The disbanding of Sean and Christian's friendship continues here, with Sean irrationally making moves on Kimber and igniting an affair with her. They generate sparks, sure, but I don't know why he's doing this. Is he unconsciously (or consciously) destroying the partnership? Or is he doing this to, in some way, save Kimber from her doomed marriage? I wish the show didn't have to make Christian so physically repulsive all of a sudden, though. It's another random plot point that came out of nowhere, when Christian's mental abuse of Kimber would have easily been enough to push her into the arms of another man. Gah.
Neither of the patient cases really worked for me this week. Willow Banks' plight (and some may disagree with that phrasing) was mildly intriguing, but the story followed a now formulaic Nip/Tuck trajectory: the request for an unorthodox procedure, some ethical arguments, and then some soap opera nuttiness which proves irreversible. Blah. At the same time, I liked parts of the Rupert Kenney story, in particular the parallels with Sean's lack of progress over the last eighteen years. But in the end it felt half-finished, the metaphor not explored as much as it could have been.
Great direction by Tim Hunter, though. I was really impressed by the opening shot of the episode, with Sean waking up on the floor of his new apartment, while Rupert's voice-over talks about having lost his whole life to a coma. Similarly, the Kimber 'getting made-up' montage with the classic Are Friends Electric? playing over it. Kimber always got great music montages, from her cocaine binge in season two to that gorgeous Rabbit Fur Coat scene in season five.
I like the road the season is going down, but there were definitely parts of Willow Banks that felt contrived and messy. Some of the ideas weren't fully realized, and the entire Christian subplot was ridiculous. Average. C+
Credits
Guest stars Mini Anden (Willow Banks); Andy Comeau (Rupert Kenney); Riki Lindhome (McKenzie)
Writer Brad Falchuk Director Tim Hunter
Seriously I'm watching the series on Netflix and the unwashed Christian seems so bizarre and contrived.
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