First Impressions: Nip/Tuck

The good people over at FX were kind enough to hook me up with the first two episodes of Nip/Tuck but before I get into the review of what I have seen a little breakdown of the post just in case you want to avoid anything you do not want to know. The first couple paragraphs will be a quick synopsis to get you caught up on the happenings of McNamara/Troy with some mild thematic and casting spoilers of the first episode that premieres tomorrow at 10:00 on FX. If you hate spoilers you may want to come back after you have seen the first episode. I will also clearly mark when I talk about the second episode. You have been warned.

As I have stated before, I have shied away from Nip/Tuck because I have a low threshold for blood and have been told that the surgery scenes are extremely graphic despite hearing good thing about the show. But sometimes you have to bite the bullet (or in my case having my hands ready to cover my eyes like a five year old girl allowed to watch Friday the 13th for the first time).

The show picks up a couple months after last season, and the boys are moved into their new practice on Rodeo Drive. In the plastic surgery capital of the world and the newly single Sean and the always look Christen would be having the times of their lives. Instead they quickly learn they are just a very small fish in a very large pond. So the boys take matters into their own hands to round up some clients at a local nightclub and found something you need almost as much in Los Angeles as client: a publicist in the form of Lauren Hutton.

Carly Summers, the name of the episode refers to Daphne Zuniga, a client of Hutton’s. And wouldn’t you know it she lands them a consultant job on the hit show Hearts and Scalpels staring Bradley Cooper as a hilariously overacting prima donna as well as Paula Marshall as the serious actor who gets all the nominations but hides a dark past (this is Nip/Tuck). Then there is the neurotic Oliver Platt as the creator of the show and the always good for a laugh Jennifer Coolidge as a patient on the show. Also expect Tia Carrere to stop by.

The show within a show is actually as entertain if not more entertain than the actual show. But don’t expect to see Julia in the first episode; she doesn’t visit LA until the second episode and Matt and Kimber are completely MIA for the first two aside from a voice over. But Liz did make the trip across the country with the boys. And for you die-hards, you will be glad to know that there are plenty of expletive surgery scenes and gratuitous male nudity in the first episode.

Nip/Tuck airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on FX.


Review of Second Episode Airing November 1st

So by the second episode, thanks to the show, McNamara/Troy is booked and quickly assimilating themselves to the LA lifestyle. Thanks to his speaking role on the show, Sean is dating a co-star (or at least that’s is what he wants people to think after Julia lets it be known she is going to move in with someone) and Christen is getting some attention of his own after he poses for some risqué pictures. The case of the week, Joyce and Sharon Monroe, focuses on two dueling Marilyn Monroe impersonator who try look more like the real thing than the other with each being backed by the opposing doctors. Also in the episode we learn of Marshall’s dark hidden secret and we even meet Julia’s new love. Also expect an appearance by Portia de Rossi.