LThe dinner seems perfect. Art Garfunkel’s song “All I Know” sweeps across the faces of Matt (John Hensley), Christian (Julian McMahon), Julia (Joely Richardson), Sean (Dylan Walsh) and Annie (Kelsey Lynn Batelaan). The melody, lengthened, concludes all the intrigues: the son of Ava commits suicide in front of her, Ava leaves Miami and the threat of the Cutter approaches. All the genius of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the creators of Nip / Tuck on FX, comes down to those final eight minutes. A polished realization, a careful choice of song and a surprise slipped at the last moment.
Throughout the second season, which shone with its inventiveness, perfectly executed storylines and unique tone, the protagonists had to face the Cutter. This criminal does not kill, he disfigures beautiful people – “Beauty is the curse of the world”, he argues – before raping them with a dildo. In episode 15, Sean is attacked by the psychopath – his identity is unknown, and he is disfigured on either side of his cheeks. Faced with the cosmetic surgeon, he castigates “all these slaves to the tyranny of beauty who spend their lives counting their calories, taking stretching courses which swear by their peeling. Me, I’m trying to free all these people, and you, what are you doing? You destroy my work, you unconscious mind ”. Atmosphere. Sean, shirtless and paralyzed, meets for the first time the monster who tells him about his real motives – not completely unfounded. Traumatized, and convinced that he will do it again, Sean arms and prepares himself.
At the top
So comes the dinner where the whole family is gathered. Christian, Sean’s partner and friend, is there despite the liabilities: he slept 20 years ago with Julia, Sean’s wife, and turns out to be Matt’s real father. Nip / Tuck has always had a “soapy” side. “I bruise you / You bruise me / We both bruise too easily / Too easily to let it show / I love you and that’s all I know / I love you and that’s all I know), ”sings Art Garfunkel in his crystal voice. McNamara and Troy united for life… and death. The viewer expects the Cutter to return to Sean to settle his account definitively. The doctor leaves his door open and goes to bed with gun in hand. Except… after a close-up on the Cutter’s needle, it’s not Sean in bed, but Christian. The season ends with a tear flowing from Christian’s right eye, before the blade lacerates his (beautiful) face. Even the actors did not know who would be the ultimate victim of the Cutter. Except the actor. “Everyone asked me if I was going to come back. I knew I would come back because it was in my contract, ”Julian McMahon told Entertainment Weekly in 2005.
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This cliffhanger concludes a masterful season, better than the first, and offers, it is believed, an incredible plot for the third season. The 5.3 million people present in front of their screens on October 5, 2004 are still there on September 20, 2005. For the first time in its young history, Nip / Tuck made the headlines – it’s a cable series broadcast in the summer, in short, in the Bermuda triangle of audiences – and here it is, promoted against the behemoths of the big chains, we are in the midst of the series revolution.
Swan song
Throughout the start of the 2005 school year, we play to know who the Cutter is, as we had done to know the identity of the murderer of the dreadful J. R. Ewing. Each actor records a sequence with the famous mask of the criminal. The denouement will take place at the end of Season 3 after an appalling narrative zigzag that transformed Nip / Tuck in bad thriller: it was about the appalling Quentin Costa, a time collaborator of the cabinet Troy / McNamara.
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The end of season 2 marks the apotheosis of the series and its swan song: over the episodes, Nip / Tuck pastiche itself, sinking into caricature and always going further to hide the mistakes of the writers. Five years later, Art Garfunkel’s song still resonates. This time, the series definitely ends on a bland scene. For once, Nip / Tuck knew how to stay sober.
The legendary cliffhangers:
“Dallas” – Bobby’s Shower
“Dynasty” – And marriage in Moldova turned into a massacre
“West Coast” – Poor Val
“Lois & Clark” – The Revelation
“Melrose Place” – The crazy explosion
“Friends” – Two for a room
“24 Heures chrono” – And Nina killed Jack Bauer’s wife
“Grey’s Anatomy” – And a killer sowed panic in the hospital
“Desperate Housewives” – We said we’ll meet in 5 years
“Game of Thrones” – The death of Jon Snow