Nip/Tuck: Season Five, Part Two

Underneath the shock value of self-mastectomies, furniture fetishes and infant collagen injections there is an overwhelming sense of sadness throughout Nip/Tuck, a series about miserable people unable to interpret personal value outside of external validation. Sure, it's entirely campy and about as sudsy as a night time drama can get without dipping into Spanish novella territory but there's a self-aware, defeatist attitude to the many self-destructive decisions made that gives an odd complexity to the over-the-top goings on. This is certainly the case for the eight episodes included with the DVD box set for the latter half of season five, which starts immediately after Dr. McNamara (Dylan Walsh) suffers multiple stab wounds from a crazed stalker while operating on his daughter. Once the chaos subsides, the good doctor spends some time in a wheelchair while Dr. Troy (Julian McMahon) discovers that he has stage-two breast cancer, requiring an immediate mastectomy. Feeling undesirable and powerless, Christian Troy turns his affections towards lesbian anaesthesiologist Dr. Cruz (Roma Maffia), who is fully aware that she's being used but allows it to continue regardless. Meanwhile, Dr. McNamara, feeling down about the seemingly final departure of ex-wife Julia (Joely Richardson), explores his wild side with resident crazy girl Teddy Rowe (Katee Sackhoff), who likes to huff nitrous during coitus. There are also many bizarre subplots involving transsexual oral sex, fornication with a sofa and a woman that likes to shave her partners and call them her "baby." It's business as usual at McNamara and Troy's plastic surgery emporium. Of course, what's probably the most memorable moment in season five comes care of Jennifer Coolidge, who asks for a butt-implant in order to shake her junk in support of her new hip-hop album. There is a full-length video titled "Yo Stank," wherein Ms. Coolidge raps and sprays another woman's vagina with air freshener. Yep. Included with the DVD set is a supplement titled "The Science of Beauty," which is exactly what purports to be, featuring interviews with specialists who examine the face. It's just too bad that the first half of the season wasn't included with the set as well.