Nip/Tuck: The Complete Third Season (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I realize that by saying anything negative, I will alienate fans of the show. TV fans are a notoriously fickle bunch. I defy you--go to any other TV show DVD listing on Amazon. Pick one that you think is terrible and the fan reviews there will be 5 star! I think you can be a fan, but still be objective. There are lots of shows that I have loved for various reasons--but that doesn't always make them good shows. It means that I have overlooked their flaws.
Now let's talk realistically about "NIp/Tuck". I have seen every episode and continue to watch Season 4. FX created a whole roster of "adult" programs designed to provoke the viewers--to "push the envelope". Trust me, I respect that and I watch them all. "Nip/Tuck" started out a bit erratically--the first season, for me, was about 3 1/2 stars. I saw the promise, yet the episodes lacked a certain cohesion and the characters didn't seem fully flushed out yet. Season 2, however, really hit the stride. It became a gloriously over-the-top soap opera that was good, nasty fun! I LOVED it, especially the deliriously campy Famke Janssen storyline. Still didn't make it a "great" TV show, but it made for "great" TV. I'd have given it 5 stars on entertainment value.
Then there's Season 3. People who object to this season often site the "Carver" storyline as being problematic. I couldn't care less, the "Carver" plot was just as valid as any other (killing mobsters and feeding them to alligators from Season 1, anyone?). The problem for me was a lot more serious.
The show began to sell out it's core characters. Now I have never been a big fan of the McNamara clan. Strangely enough, they are the least compelling part of this show. But I accepted the characters-- and as long as they made sense and the writers understood who they were--then I was fine. The problem with Season 3 was that they no longer made sense. The plots and outrageousness came first! The writers made up the situations that "pushed the envelope" and then just plugged the characters into those scenarios however conveniently. So we had characters doing or believing things every week that were not consistent with the "people" that we knew. And if they needed to flip flop back for another storyline, that's what they did. Don't ask me to care about your characters if you don't! (Another FX show, the sometimes brilliant "Rescue Me" went through the same crisis).
I wish "Nip/Tuck" well, it seems to be starting season 4 in good, fun shape. No matter what, Christian will remain one hell of a great TV character. KGHarris, 9/06.


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He -- or is it she? -- slices, they stitch. He maims, they heal. Plastic surgeons Sean McNamara and Christian Troy have vowed to make whole the victims of the elusive, mysterious serial slasher called the Carver. But mending the rifts in their own families and careers will require much more than their famed technical skills. Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon return for a sensational Season 3 filled with eroticism, suspense and medical challenges ranging from a daring facial transplant to a 650-pound woman whose skin has fused with her sofa. There's a new doctor on staff, too: Dr. Quentin Costa, a tango expert and perhaps an expert at dissecting the practice for his own ends. Plus: Julia launches a new career, troubled Matt falls in with skinheads and the Carver turns out to be.... Sorry, our lips are sealed. Watch and find out.DVD Features:Deleted ScenesDocumentaryFeaturette

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Nip/Tuck: The Complete Second Season (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)The second season of FX's Nip/Tuck went above and beyond the conventions set during it's first season, with plenty of shocks and surprises for all involved. Beginning with Christian (Julian McMahon, soon to be seen as the villainous Dr. Doom in Fantastic Four) fighting for custody of the son he knows isn't his, while Sean (Dylan Walsh) ponders over hitting the big four 0. Eventually, Sean comes across a mysterious "life coach" (Famke Janssen) who soon begins a dangerous affair with Sean's oldest son. This leads to a shocking revelation for Sean, Christian, and Sean's wife Julia (the teriffic Arly Jover) that soon becomes one of the most gut wrenchingly heartbreaking moments on TV today. But it doesn't end there. Christian comes face to face with the possibility that he might be HIV positive, and Sean comes face to face with a knife wielding masked would be killer after he does some pro bono work for victims mutilated by him. All this ends in a season ending cliffhanger that will have you salivating for season three, which hopefully, will be just as surprising. The personal demons of Sean and Christian are what really drive Nip/Tuck, while the incredibly realistic plastic surgery scenes will either help draw you in or completely repel you. Over the course of these episodes, the characters are deconstructed more than one could ever think possible, but the great cast and twisty storytelling will keep you addicted. All in all, Nip/Tuck really became something special in it's second season (there's a reason it's garnered so much acclaim and accolades), and this is definitely the definition of must see TV.

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Flash and cash. Sex and style. Power and prestige. All it takes is a Nip/Tuck. The acclaimed series at TV's cutting edge continues in a Deluxe 16-Episode Season Two Set on six discs with Revealing Enhancements. Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon return as the elite plastic surgery team of McNamara/Troy, whose skill at giving others perfect bodies contrasts with the doctors' imperfect personal lives. From love (Troy falls for a self-assured blind woman) to lust (McNamara dates a porn star), from painful revelations (a secret from the past shatters the practice) to powerful moments (conjoined adults seek the doctors' help) to astonishing truths (a New Age "life coach" hides what ultimately can't be hidden), this second-season operation is a total success. Thank you, doctors!

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Nip/Tuck: The Complete First Season (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)Wow did I love this series! I missed it during the original broadcast, but based on what people have told me, I gambled on this box set. I feel like I hit the jackpot.
It's definitely not for everyone though. No sirree.
First of all, if you're squeamish, the brilliantly reproduced surgeries can be a bit nauseating. (I'm a surgeon, and I loved 'em. My wife, an ex-nurse, had to close her eyes...)
Second, if you are at all uncomfortable with the topic of sex, stay away. This series will plant you into situations you have not even imagined. Bouncing between hilarity and discomfort, sex is definitely a theme throughout the 13 shows.
Third, if you appreciate good acting, it does not get any better than this. Seriously. This is "Sopranos" good; "NYPD Blue" good. The two lead performances are pitch-perfect, both deeply flawed and often morally reprehensible individuals who at the end of the day, you can't help but root for. The "supporting" players are a heck lot more than that, and provide tons of drama, amusement and eye candy.
There is beauty and ugliness everywhere, from an absolutely gorgeous female figure to a purely evil drug dealing psychopath. That's just in one episode.
Fourth, the screenwriting is bling-bling eye-popping, smart as all hell and consistently surprising. The thirteen episodes link nicely together, the first ones dovetailing back into the last ones. I was constantly taken aback at the twists, the lines, the situations they came up with. Let's just say that I learned in the very first episode that crocodiles prefer ham to human flesh. And that fact is actually important to the story...
I haven't even had a chance to go through what appears to be fairly extensive supplements and deleted scenes. I HAD to write in...I will recommend this to ANYONE, anyone over 18 I should say, who likes good television and may like to be pleasantly shocked from time to time.
With great restraint I have withheld many (if not all) plot points, because the exhilarating thrill of discovering them on your own is something you'll only feel once. Without spoiling too much, the show centers on the Miami plastic surgery practice of McNamara/Troy.
Sean McNamara is a questionably happily married man, with one teenage son, and one grade schooler daughter.
Julia, the wife, is plagued by doubts surrounding her love for her husband, the urge to go back to medical school and sexual attractions/distractions galore.
One of whom might be Christian Troy, Sean's best friend and partner, and one of the most gleefully decadent characters in TV history. I mean "decadent" in a good way. Sort of.
His travails include, but in no way are limited to, a continuing parade of sexual partners, a number of hysterical surgical propositions, problems involving his boat, his cars, his apartment and the plastic surgery competition across town.
Other important characters include the melting hot staff psychologist and the defiant, embittered, proudly lesbian anesthesiologist. The cast has such chemistry that they not only react to one another, they generate this bubbly heat together...it's fun to watch them prod each other to new heights.
The one thing that struck me the most about these shows is the amount of genuine heart that stands at the center of each episode. There is a large amount of provocative, politically incorrect but unassailable truth here...nothing you'd like to admit, but stuff you instantly recognize. As you get to know these characters, establshing empathy for them is easy. It's darn near irresistible. I was hooked from the first five minutes.
I could write more, but I need to go check out the extras, AND the four NEW episodes I have on tape. I have just GOT to get my Tivo hooked up...

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Beauty, the saying goes, is only skin deep. The beauty of Nip/Tuck is that it goes deeper, laying bear the complexities and fragile natures often found in patients seeking cosmetic surgery. Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon portray hotshot Miami South Beach plastic surgeons who are themselves in full-blown midlife crises as they confront career, family and romance problems. The series' cutting-edge stories range from funny to suspenseful to uncommonly powerful. The surgeries are graphically bold. The sexuality is rampant. Presented here in 13 first-season episodes on 5 discs and featuring compelling extras, the highly praised Nip/Tuck is a prescription for entertainment unlike anything you've ever seen.DVD Features:Deleted ScenesFeaturetteGag ReelMusic VideoTheatrical Trailer

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