Nip/Tuck/Thoughts: Tough Love

For more than a second there, I actually thought Matt was going to kill himself.

I’ve covered the many ways “Nip/Tuck” has gone off the rails in its last season (I swear I mean that as a compliment). So I don’t think it would’ve been completely out of the question to have one of the show’s original characters off himself rather than go to jail.

Christian didn’t have a whole lot of screen time in this episode, but most of his scenes were dedicated to his quest to give Matt some tough love.

He’d helped fix Matt up after the erstwhile mime had gotten himself shot trying to rob a convenience store. Enter one of primetime TV’s dampest wet blankets, Julia McNamara. (No offense to Joely Richardson, but Julia DEFINITELY became more of a drag over the years than she was initially.)

Sean — in a trance following the disappearance of his wife and after narrowly escaping death — wasn’t interested in sending Matt to prison. Christian eventually convinced Julia that a prison sentence might be the only thing that could help Matt. And considering how consistently horrible Matt’s life has been, I think he might be better off in prison.

If nothing else, Matt’s had a prison sentence coming from a long time considering that he’s made crystal meth, been involved in a hit-and-run, and was involved in the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s bigoted father. And that’s just the stuff I thought of off the top of my head!

Overhearing Christian’s plans, Matt ditched the hospital bed and tried to pick up some of his leftover miming money before he was busted by Sean. This led to the most touching scene in the episode. (Nicely played by both actors.) Sean lamented not being a better father, but Matt manned up and took responsibility for being a screw up. The two hugged and Sean let him go.

Matt stopped by to say goodbye to Jenna, and Kimber improbably asked to come along to Mexico. I felt stupid not guessing that Christian had put her up to it — especially after that scene from the previews with Matt and Christian in the same car — but it was a nice twist nonetheless. Matt threatened to shoot Christian and ran away again, until his wound started bleeding profusely. He appeared to reach for his gun, which is when I became convinced he was going to end it.

Instead, he called Sean who came over to fix him. Unfortunately for Matt, Sean also brought half of the California state troopers with him, leading to his arrest. I’m interested to see what they do with Matt for the rest of the series run. I don’t see how he avoids a jail sentence, but does that mean the rest of his scenes are going to have him handcuffed in some depressing interrogation room?

Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, since a dank room in a prison gave us this episode’s best scene.

Matthew Glave — a.k.a Drew Barrymore’s jerky fiancé from “The Wedding Singer — was arrested for the murder of Teddy Rowe.

If you recall, Teddy had the worst luck in the world last week when she not only failed to kill Sean and his kids, but she also wandered over to a serial killer’s campsite. Glenn Gulia asked to meet with Sean and told him about Teddy’s plans to kill him and his kids. He then asked that Sean thank him for killing his wife (and saving his life) which was fantastically twisted. (And Glave was great!)

Sean understandably attacked him, but got a sucker punch to the gut when the police showed him all of Teddy’s past lives (and all her dead ex-husbands). I was hoping the show would mix in a photo of Katee Sackhoff as Teddy (hey she changed her appearance!) but I suppose they were just never going to acknowledge the jarring change in actresses/personality of the character.

That being said, I was pretty happy with the way they wrapped up the Teddy storyline. Kudos to Rose McGowan and the dozen or so different locations Teddy’s body is probably located.

So what’d you think of this episode? Were you into patient of the week Abigail Sullivan? (I thought the “parasitic twin” plot was interesting and appropriately icky for this show, but after “Enigma” and “Jenny Juggs” I’m kind of tired of the surgeries predictably backfiring because the patients can’t cope.) Finally, was Julia out of line when she chided Sean for his poor judgment? (She had a point, but the guy had just barely gotten out alive and his wife was dead – it came off a little cold.)