'Nip/Tuck' is back with more gore, sex

By Ed Bark
Knight Ridder News Service

It's more graphic than ever — visually, verbally, viscerally. And yes, you sometimes can cut the tension with a knife.

Julian McMahon, left, and Dylan Walsh portray two ethically challenged surgeons in FX's graphic drama series "Nip/Tuck." The fictional show begins its second season tonight. Associated Press

Be forewarned. "Nip/Tuck" shows no signs of policing itself in deference to Janet Jackson's infamous Super Bowl baring. On the contrary, it pushes the limits of advertiser-supported cable to the point of sometimes seeming like a soft-core skin flick.

Unadorned behinds are in full bloom during the first three episodes, with Julian McMahon's sex-obsessed Dr. Christian Troy leading the way, so to speak. The language likewise can be jaw dropping and the cosmetic surgical procedures remain bloody awful to behold.

Had enough? Or want more? "Nip/Tuck" still can be gripping, gratifying drama when it's not trying so hard to be either salacious or quirky. But it's not off to the great start of last summer despite the presence of esteemed thespian Vanessa Redgrave in the second season's initial three episodes.

Her first words are, "I want a facelift." But of course.

Redgrave is the real-life mother of series co-star Joely Richardson. They're mother-daughter here, too, with Redgrave in full sneer as child psychologist Erica Noughton, a best-selling author who bedevils the psyche of Richardson's Julia McNamara.

Dr. Troy has a son, too, a baby boy named Wilbur. He's not the biological father but has a paternal tie to the kid via a grossly dysfunctional relationship with banshee Gina Russo (Jessalyn Gilsig). This doesn't deter Christian's bed-hopping but does make him somewhat endearing during some heartfelt quality moments with the little guy.

"Nip/Tuck" still utilizes its trademark weekly directive — "Tell me what you don't like about yourself." But it no longer operates in a relatively unique field, given the new wave of makeover shows infesting the "reality" show genre. This perhaps has caused "Nip/Tuck's" scriptwriters to reach too far for the bizarre.

For starters, Drs. Troy and McNamara are tasked with reconfiguring a woman whose face looks like a grade-schooler's imitation of a Picasso painting. She wasn't born this way. Instead, her new look is courtesy of a double-suicide pact that went awry when her gay male companion fired a pistol at her head while she couldn't bring herself to simultaneously follow suit.

Complicating matters is Dr. McNamara's new, severe case of psychologically induced jitters. It's good to have a rock-steady hand when slicing in proximity to a private part or through your mother-in-law's face.

Not only that, he's just turned 40 and probably is worried that only CBS will want him as a viewer. Dr. Troy fans his insecurities by trying to gift him with a Botox injection. After all, "Looking our age is as bad as having a stained carpet in the waiting room."

The second episode finds Dr. Troy traumatized by a broken nose he sustains pleasuring a lover who abruptly sneezes. Watching him try to operate on himself is going to be way too much for some viewers. But that's only a warm-up for the cringe-inducing remedial procedure that follows.

Meanwhile, Erica has a nicely healing facelift while her relationship with daughter Julia remains an open wound. Unfortunately, the writers shortchange Redgrave's character, even after a "life coach" describes mommy dearest thusly: "She's a vampire. She's attached herself to your neck and she's sucking the lifeblood out of you."

Such a description demands a command showdown. But Episode 3's anticipated mother-daughter bout is a bit of a letdown. Not that "Nip/Tuck" still isn't watchable. But these early episodes too often are unseemingly voyeuristic. All that bumping and grinding, cutting and gutting. Let's find a happier medium without losing the show's lifeblood.