As
Nip/Tuck
enters its third season tonight (September
20 at 10 PM), the hit FX series continues to deliver its trademark
wince-worthy gore and riveting raunchiness. The Traditional
Values Coalition has deemed the show “probably one of
the sleaziest and sexually perverted show [sic] on TV…filled
with pro-homosexual messages, transsexualism, adultery, foul
language, sadomasochism, and grotesque surgery scenes.”
The
show certainly does offer a wild ride of violence and vanity,
tawdriness and titillation. It also pushes the boundaries in
its refreshingly fluid portrayal of gender and sexuality while
serving up a generous portion of queer characters.
Doctors
Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon)
are best friends and partners in a Miami plastic surgery practice.
They are also co-conspirators in a love triangle involving Sean’s
wife, Julia (Joely Richardson), past lover to Christian. The
cast also includes Sean and Julia's teenage son Matt (John Hensley),
Gina (Jessalyn Gilsig), the resident sex addict who has had
an on-again/off-again relationship with Christian, and Dr. Liz
Cruz (Roma Maffia), the cut-to-the-chase lesbian anesthesiologist
who often provides a grounding presence in the midst of the
runaway wackiness.
The
storylines are relentlessly absurdist, and previous seasons
have delivered such scenarios as Sean and Christian having a
threesome with a prostitute the night before separating conjoined
twins; Christian bedding a patient whose clitoridectomy he and
Sean were called on to reverse; and Matt discovering that the
older woman (Famke Janssen) with whom he had an affair is transgendered
(and in the first season, that his girlfriend
(Kate Mara) is gay and in love with another cheerleader).
This
season, the rival plastic surgeon who was called to repair Sean’s
face after a vicious attack, Dr. Quentin Costa (Bruno Campos)
will return as a regular after the doctors’ take him on
as a third member of their practice. Quentin will come out as
bisexual, and co-star McMahon recently hinted to Entertainment
Weekly that his own character, Julian, will wind up in
a four-way with Quentin.
This
season will also find Anne Heche appearing in at least three
episodes as a patient who falls for Sean.
Perhaps
most surprisingly, Julia is slated to have a lesbian
affair this season, according to our sources. Although Julia's
new female love interest has yet to be identified, Roma Maffia
tells AfterEllen.com in a new
interview that it's not returning character Gina, and hints
that it may in fact be her character, Liz, who gets involved
with Julia.
It’s
unlikely that the relationship will be a lasting one, though,
since ultimately the show centers around the love triangle between
Julia and doctors McNamara and Troy—but then again, Nip/Tuck
is all about delivering the unexpected.
