Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck Season 5
Nip/Tuck Season 5 - 
Overview
First HalfEpisode 1: Carly Summers |
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Second HalfEpisode 12: Lulu Grandiron |
Brief Review
The first half of the season has some excellent plot ideas and the pacing is good throughout. The off-the-wall plot works well in the first half and the central cast act well to keep the ideas fresh but the second half of the season is a fragmented mess with the lack of originality harming the overall score. The lack of a villain through the second half also harms the score.
Full Review
Nip/Tuck returns for the 5th Season with a lot of promise. Unfortunately, over 10 of these episodes are stuffed full of pointless unfinished plot ideas and just non-sensical character developments. Matt having sex with his half-sister, a bolemic Anna with Eden and the 'Ass Bandit' are just a few of the plot lines that were either started and unfinished or just ignored after mentioning them.
The new setting of LA is a perfect setting and breathes some new life into the aging series. Picking up with Sean and Christian struggling for business in the town, the duo soon dip into the world of show-business and the pacing in these early episodes is exactly what was needed. The slowly building jealousy with Christian towards Sean's newfound glory is excellent and is well directed.
The story soon expands to feature the creepy stalker Colleen who is fantastic here as the psychotic bear-maker and its a real shame her character didn't stay around until the very end. Her acting was, in my opinion, fantastic and exactly what was needed for Sean's torment. My only wish for this storyline was that the writers kept her character around until the end, as with her death the quality of writing diminished as well.
After this story the rest of the season dives into different plot ideas, leaving many lasting a few episodes and then untouched. This is disappointing as some of the ideas could have had some excellent results if done right, like Christian's cancer, but unfortunately just produce "Oh dear." moments instead of "*gasp* oh my god!" moments.
The central cast are pretty much the stitches in this patchwork of unfinished ideas, holding the whole thing together with some brilliant performances. The way Christian deals with his problems, again leaves a haunting look in his eye that speaks louder than a thousand words and the way his character bounces off Sean's is really the only thing keeping this old show together.
It's not all negative though as there are some excellent original ideas here. The reality TV show idea is genius and deserves a special mention here as its an episode that stands up well on its own but at the same time moves the plot along nicely and is arguably the best of the bunch here. The episode featuring the tree-limbed man is good for the bizarre condition he suffers and the episode where Sean is haunted by a vile suicide bomber is equally as good. These three episodes are by far the best in the season in terms of innovation and show that this series does have some good moments and isn't all filler.
There's the same number of negatives though coming in the form of episode cameos and characters coming and going; the main being a pointless rating scorer by introducing Gina again only to kill her off a couple of episodes later. This I didn't understand as to me her character was done and finished and it should have remained that way.
The music is again good but nowhere near the standard of other seasons and the surgeries are more based around the standard boob and arse jobs than anything truly groundbreaking-showing a lack of ideas from the producers and the need to try and resort to nudity to score some ratings. This is a shame as a few of the surgeries do have some good ideas attached to them and the season would have benefited from it.
Overall Nip/Tuck Season 5 is a mediocre season with some truly memorable and shocking moments but also some dull and eye-rolling moments too. The lack of originality in the surgical ward is a shame and the constant desire to shift the storyline in the second half of the season lets the whole thing down. The central cast are pretty much the only thing left in this aging series that started as an off-the-wall and original show but has now deteriorated to mediocre mess of fragmented ideas.