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With nurse and attempted murderer nurse Teddy finally reduced to a pile of ashes at the bottom of a beach trash can, “nip/tuck” brings back the second most loathsome recurring character in the series history – Julia’s mother Erica. As much acting cachet as Vanessa Redgrave brings with her, and as much fun as it must be for her to share the screen with real-life daughter Joely Richardson, this passive-aggressive master manipulator is never a welcome sight in the McNamara world.
Erica makes her presence felt right away, evaluating Sean’s mental state following his suicide attempt. You can tell she’s loving Sean’s desperation to get out of the hospital and relishing the power she holds over him in the moment. That Sean ever believed she was there to help him just goes to show how naive Dr. McNamara can be, even when he really ought to know better.
But that’s only the beginning for the mother from hell. Having just returned from Italy with a new 20-something husband, Erica’s decided to reclaim another part of her youth by taking custody of Connor and Annie. It’s right in line with the character, but that doesn’t make it any less repulsive a move. Even worse is seeing her manipulate Annie and even the incarcerated Matt into taking her side.
Christian meanwhile is trying to deal with Kimber and Mike’s impending engagement, leading to a one-night stand with the titular bartender, who shows up at McNamara/Troy with an unusual request. It turns out that Alexis used to be Alex, and would like to become so again, much to the surprise and consternation of Dr. Troy. Still, Christian’s always been a softy for the lost and lonely, and after a pissing contest with Mike and yet another rejection from Kimber, he agrees to perform the surgery. Somebody, he’s thinking, should get what they want, at least. Plus he wants the chance to show up Dr. Mike one more time.
As the storyline with Erica looks to go on for another week, the Christian-Kimber-Mike triangle at least gets a little resolution. Mike’s a really nice guy, and as much as Kimber wants a nice guy, it’s profoundly unsettling and unsatisfying for her to confront actually marrying on. It’s no surprise when she finally breaks off the engagement, coming to Christian to have the tattoo of her ex-fiance removed.
Once again, we wrap up the storyline surrounding one recurring character and get the set up for another. There’s a definite sense that the series is settling accounts as it goes, but the characters aren’t showing any actual growth through any of it. Christian’s still carrying his torch for Kimber. Sean’s still pinballing from crisis to crisis. While minor characters are getting packed up and put away, the main ensemble just seems to be treading water. While I’m glad to see Ryan Murphy and co. tying up loose ends, I hope that once we move onto the second half of the season in 2010, we’ll see the focus shift back where it belongs.
