CITAZIONE
Season 5 Reviews-Tidbits *** SPOILER WARNING
Better, Stronger, More Attractive
By BRENDAN BERNHARD
October 9, 2007
The television series most openly concerned with physical perfection is FX's plastic surgery soap opera for weirdos, "Nip/Tuck," which returns on October 30 for its fifth season. In the opening episode, there's a scene in which Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) explains to a 40-something actress, Carly Summers (Daphne Zuniga), who's pining for a 35-year-old's part, how he can make her look at least six years younger than she is.
It's a brutal scene, because Carly, despite the urgings of her agent, has so far resisted plastic surgery. She doesn't think she needs it. In the interest of "scoring" a famous actress as a patient, Christian plays along with this idea. He even seduces her, validating her self-image by pretending to find her as stunning as she thinks she is. But then comes the moment of truth. They're standing, post-coitus, in Carly's bedroom, looking at a giant framed picture of her that was taken by a famous photographer when Carly was in her early 20s. All she is wearing in the photo is a lacy black bra and underwear.
If the photo were taken now, Carly asks, would she look pretty much the same? Christian gallantly agrees that she would. Unfortunately, Carly can't quite leave it at that. If Christian were to do just a little bit of "work" on her, what would he do?
"Do you have any lipstick?" he asks.
"Sure," she replies, looking surprised but also pleased. (Perhaps he's just going to give her some makeup ideas!)
"Starting at the bottom," says Christian when she hands him the lipstick. He's no longer looking at her: He's looking at the photograph as though it were a blackboard and the lipstick chalk. His voice turns cold and professional. "The muscles in your calves and thighs soften after the age of 40, so I'd give you calf-implants," he says, marking off the areas on the picture with the lipstick, casually scribbling on her favorite photo. "And some liposuction through here [hips, thighs] and of course through here [abdomen]." Then there's the question of her breasts: They'd need a bit of raising. But the trickiest part would be her face, which would require a "feather-lift" — a surgical procedure on her forehead, cheeks, and chin that would magically air-brush away the years.
By the time Christian is finished, the photograph looks like it's been vandalized, and Carly feels humiliated, disgraced. She understands what her agent was trying to tell her: She's grown old, too old for Hollywood. The message is: Take care of the problem or forget your career. There are a lot of beauty junkies out there, they're fussy, and they demand their nightly dose.