Nip/Tuck “Gene Shelly”
Original Air Date: Jan 13, 2008
Tom R - TwoCents Staff Writer
tom@thetwocents.com
It’s becoming pretty clear that Ryan Murphy is looking for a do-over. Even the DVD set from last year lists itself as “part one”. The last episode aired in season five wasn’t meant to be the finale, and it looks like there were some things they wanted to fix. Series creator Murphy has made that the first order of business. Last week, he moved back in time to fine tune the ending to the Colleen Rose story. With Julia’s return this week, almost all traces of the amnesia storyline introduced in the finale-which-was-not-really-a-finale are mercifully gone, and the show is on track for some interesting turns.
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[photo: FX]
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Nip/Tuck
ReplyDelete“Gene Shelly”
Original Air Date: Jan 13, 2008
Tom R - TwoCents Staff Writer
tom@thetwocents.com
It’s becoming pretty clear that Ryan Murphy is looking for a do-over. Even the DVD set from last year lists itself as “part one”. The last episode aired in season five wasn’t meant to be the finale, and it looks like there were some things they wanted to fix. Series creator Murphy has made that the first order of business. Last week, he moved back in time to fine tune the ending to the Colleen Rose story. With Julia’s return this week, almost all traces of the amnesia storyline introduced in the finale-which-was-not-really-a-finale are mercifully gone, and the show is on track for some interesting turns.
Gene Shelly is an androgynous man brought in by his equally androgynous sister Tracy. He outlines the state of affairs at McNamara/Troy: Sean is in a wheelchair, Christian is in chemo and the only able-bodied member of the staff is Raj Puresh, a prodigy that Sean is teaching. He is competent, but he looks about twelve years old on a good day.
Sean learns yet another lesson about dealing with younger women. He hooks up with one of his students, whose desire to take care of him and nurture him leads to her fetish for adult infant role play. (Hey…At least this one didn’t make him listen to Oasis!) After Sean’s dose of tough love from his physical therapist, the culmination of her idea causes him to jump up and throw her out without thinking about the wheelchair. Unfortunately, Julia sees the exit and thinks Sean has been faking. Sean returns to the wheelchair briefly, but abandons it when he decides that Christian is the one in need.
Christian is still performing surgeries. Although he is apparently one of the 17% of chemo patients who do not lose their hair (nice research, guys!), the nurses need to stand by with vomit bags. When Kimber returns to drop Jenna with Wilber’s nanny, she is beyond unsympathetic. She ranks the duties of motherhood above Christian’s cancer on the stress meter, and blames his illness on karma. Christian’s sexual frustration continues when he is rebuffed by a call girl. When she steals his meds on her way out the door, Christian calls Liz for comfort. In the middle of the night, he rolls over on top of her for a couple quick thrusts and rolls back. The act “gets his mojo back”, but leaves Liz with confused feelings.
Raj is treated to his first sexual experience by Tracy Shelly as a thank you for Gene’s surgery. The mood is broken, however, when they end up side by side in the men’s room. What could have been a joke straight out of Bachelor Party turns into a dialogue between him and Liz about sexual preference and self-realization. That scene plays the inexperienced Raj against the experienced Liz whose venture into uncharted territory has her scratching her head. It’s the best evidence that the writing is back on track this season. Or this…half of…last season. Or…Never mind. It’s working.
Music:
“I’m Not the Man I Used to Be”, Fine Young Cannibals
“How Deep is Your Love”, The Bird and the Bee
“Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu”, On Camera
“Perfect Lie” (Theme), The Engine Room
Quotes
“I don’t think your chest needs any more inflating.”
Liz, on hearing Christian’s plans for pectoral implants
Julia: “At first I thought it was you.”
Christian: “And then you saw the missing three inches.”
After Julia sees the naked, ambulatory Sean
So there’s my two cents…What do you think? Drop them in the comments or drop me a line at: tom@thetwocents.com.
What happened with Annie?? I hate when they completely leave characters out of an episode or season. Connor and Wilbur are back but where did they go....Where is Eve? They could hae tied some of these things up or gave a status last week while they were showing all the commercials.....
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