Grid Effect

That’s a wrap for the fourth season on Nip Tuck, and I am really not sure what to say about it. Nothing all that spectacular happened, and maybe that is why I enjoyed more so than in recent weeks.

I still believe this series has “jumped the shark”, as they say (I am not going to be able to look myself in the mirror after using that phrase), and I am not confident I will tune into the fifth season. Hopefully my habitual impulses have some limitations. Never the less, it was nice to see an episode with an acceptable amount of egregious behavior. Considering they fed an organ dealer to an alligator, it should give you some indication where we are with this series.

It was really hard too watch last nights episode and consider it a finale, because the majority of the major plot points left with Julia a little under a month ago in the now infamous future episode. And I guess that explains why I am disinterested in this series, the writers seem like they are making up the season as they go with no real direction. Sean and Christian are fighting, then Julia and Sean go at it, then Christian and Kimber, the Matt and Christian etc. And they are constantly bringing in new characters yet ending their arc in the middle of a season, there is never any continuation (with the exception of Escobar, who is now dead).

Their is an exceptionally bad movie called Reindeer Games with Charlize Theron, Ben Affleck and Gary Sinise. And in the climactic scene, everything we knew turns out to be a lie, as seemingly every character we we’re introduced comes walking around the corner to admit they were in on this elaborate casino heist. We knew is that Ben Afflecks character was basically decent, that was the only constant variable. This is essentially what every episode of Nip Tuck this season was.

First we think Michelle is simply a trophy wife, then she is a prostitute, then she is an organ thief (ditto for James The Woman). Then we have Escobar, first he is an international drug dealer, then Bob was his prag in prison, then he is actually an organ thief and by the time we know he is married, his wife is shooting him in the head. We could do this for Bert, Marlo, (even Sean to some extent) at a certain point every character has so much history that it becomes difficult to suspend disbelief. The only constant truths in Nip Tuck are Sean and Christian are our protagonists, and while they may do some things the audience detests, for better or for worse, we ultimately root for them and everyone else is sort of cannon fodder.

This finale, was entirely too convenient for me, the only lingering question afterwards is will Matt ever eventually break up with Kimber (my guess is he will and she will fight tooth and nail for a cut of that check Sean gave him)? And who else is going to follow Sean and Christian out to LA? Seeing as how no one else has any livelihood outside of the two of them makes the scenario pretty likely. Even still I was kind of hoping Christian would stay in Miami, which brings us to the last twenty minutes of the season.

Like I said earlier, the episode was way too accommodating. Christian and Michelle went from happily married to separated and on opposite sides of the country in ten minutes. Sean went from content at a less lucrative position too opening up a new independent practice with Sean, and all of this happened over a musical montage that panned from character to character mouthing the lyrics to the soundtrack. Also, the last scene with Sean and Christian leaning up against the “HOLLYWOOD” sign was beyond lame. Clearly Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh both took courses at The David Caruso School of Mannerisms.

All in all, my expectations were not that high for Nip Tuck coming into this season. Will I continue to watch next season? Probably. Mainly because I have no will power, but partly because the new locale can only improve what has turned interesting characters tiresome and made original storytelling redundant.

Until next time.