Grid Effect

And so this is the deciding episode. Where we once and for all determine whether to keep this wretched series on the recap list or save our efforts for something more deserving. Considering we’re only recapping two other series in season right now (FNL and Survivor), the standards are low to keep this one in the rotation, but coming into this week they still had some recovery work to do. I mean, if you look at most of our Nip Tuck recaps, they’re pretty uninspired (generous), so this is wasting our time as much as it may be yours, because no one wants to listen to someone bitch all the time.

To be perfectly honest, however, this most recent episode may have saved series in the short term. That always seems to happen right before we send it it’s figurative walking papers. We enjoyed it on a trash TV level, which is essentially all it has ever been enjoyable on.

Part of the satisfaction came at the end, when Christian set up Eden to be sent to rehab by her utterly clueless (though she probably believes she is “progressive” in some way) mother Olivia. It’s amazing how easily manipulated Olivia and Julia are, there essentially like mice searching for a piece of cheese in a maze, and if you picked it up and put it in front of their faces, they like to believe they “found” it.

We enjoy how Christian is portrayed as Michael to Sean’s Fredo in these situations, and the comeuppance was fantastic and pivotal. Eden was beginning to overrun the series, with her blackmail and such. It was fine when she was doing it somewhat effortlessly. But when it surfaced that she is planting cameras in her mother’s room, it seemed a little too far-fetched. I mean, she’s not a rogue spy, she’s a spoiled high schooler with too much time on her hands. So having her out of the picture, if only momentarily, is welcomed.

This is why the move from Miami to LA seems fruitless…It’s the same exact fucking cast!

The other two subplots took an interesting twist. In fact we’re not sure why they felt the need to end one so abruptly, as they appear to have done with Sean and Kate. There were plenty of quality scenes between these two, we we’re particularly enamored with the “Big Wheel!” incident, as Sean essentially told everyone in the room their “safe word”; but we also enjoyed the subsequent fight over the incident, and the add-in, “Is that why you didn’t talk the whole ride home?” as an explanation to why they didn’t fight until she was cooking. You rarely get those minute details. As far as future , it certainly seemed like a farewell episode for Kate, but assuming Sean stays on “Hearts and Scalpels”, don’t they still have to work together? I don’t know, given the nature of this series, we’ll find out she’s actually a cannibal or something.

But, between the abnormal swingers party and Matt and Kimber’s financial and health troubles, we weren’t sure if we were watching Eyes Wide Shut or Requiem for A Dream. The Matt storyline feels too distant from the rest of the series, we know Sean and Christian have their hands full, like always, but would it really be in character for them to completely leave his (their) dirt poor, desperate son to his own, limited resources? I understand there is still a little animosity after they lost all their money to the “church” of Scientology, but Sean has always been anything but vindictive. In fact, him rehashing Kate taking a shit in the hot tub was probably the most vengeful thing he’s ever done. Surely they would pop in here and there to check up on things, and be able to determine that their son is a meth-addict.

Still, we enjoyed the stab at the pornography world. This series has an uncanny way of refreshing your memory to incidents passed. Like, for instance, the porno Matt and Kimber made, and it being used as a sort of audition tape for Matt to test the waters in gay porn. At least Kimber proved to still have a semblance of a soul when she saved him from that miserable existence. But then she decided to whore herself in front of him for their fix. So, that’s an interesting development. Matt’s narcotic induced dream about a blissful family life isn’t really that hard to attain, but you marry an emotionally imbalanced porn star who slept with both your surrogate and biological fathers, well, you pay the price, pal.

(As a side bar, all we could relate this to in the way they handled it was Dennis and Dee discovering they missed their doctor’s appointments, then contemplating rescheduling, wondering if they will see them on such short notice, then the quick cut to them buying another $100 crack rock).

Not much else going on in this episode: no Anne, no Oliver Platt or Dawn Budge and no stool stealer (we haven’t watched the episode since last week, we might just be subconsciously blocking that subplot altogether). But a worthwhile episode that kept us engaged, despite its absurdity. We’ll watch tonight, and recap it next week. But at the same time we recognize this is due more to a lack of options and apathy than great storytelling and character development.

Maybe back with more after lunch, but probably will hold off until links tomorrow morning.