The Sexiness that is Nip/Tuck

Welcome my sweets to my first online musings about the fabulous show Nip/Tuck. I just finished watching the two hour season finale and I have to let my inner TV whore out of her cage to gush about how cool it was. *Warning: Spoilers ahead* Let me preface this discussion by noting that I only just started watching this show at the beginning of this season, so I saw the re-run finale of last season and have watched a good majority of the episodes for this season. I was immediately drawn into the whole "Carver" narrative (and of course the wonderfully hot Julian McMahon). Then of course the delightful Bruno Campos became a regular on the show as Quentin and I was hooked. I'd really loved him in that crap ass TV show "Jesse" with Cristina Applegate that was out a few years back. His character was pretty one dimensional, but altogether adorable. But I immediately loved that he was playing such a sarcastic smartass on Nip/Tuck. Not to mention, a bisexual one at that. The episode where he, Christian, Kimber, and the detective Kit start getting into a foursome is...unbelievably hot. Especially when Quentin grabs Christian's ass. Unfortunately that ends up breaking up the attempted orgy, but still.

Anyway, there are a lot of interesting things going on in this show. And being someone who does gender studies I'm always intrigued by shows that are a bit more daring in terms of the sexual issues they present. Nip/Tuck has run the gamut in many respects. We had Famke Jensen playing a post-op MTF, the bratty teenage son character having sex with her and then going into identity crisis mode once he realizes he's in love with a transsexual. Then there's Elizabeth the slightly butch lesbian character who works as the anesthesiologist.

Of course, the show is not utopian or necessarily majorly progressive in terms of its representation of queer sexuality. Famke Jensen's character has, for the moment, disappeared in Europe. Whether she will come back remains to be seen. The bratty teen son displayed some violent homophobia after he realizes her secret, although he manages to somewhat redeem himself in the season finale, all while the show reasserts his heterosexuality by giving him a "real" but psychotic girlfriend. It's up in the air as to what will happen with his character in future. Elizabeth is an out lesbian, but of course has no girlfriend (very desexualized in that regard). And Quentin turns out to be the pathologized queer character who is...shock of shocks (not!)...the Carver. I saw this coming ages ago, and was secretly hoping it wouldn't be the case. The finale reveals several interesting things about his character. Firstly, it turns out, in an interesting twist that Quentin was actually born without a penis (an in-utero birth defect). So he's evidently been using a strap-on to rape his victims. Interesting, but also problematic. Not surprisingly the butch lesbian gets hauled in as a suspect. But no, we find out it is indeed Quentin who's been carving up people in retaliation for his lack of penis and the cruelty he's suffered at the hands of mainstream society. And yet...he plays a very rational and eerily calm killer. Not the typical deranged psychopath that we often see once the mask has been shed.

Consequently there were quite a few little things that I enjoyed about the ending of the season finale despite my initial problems with the Quentin=Carver plot. For one, instead of going the typical route of killing off said character (which initially it seems is going to happen) the show puts a fun spin on what happens to the Carver. At first it seems like he's been killed. Kit storms in just in time to rescue the docs from being tortured and maimed and shoots Quentin dead. She then "closes" the case, but imparts a parting tidbit of info to Christian and Sean. Namely, Quentin was raised in an orphanage and had...a SISTER! Well, she too had her own deformity (of course) which we learn was the product of...INCEST! (Catja will love this as she does a lot of research on incest narratives in fandom) Anyhoo, after Kit leaves the docs feel a little suspicious and start checking into her story...then, we see someone going into the morgue and freeing Quentin, who has been "playing dead" of course. Turns out Kit is his sister. (Not a huge surprise by this point, but fun nonetheless). They then manage to head off to Spain where we see them being decidely unsibling-like in their affections and plotting out their next victims. I have to admit, I was enormously pleased by this ending. For one, it leaves room for them to return next season. For another it doesn't repeat the formulaic Hollywood trend to kill off the queer character who must not ultimately transgress the stability of the heteronormative universe of the narrative. So this, for me, was a really nice change of pace. Now obviously, as killers, Quentin and Kit are rendered deviant subjects in the story, but at the same time their characters are soooo likeable and compelling that you can't help but root for them. In many ways they make Christian and Sean look like utter boobs. Kit is tough as nails and witty to boot. Quentin is sarcastic and perceptive. They both make Sean and Christian look like mental midgets and superficial idiots in contrast. I really like the sibling parallelism going on. Kit and Quentin act as excellent foils to Christian and Sean, while also bringing out what the sexually suspect undertones the more straight-laced docs convey in more subtle ways. As much as I like Julian McMahon, I would almost rather watch a show focused on Quentin and Kit. But then again, my tastes are a little bit quirky. I just hope the show continues to push the envelope without copping out. And I really hope the next season starts early this summer!