Nip/Tuck: Season 4, Episode 5: Dawn Budge Review Review

Dawn Budge
Original Airdate: October 3, 2006
Writer: Hank Chilton
Director: Elodie Keene

Money, as the cliché says, change everything. Also it is the root of all evil. While it can give you freedom from a life of back breaking work, the price can be steep. “Mo money, mo problems” as Notorious BIG once mused. Of course, as this is around the complication phase of the season, this episode isn’t going to be about the good part of money. Even when Christian pays off James, it is an effort in vain as she has no intention of letting go of a profitable plastic surgery enterprise.

Center is the eponymous patient (#9, Rosie O’Donnell). Overlooking the controversy she often sparks since her talk show fizzled, O’Donnell works well as trailer trash that suddenly finds herself disgustingly rich after the Power Ball victory and wants a look that reflects this new found wealth. This lottery win was going to bring bad luck, you don’t need to be a certain castaway to know that. While it may fulfill her wishes initially, this money brought some of her worst traits, like her controlling nature over her deadbeat husband and daughter, to the forefront. Ultimately, it leaves her alone, and now she won’t be able to make the connections she took for granted again without thinking that her wealth had something to do with it.

From buying an expensive re-wedding ring to make up for his affair with Monica to buying a Porsche for Matt to hiring a guy to abduct and re-program Matt, Sean finds himself opening his wallet wide to keep his family together. Unfortunately for him, he fails to realize that throwing money on the problem isn’t going to make it go away. Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy “thinner thighs” as Budge told Christian.

Glad they didn’t forget about Sean “following up” on Cindy’s operation. However, this does make Julia sound a little dumb. $500! I’m not sure how much phone sex lines cost, but that has to be a lot of time. And wouldn’t it be easier for him to contact her via her personal phone number to check up? Maybe at this point Julia just wants to believe what she thinks will be best for her.

Regardless, it results in Julia threatening to leave if Sean strays again. This piece is important because it adds to the stakes of the Monica storyline. While she is absent, we are reminded enough of her to avoid serious problems with this episode. Julia and Sean remarrying is clearly the calm before the storm of Hurricane Monica and wherever Matt’s Scientology takes him.

Matt’s decision to move to Scientology is motivated largely by his feelings for Kimber (can’t blame him, she’s smoking hot). However, Kimber seems more interested in molding and controlling Matt as her way to deal with the trauma of being helpless to The Carver. Taking Matt out of his home and planting doubt about any of his parents’ concerns shows that. Regardless of the lack of romance, they will likely have sex, albeit in a way where Kimber can have Matt at her mercy.

Before this episode, they were somewhat ambiguous on their feelings toward Scientology. This episode takes a stance and shows them in a rather unsettling light. The voiceless, uniformed young people hovering around Matt when the re-programmer confronted him were a telling sign.

It seems a bit unbelievable that Christian fell for Michelle as fast as he did. Yes, Michelle is gorgeous, but up to this episode he seemed only interested in her because of that and not for some deep connection. He’s been carrying a torch for Julia for years, not to mention his recent questioning of his sexuality, and this woman makes him drop it so quickly? If it had been Kimber, it would’ve been more believable as there was history between them.

Of course, by hiding the truth about James from Sean and their own acts from each other Michelle and Christian find themselves at the mercy of a massive debt which won’t go away with a check or a suitcase filled with cash. As they try to keep James away from their business, they find themselves linked closer to her because of her influence she has via money and incriminating photos. Christian ironically becomes a prostitute to Budge to keep the madam at bay. Michelle, to get what she wanted, sold her soul to a criminal and now has to do horrible things for an indefinite amount of time, as James won’t let her go that easily.

Although I complained a little bit about the lack of a major revelation with James in the last episode, this one more than made up for it. Despite it being rather obvious in hindsight, it was unexpected to see James coercing Michelle to taking out her clueless John’s kidney. Now they are setting James up to be the major villain this season, like Escobar, Ava or The Carver. Hopefully it’ll be more like the first two and the early part of the last one. I can’t wait until everyone else, especially Liz, finds out the truth.

This episode, while having a few weak character moments, continues the upward trend of the season. Already the organ thieves’ storyline is playing out very well, and revealing James as the one behind it solidifies her villainy.

Overall Score: 8/10