Nip/Tuck: Season 4, Episode 6: Faith Wolper, PhD Review

Faith Wolper, PhD

Original Airdate: October 10, 2006

Writer: Sean Jablonski

Director: Sean Jablonski

Now in the second third of the season, I am overall glad with the progress of getting over the bumpy road of the third season. Of course, when Nip/Tuck goes straight to crazy town the show is at its best. We have jilted ex-lovers, betrayed spouses and a girl getting hit by a bus. It also does a good job with the overall stories this season, even if there are a few problems along the way that may be indicative of the writers not having a solid plan for the season. On this show, it’s hard to tell the difference.

It is good that they didn’t forget Christian figuring out if he’s gay, but that opening sequence could’ve been easily trimmed to one or two minutes. We do see that Christian is aware that Sean’s uptight nature would spill over even if he was gay and came out, but I don’t it needed to take up this much of the episode. As far as dream sequences are concerned, it’s generally best to keep them short unless somehow they can advance the plot or character development.

Speaking of which, what was with Michelle acting uncharacteristically perky when she locked the doors of his office? One big problem with this storyline is that these characters aren’t acting the way they should be. Christian’s inconsistency was mentioned in the previous review, but now we have Michelle acting rather unprofessional for the sake of her own pleasure. It especially doesn’t work in the context of what she was forced to do at the end of the previous episode.

However, it does lead somewhere interesting, as Burt forces the two to have sex before him. For the first time, we feel bad for the guy, as he cringes over his payback (that look he gave when he saw Christian’s endowment must’ve further emasculated him). At first their marriage could be dismissed as one where Michelle is the trophy wife, it’s now clear that Burt genuinely loves her and the affair shook him to his core. He wouldn’t have tried that pump for sure.

Monica continued to be creepy, but was cut down before she could make it to the extreme that was expected. However, breast feeding Conor alone was demented. One has to wonder whether she had any disease and could’ve passed it onto him via nursing. I almost think that Monica poisoned Marlowe so she could be close to the McNamara’s.

Generally, if you’re screaming at someone and the camera doesn’t show whether or not your feet are on the sidewalk or the street, you’re going to get hit by a bus. Killing off Monica so early in the game is an interesting, albeit puzzling choice. It is an easy out from a long subplot involving her accusing Sean of rape, but what was the point of this affair?

It was good that they followed up Faith’s storyline in this episode, since her story in “Cindy Plumb” felt tacked on from everything else. They do a good job setting up her problems as a sex addict, which helps place what happened in the premiere in context. It’s also placing her in position to be the new disturbed woman to cause a lot of problems with the company and Christian, with him being just not that into her.

What ultimately, is the purpose of killing off one unstable ex (Monica) only to replace her with a new one (Faith)? This could be a point critics can claim that there is little planning for the season. Christian has a lot on his table already, between his questioning sexuality to his affair and bizarre arrangement with Burt and Michelle. And we’ve already had the woman scorned angle with Kimber. However, Faith has more power to manipulate people, using a clueless Burt to inflict the pain she feels on the doctors. So this may be a good idea when it pans out.

Escobar showing up, to convince Sean that killing Monica is the only choice he has, is still great, but also hints at a possible breakdown and duality for Sean. He has been acting increasingly unbalanced with his guilt and avoidance of the temptation of Monica. Killing off Monica may have been an easy way for him to get out of the affair, but he isn’t ready to forget, as he imagines the splattered Monica at the dinner table with him.

Also, it’s unlikely he’ll walk away from it since he lied about what happened to Monica. This was a stupid choice, as she was killed literally just outside of his office. A girl getting hit by a bus may not be a major story in Miami news, but the fact that it happened there is a hard piece of information for him to claim ignorance to.

The downside to reviewing a show in progress is that you can’t tell how a story will develop (unless you read spoilers), so some twists have to be regarded in a “see what happens” manner. It can be tough to determine which is a good plot twist and which is a desperate reach to save a storyline, especially on a prime time soap like Nip/Tuck. Regardless of whatever problems this episode may have, it is still solidly entertaining, and it’s great to see Nip/Tuck coming back to this level.

Overall Score: 8/10