Nip/Tuck/Thoughts: Brotherly Love

This show does a lot of crazy crap that I’ll forgive, but playing the previously-unseen/dead relative card isn’t crazy…it’s lazy.

And that, I’ll almost never forgive.

On top of that, seeing as how it was the last episode before the show’s fall finale/sixth season ender/whatever the hell they’re actually calling this thing, it seemed like an odd time to introduce a character no one was asking for and giving him a one-episode arc.

Neil Hopkins, best known (to me) as Charlie’s brother on “Lost”, played Brendan, who showed up battered and bruised and asking Sean for help. (I actually DO find it amusing and interesting that Sean, Christian and every character on this show think that plastic surgery can fix whatever is wrong with their lives.) For some reason that either wasn’t explained or that I missed, (totally possible since I cared so little) Brendan had been presumed dead by Sean and his family.

Anyway, Brendan showed up at the worst possible time for Christian, who was drowning in debt and had asked Sean for a loan. Christian asked Sean for the loan after his go-to move (nailing the unrealistically tasty IRS agent) didn’t work.

Look, if the show wanted to play the previously-unseen/dead relative card, there were several ways the writers could’ve made this story interesting. Unfortunately, the writers did none of these things.

We’ve all heard Christian and Sean say, “You’re my brother” to each other, so Christian’s hissy, immature reaction to Brendan’s presence was painfully predictable. Also predictable was Sean acting like a chump throughout the entire hour, first blindly embracing Brendan at Christian’s expense and later easily believing that his brother stole Christian’s watch and cufflinks. Oh yeah – if you didn’t figure out that Christian was framing Brendan, then you’re as big a chump as Sean is. (The show’s attempt to make us think Brendan was back to his old druggy ways by introducing his nose-less buddy was CLEARLY a fake out.)

Of course, what was lost in all this long-lost brother nonsense was what appears to be the major storyline heading into the show’s final batch of episodes – the McNamara/Troy practice is in serious trouble and will almost certainly close by the show’s end.

By the end of the episode, Christian had forged Sean’s signature on a loan he took out. Despite my well-documented opinion that he’s a chump, Sean WILL eventually find out about this. I’ll be interested to see if he finally flips out for real in a major way after recently being betrayed by his wife (Teddy) and his best friend/brother (Christian) over money.

Christian ended up forging that loan application after giving a large sum of money to the patient-of-the-week, Benny Nilsson.

Although I have a vague recollection of Sean’s brother being mentioned years ago, I definitely have a clearer memory of Christian’s past as a victim of sexual abuse from his adoptive father.

From Benny’s first meeting with Christian, in which the Swedish lad requested to look more like his adoptive father, we knew something was up. This being “Nip/Tuck”, it wasn’t a surprise to learn that it was all about sex.

The adoptive father was sexually abusing Benny during parties that looked like the European version of the “Ass-to-Ass” get-together from “Requiem for a Dream.” He wanted the surgery because people would pay more to watch a father-son duo who REALLY looked like they were related.

All together now – EWWWWWW!!!

Christian eventually beat the pulp out of creepy dad and blackmailed him into giving him the money he owed the IRS, which he, instead, handed over to Benny. Despite all the insanity on this show, I continue to be fascinated with Christian. He’s “good” enough to save this kid by blackmailing his adoptive father and beating him up, but then he turns around and betrays his best friend. I admire the refusal to redeem the character and I look forward to seeing what happens Wednesday night’s finale and in the final group of episodes.

So what’d you think of this episode? Other than Hopkins, which other actors are typecast as no-good siblings? Did you miss Matt or Julia in this episode? Finally, what’s one thing you would like to see happen during the finale?