Nip/Tuck: Diana Lubey (4.12)

Maybe it's the accent, or the seemingly everlasting beauty, but French women just have this classy, glamorous way about them, and Catherine Deneuve displayed all those things in her guest spot. Seriously, how the hell did this show land her? The Diana Lubey story was really moving, even with the mistress twist near the end. On paper the whole "ashes in implants" idea may seem silly, but the show portrayed it in such a poignant, beautiful way that you can completely understand why Diana would want the surgery. I also loved how she managed to get through to Sean, and her farewell kiss was awesome.

The image of all Christian's former girlfriends and one night stands "haunting" his bedroom was really effective. I also loved having both Rebecca Gayheart and Rebecca Metz back, especially Gayheart, who put in a really memorable performance back in season two. And with Metz, she even brought along her old friend Mr Paper Bag!

The story marked a major development in Christian's evolution, but I'm not sure if the woman at the heart of the changes is truly right for him. The Christian/Michelle relationship has never exactly sparkled with chemistry (I mean, Christian generated more heat with James, for cripes sake!), and I don't believe that she was the one out of all his various love interests to finally get him to shut the door on his playboy lifestyle.

Brooke Shields continued to put in a brave, sinister performance as Dr Faith. As we saw on Friends years ago, she's really great at playing a psychopath, and the eye twitches and brutal scratches of her pen along her paper in her scene with Sean were hilarious. Although I did like the confrontation scene at the end, it was surprising that the show didn't entirely exploit her nuttiness. When pretty much every recurring female on Nip/Tuck ends up going completely batshit, it was odd that Faith's arc ended with some angry dialogue, and not all-out madness.

Three great storylines and some classic guest star work from the many beautiful females we see in this episode. Anything would be a step up from the trainwreck that was Conor McNamara, 2026, but the writers really excelled themselves this time. A

Credits
Guest stars Catherine Deneuve (Diana Lubey); Jacqueline Bisset (James); Brooke Shields (Dr. Faith Wolper); Brenda Vacarro (Beatrice Madsen); Sanaa Lathan (Michelle Landau); Mario Lopez (Dr. Mike Hamoui); Rebecca Gayheart (Natasha Charles); Rebecca Metz (Abby Mays)
Writer Sean Jablonski Director Charles Haid