Cut the Shit

I've Fallen In Love All Over Again

Disclaimer: There will be many spoilers in this post. If you haven't seen the most recent Nip/Tuck, you will want to skip this entry and (definitely) come back later. If you have seen it, read away and let's rock! But in either case, this post will be entertaining whether you're a fan or not*.

You know...it's weird. I do talk pop culture on this website, but very rarely do I focus on one particular show. I mean, I love TV, as we know, and I'm one of the few people in the world that truly believes the television does nothing, but stimulate the mind and create a better awareness of self and society.

Look at THAT sentence. Say what you will, but television is not a mind-rot. Depending on how you use it, TV can be an un-intimidating way to explore parts of your personality that you could be otherwise naive or ashamed of.

Point being...

Nip/Tuck is by far my most favorit(est) show on the air. I jumped on board last season and after being completely overwhelmed by the chaotic storylines, this summer I proceeded to watch every episode ever created. If you have the chance to do that, it would make the experience of this season that much more powerful and intense.

Last night's episode was the episode I've been waiting for since the debut on 9/5. The creator, Ryan Murphy, made a major deal of saying that the show was going to go back to being about personal relationships and not so much about SHOCK value. To be totally honest, I like the shock value and it's what drew me in to the show in the first place. So imagine my slight disappointment when I had to tell my family and friends (who I BEGGED to watch this show with me) that the current episodes are drop dead amazing. I mean, they've been good, but they haven't been CRAZY good.

And then came last night.

FIRST...Liz (Roma Maffia - pictured with the doctors above)...who we fucking love...her character is written so well that, without having to spell it out, she has so much integrity - you love her whether you're concious of it or not. She is so conservative and honest and the only person on the planet that Sean and Christian (the main docs) truly respect. When she went to the lesbian bar with Christian this week (cuz she's so lonely and desperate for an honest relationship - who ain't?), she met a super hot, young woman. She got excited, took her home and did the bump and grind. WAIT. Did I just write "bump and grind"? That's embarrassing and there's obviously NO way I can take it back. This is a computer afterall.

Liz wakes up the next morning (after her seemingly amazing hook-up) and realizes that her cell phone is taped to her hand. It rings, she answers and is told "You're going to be ok. Don't move, the ambulance is coming, cuz we've taken your kidney." Liz pulls back her bedsheet and lo and behold...BYE KIDNEY!

AMAZING. Especially cuz we love the Liz.

Couple scenes later...Sanaa Lathan...she is a wonderful addition to the cast. She's gorge, sophisticated and I appreciate her acting ability. In a fight with her and her pimp mommy, a young model gets slammed in the face with a marble knick-knack and I went NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The scene was violent and ugly. Bitch's teeth got knocked the fuck out and that makes me squeam. ish.

Ten minutes later, Melissa Gilbert (SAG president and Little House on the Prairie ya'll...) has a fight with her husband over the fact that she's been cheating on him. Her husband says "I found the peanut butter on the bedside table and I know you're cheating on me again. It's obvious." Melissa says "No, no, (snore) no!" and "What's in your duffle bag?" The husband says "I did what any jealous husband would do. I killed your lover." He opens the duffle bag and out drops their family dog. THEIR FAMILY DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT!???!?!?!??!?!

SICK!

FANTASTIC!

MELISSA GILBERT?

YAY!

This show is completely over the top, but while other shows have to "jump the shark" to achieve the same sort of intensity, Nip/Tuck has some of the smartest and most emotionally driven writing on television. They are allowed to have beastiality, lobster claw babies, hermaphroditic serial killers (the carver), on the show cuz the writing completely supports it.

Here's why...

If you're a newbie to this show, then there's no doubt you were confused by Sean's fantasy when wanting to fuck the nanny (which by the way is so fucking appaling and his character BETTER have woken the fuck up after last night). In this vignette, there was the dude with the tatoos playing his devilish side and Megan, the brunette chick, playing his angel. Tatto man = not as important. Megan = majorly important.

Megan is a patient from season one that had her breasts removed due to cancer. She wanted implants as a gift to her husband and once she had them, she left him. Sean took the implants out (as she requested)and decided to carry on an affair with her. For infidelity (which is usually appalling)...they had an absolutely beautiful relationship and you forgave Sean for going forward with it (Megan was worth it). But Megan got cancer again and decided to kill herself rather than let the cancer do it's slow and ugly thing.

In her big moment and one of the longest scenes in the show's history, Megan goes to a hotel, sits at a desk in her room and writes goodbye letters. She writes goodbye to her ex-husband, Sean, etc. She then climbs into bed...takes a bunch of pills, washes them down with booze and puts a bag over her head, very peacefully. (bag over the head...because it turns out that when you kill yourself with booze you fall asleep, but then you wake up and ultimately die from vomiting - ugly. The way to beat that? You go to sleep from the pills and suffocate yourself with the bag on your head...no vomiting - much more peaceful - please do not try this at home). Megan put the bag on her head and went to sleep. You see every minute of her final moments on earth and it will absolutely rip your guts out. And just when you think that you couldn't cry anymore...you see that she is not alone. Sean is sitting next to the bed, watching her, making sure that she dies with her one true love next to the bed.

The episode ended and I cried for a long time, sitting in my living room, wondering how life can be so beautiful and ugly at the same time.

Megan is Sean's good place. To see her for the first time in 3 years (seasons)...it just felt right. When her face popped up, I actually melted. She's one of the few "character storylines" that I truly loved and respected.

Last night was important to us Nip/Tuck aficionados. This show makes me so happy and sad at the same time, but overall, it makes me excited...what WILL they do next? Such brilliance - true artwork - it's exactly what quality television should be about. I know that sounds ridiculous, but honestly...it's a respectable guilty pleasure. Even saying that I feel gross. It's not a guilty pleasure, per se...it's ahead of it's time.

I like lots of television shows: Lost, ER, Larry King Live(for real), Entourage, Big Love, so many more it's embarrassing...but this one...man. It's escapism as it's absolute best. If you give over to it and make an effort to truly understand the character's motivations, I guarantee that you will be astounded. A and also stounded.

Who is ever this passionate about a television show? Other than spikey haired gay dudes like me?

Give it a shot, no?

*not a guarantee