Nip/Tuck: Season 3, Episode 2: Kiki Review

Kiki

Original Airdate: September 27, 2005

Writers: Lynnie Greene & Richard Levine

Director: Elodie Keene

We’ve all wanted to change something about our appearance to get something we desired, whether it is love, money, status or freedom. However, often the reality is that no matter how much we change our looks, we can never get away from what we are inside. Nip/Tuck explores this issue to its most extreme and disturbing. This is easily one of Nip/Tuck’s more unsettling episodes, largely because of Matt’s further descent into violent self loathing following the life changing revelation about Ava’s past. Though the title patient storyline is underdeveloped, the rest of the story is potent.

It begins with researcher asking the doctors to operate on a gorilla. The title gorilla has been studied to see how animals understand language, and the researcher hopes to breed her to see if Kiki can pass down her skills to her offspring. The problem is that when they found Kiki, poachers had slashed her face while they killed her mother. Kiki now has a large scar on her face. If the male mate found this, he would likely attack and kill her. This isn’t the first time someone came to them asking to fix an animal, as we remember from “Escobar Gallardo”. However, the circumstances are certainly different. It isn’t vanity to win a dog show, that’s for sure.

Although Kiki is the title character, most of the scenes were likely cut because Matt’s downward spiral is the biggest part of this episode. Christian’s arc, including why he became so invested in Kiki after initially blowing it off, is not explored enough. He claims that working on Kiki has made him forget about The Carver (which is probably a lie), but it isn’t given enough time to convince the audience of either argument. Therefore, the impact of Kiki’s death, and the added affect that Christian isn’t forgetting The Carver that easily, isn’t as strong as they were hoping.

Christian’s reduced presence in this episode also hurts the ongoing resentment he has towards new partner Quentin Costa. We still get some good moments, as Christian brushed off Quentin’s complimenting Liz as coming on to her. But the one moment that will stay with viewers is his odd comments about working in Africa and blood oaths. This is meant to draw some suspicion that Quentin could be The Carver. Of course, each of the characters will have moments like these throughout the season until The Carver’s identity is revealed.

One aspect missing in the season premiere was Matt’s feelings following the Ava fall out. They made up for it this week. We see that he still has intense feelings for her as evidenced in his fantasy where he remembers the extra ticket still at Ava’s house. Of course, he doesn’t know that Adrian’s rotting corpse is there. One thing I wish they explained was how much time had passed between seasons. Considering the rate of decomposition, it had to have been some time.

Both Sean and Julia are brought in as Matt is being questioned. They initially rule it as a suicide, but they still want to question Ava, leaving the door open for her return. Sean’s surprise when he finds out that Matt was planning on finding her is a bit of surprise in itself; he must’ve known that having Ava leave wouldn’t erase her from Matt’s memory. To keep Matt, Sean reveals Ava’s secret. Obviously this was a bad decision, and that’s not taking in the fact that Sean didn’t consult Julia or Christian before.

This revelation sets off a chain of events that send Matt into territory darker than he’s ever been before. Later that night, Matt gets drunk, and curses out Sean, even playing the “you’re not my real dad” card. Matt begins to question his own sexuality and the truth isn’t one he’s ready to face. He already sees transgendered people as “sick and disgusting”. Therefore, any exploration would be a disaster. Erica pointed it out very well when they were smoking weed together. Repressing his feelings, especially with rage, is going to cause him a lot of pain, as we saw at the end of this episode.

Erica also provides one of the rare moments of levity, when Julia walks in on her smoking. I'm not sure if Erica re emersion in marijuana is possibly a long term story for Erica, but as a one off scene, it’s good stuff. Julia’s confused about how someone who grew inside her would turn out this way. Erica seems to be happy knowing that she’s a better mother by comparison. I'm sure such guilt will persist with the parents for a long time, especially as Matt gets darker and his humanity fades.

Matt decides to explore his feelings by visiting a transgendered bar. After some doubt, his subconscious manifests as Ava. Of course, this side of him argues that he should pursue what pleases him, regardless of whatever it’s labeled. Although Ava wasn’t born a woman, she still pleased him more than anyone else has. This thought convinces him to go somewhere private with someone he meets.

Initially he seems willing to experiment, but when he discovers that she is a pre-op he, we see Matt’s unadulterated brutality. He proceeds to beat him severely as we see later in this episode. It’s an absolutely disgusting and unsettling mix of rage and self hatred. The episode ends with a violent confrontation when Matt’s victim and his friends gang up on Matt for revenge. This event stands to be a turning point in both Matt’s story and for the season arc.

John Hensley, as Matt, delivers one of his strongest performances to date. During the scene where he shaves his head, his attitude and mannerisms are downright scary. Matt has a history of being cruel; he’s left his friend to rot in prison, he broke Vanessa’s heart, but this is a devastating new low. You really don’t know what he’s capable of now. Shedding his hair was a symbolic shedding of his old identity and the new identity is angry and violent.

On the other side of that equation is of Marlon, the former gang member trying desperately to shed his image and start a new, nonviolent life. However, his past life isn’t as easy to get away from as having his gang tattoos removed. Many places won’t hire him because of his criminal record. And after one unsuccessful search, he encounters the gang bangers who don’t want him to go clean. They chase him and beat him.

The gang chasing Marlon is paralleled to the transgendered kids chasing Matt, each culminating in a vicious attack. It’s interesting to see how these two characters’ situations are similar, but different. Both are attempting to shed an image, but they’re going in different directions. Marlon is trying to make a peaceful life for himself, while Matt is descending into a world of violence. Both men meet similar fates which will be a critical moment for their stories (assuming that we see Marlon again). But Matt doesn’t see any problem with his trip toward violent self destruction. It’ll be interesting to see if he ever does.

This episode is one of Nip/Tuck’s edgiest, most disturbing episodes. Matt’s anger dealing with his sexual identity, hoisted by some superb acting, is at times relatable and other times revolting. Even without The Carver, just mentioned so we don’t forget him, this season is shaping up to be the darkest yet. Thankfully, they included some comic relief, as Vanessa Redgrave with a bong can only provide. But I don’t think Ryan Murphy and his team have any plans to take this season off the course through the darkest valleys they can imagine.

Score: 8/10