Lesbian
visibility on television has had some
help recently from an unlikely source: a cable show about two
plastic surgeons that has generated record ratings and controversy.
The
FX drama Nip/Tuck premiered in July, 2003 and revolves
around two plastic surgeons: Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian
Troy (Julian McMahon of Profiler and Charmed).
Partners and friends for years, their personal and professional
lives are dysfunctionally intertwined: Christian has been having
an on-and-off affair with Sean's wife Julia (Joely Richardson)
for years, and is an unofficial uncle to Sean and Julia's 17-year-old
son Matt (John Hensley, previously on Witchblade). Each
episode features at least one plastic surgery patient, along with
developments in Sean and Christian personal lives, including their
relationships with Julia and Matt.
When
the series opens, Matt is trying to convince
his father to circumcise him, since he wants to have sex with
his girlfriend Vanessa (Kate Mara) but is afraid she won't if
she knows he's uncircumcised. Although his father resists at first,
when he discovers Matt trying to circumcise himself, he finally
agrees.
At
the end of the third episode ("Nanette Babcock"),
when Matt is fully recovered, he goes to Vanessa's house to
have sex with her and is devastated to find her making out in
bed with another cheerleader, Ridley (Sophia Bush). He rushes
home and when his father asks him later how it went with Vanessa
(assuming that Matt and Vanessa had had sex), Matt lies to him
and tells him it was great, then locks himself in the bathroom
and cries.
In
the sixth episode ("Megan O'Hara"), we learn
that Vanessa and Ridley have an ongoing relationship,
but that Ridley has some serious internalized homophobia,
as she reveals in this conversation when Vanessa approaches
her at school by the lockers:
