming his car into the other one several times to allow him to leave.
At Dr. Jordan's, Christian undergoes another preliminary check up of his nose. He segues this into hitting on her, asking for a full body mole check. Unfortunately for him, she isn't interested in him sexually. She goes through the check like a professional, but then points out his physical shortcomings. He leaves, making his own criticisms on his way. The trust he thought he could place in Dr. Jordan (no pun intended) wasn't there. All he has left is to get some satisfaction from Gina, but that doesn't work when she doesn't play into his fantasy that he's with Dr. Jordan.
Sean returns home, telling Julia that he needs to talk to his insurance adjuster about his run in with the car. He has a fit, then finally confesses to Julia that he has yips. Julia says he would stay with him even if he wasn't a surgeon, but Sean doesn't trust that enough. He is in the situation Erica described earlier. Doctor's require perfection, but his field requires it more. He doesn't want to fail and that has gone to the extreme.
Matt visits Henry at the jail. Already it has taken a toll on his friend. Henry tries hysterically to convince Matt why it happened. He attacked Cara because he rejected her. His chance for absolution was lost according to him. What he doesn't see or may be reluctant to admit is that this was never the chance for absolution. Their whole relationship was based on a lie. Even if they did get together, would that make things right? The only way to make things right would be confessing and trying to redeem yourself from there. Instead, Henry has become a tragic figure of sorts. We know he won't survive in prison.
Gina's rejection leaves Christian alone, so he tries to fix his nose himself. Although we don't see what happens after he hits the chisel into his nose, the implied gore is enough. He can't do it alone, so he calls Sean for help. The next day he's being prepped for surgery, but Sean is still reluctant to work on his friend's face. Christian realizes this and has Liz stop the anesthesia. He convinces Sean to work on his face under the condition that he be kept awake and help. Of course, this is really over the top, but on Nip/Tuck, this is another interesting way to resolve a plot line.
Henry's father asks Matt to give a statement regarding the hit and run. Sean coaches him beforehand, advising that he be honest and he'll support him regardless. When the taped statement starts, the lawyer of Henry's father asks him about Cara. For a few seconds, Matt sits in silence, then says no. The coldest thing Matt did before this was breaking Vanessa's heart so callously. This incident is worse than anything he has done yet. He has betrayed his friend and left him in a place where he will certainly die for the acts he committed.
While most of this episode may not add up to much in the series' big picture, it's still a good self-contained episode, possibly done so the writers could buy a little more time forming the second season. Julian McMahon carries the episode well as this week's patient, and the rest of the cast continues their excellence.
This episode may be considered filler, but it is at heart a good exercise on trust. The characters this week all have to risk some security for the greater good. It's hard to take that chance with so much on the line. Some take it, others don't. It really doesn't affect much of the second season, but that's OK.
Although Christian has matured since Wilbur's birth, he is still up for fun. In the opening, a model is pleasuring him. He reciprocates. She breaks his nose accidentally when the pillow she was clutching triggered an allergic reaction. For a man as vain as Christian, having his nose broken bruises his ego badly. Now he needs to place his trust in Sean to fix it. This is a tough thing to do considering Sean's problem with the yips.
The next day at work, Sean assures him that his yips have subsided. They proceed to operate on a man's enormous melanoma. Things run smoothly until Sean's hand twitches mid-cut, nicking an artery. Blood spurts all over Sean's mask as the staff work frantically to stop the bleeding. The patient stabilizes, but Christian is left asking Sean what happened.
In their consultation room, Christian shows reluctance getting his nose fixed. Christian demands that his nose be perfect as he saw it before. Because he doesn't want to risk being another incident, Christian secretly goes to another surgeon. There he meets a guy with a third nipple. Thinking about his own business, he gets him to go to McNamara/Troy for his surgery. Christian stays and talks to the doctor, a sexy woman named Dr. Jordan.
One common complaint from the last few episodes of season one and this season's premiere was the lack of addressing what happened to Matt regarding Cara Fitzgerald. Last time we saw it, Henry was ready to tell Cara everything. Now we see sometime later that things have culminated in tragedy. Henry had raped Cara and implicated him in the hit and run.
Sean does a follow up on the man with the melanoma. He is healing fine, but because of Sean's mistake, the patient will needed to stay an extra day. When he asks why, Sean tells him that it was the result of a bad reaction to the anesthesia. An even worse decision was saying this in front of Liz, who deals with enough of Sean and Christian to begin with. While I can understand his need to lie, he certainly should've been more respectful of Liz's position instead of incriminating her.
Nurse Linda informs Sean that Henry's father is calling for him. Later that night he and Julia confront Matt about the accident. Matt is a rather convincing liar, making sure he mentions the rape first instead of the hit and run. They go along with it, but Sean isn't convinced. He realizes that Matt begging him to operate on her wasn't because of honorable intentions. Matt still denies involvement.
Sean does Triple Nipple's check up before surgery. Trip nip slips the fact that Christian referred him at another doctor's office. Sean's obviously not pleased. Moments later Sean confronts him, and they have a stare down. Sean relents and lets Christian do the surgery. Christian dismisses him. Sean leaves quietly furious.
Meanwhile, Julia visits her mother, recovering from her surgery. She tells her about the problem with Henry. Erica offers her professional opinion: Henry did what he did because he snapped under the pressure that his parents put him under. This summary also applies to Sean, who is constantly aware that his talent keeps his business alive. They are placed in situations where failure isn't an option, and that stress causes people to lose control. Simultaneously, Sean is leaving work after Christian ejected him from the OR. In the parking garage, another car is blocking Sean's. Sean snaps, ramming his car into the other one several times to allow him to leave.
At Dr. Jordan's, Christian undergoes another preliminary check up of his nose. He segues this into hitting on her, asking for a full body mole check. Unfortunately for him, she isn't interested in him sexually. She goes through the check like a professional, but then points out his physical shortcomings. He leaves, making his own criticisms on his way. The trust he thought he could place in Dr. Jordan (no pun intended) wasn't there. All he has left is to get some satisfaction from Gina, but that doesn't work when she doesn't play into his fantasy that he's with Dr. Jordan.
Sean returns home, telling Julia that he needs to talk to his insurance adjuster about his run in with the car. He has a fit, then finally confesses to Julia that he has yips. Julia says he would stay with him even if he wasn't a surgeon, but Sean doesn't trust that enough. He is in the situation Erica described earlier. Doctor's require perfection, but his field requires it more. He doesn't want to fail and that has gone to the extreme.
Matt visits Henry at the jail. Already it has taken a toll on his friend. Henry tries hysterically to convince Matt why it happened. He attacked Cara because he rejected her. His chance for absolution was lost according to him. What he doesn't see or may be reluctant to admit is that this was never the chance for absolution. Their whole relationship was based on a lie. Even if they did get together, would that make things right? The only way to make things right would be confessing and trying to redeem yourself from there. Instead, Henry has become a tragic figure of sorts. We know he won't survive in prison.
Gina's rejection leaves Christian alone, so he tries to fix his nose himself. Although we don't see what happens after he hits the chisel into his nose, the implied gore is enough. He can't do it alone, so he calls Sean for help. The next day he's being prepped for surgery, but Sean is still reluctant to work on his friend's face. Christian realizes this and has Liz stop the anesthesia. He convinces Sean to work on his face under the condition that he be kept awake and help. Of course, this is really over the top, but on Nip/Tuck, this is another interesting way to resolve a plot line.
Henry's father asks Matt to give a statement regarding the hit and run. Sean coaches him beforehand, advising that he be honest and he'll support him regardless. When the taped statement starts, the lawyer of Henry's father asks him about Cara. For a few seconds, Matt sits in silence, then says no. The coldest thing Matt did before this was breaking Vanessa's heart so callously. This incident is worse than anything he has done yet. He has betrayed his friend and left him in a place where he will certainly die for the acts he committed.
While most of this episode may not add up to much in the series' big picture, it's still a good self-contained episode, possibly done so the writers could buy a little more time forming the second season. Julian McMahon carries the episode well as this week's patient, and the rest of the cast continues their excellence.
Score: 7/10
posted by Matt @ 12:23 AM
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