Nip/Tuck: Hiro Yoshimura (6.19)

One of the most notable complaints leveled at Nip/Tuck's series finale was that it just wasn't zany enough. For a show that pride itself on its elaborate plot twists and boundary-pushing absurdity, Hiro Yoshimura remains a somber affair. It puts character ahead of action, and for somebody who often criticized the show in its later years for wrapping its ensemble up in increasingly deranged storylines, I welcomed the tone of this episode. Sure, it would have probably been more interesting if Ryan Murphy managed to strike that middle ground between both extremes... but this is Ryan Murphy, a man who clearly doesn't believe in the existence of a middle ground.

Nip/Tuck: Walter and Edith Krieger (6.18)

Ava Moore always represented the long-lasting message of the series. No matter how much you alter your physical appearance, it can't fix your inner self. Ava at one point believed that becoming a woman would help correct her sadness and anger, only to find herself wrapped up in incestuous, abusive horror post-surgery. As a character, Ava was the feminine doppelganger to Sean and Christian: all characters who occupied that moral gray area and were just as sympathetic as they were repulsive. Ava is damaged, ruthless, horrible, calculating and cruel, but at the same time badass. Famke Janssen has always been consistently strong as this character, and the show was correct in bringing her back for the final two episodes. They spent so long trying to replicate Ava's femme fatale evilness with other recurring characters that it wouldn't have been right to not acknowledge how influential she was.

Nip/Tuck: Christian Troy II (6.17)

'The death of plastic surgery' isn't a groundbreaking concept to explore in Nip/Tuck's final season, but it's something that works for me. When you think about Hollywood right now, few actors are undergoing the full Joan Rivers. It's all about the fillers and the Botox and the injectables. Face lifts and surgery feel dated already, and Sean and Christian are being left out in the cold. Being this show, the story was handled with the subtlety of a sledgehammer with the old patients demanding reversal surgery, the contrived lady-doctor, and the annoying YouTube comments at the end.

Nip/Tuck: Dr. Griffin (6.16)

Watching this episode for the second time was an interesting experience. I loved Dr. Griffin the first time I saw it, and believed it was one of the most absorbing and intriguing Nip/Tuck hours in a long while, exploring the psychosis of Sean and Christian and laying bare their long-held bitterness and anger against each other. While I still enjoyed Dr. Griffin the second time around, I couldn't help but notice, once again, that artificial quality that has made parts of season six so jarring. Here, several moments felt pulled straight out of left-field, while shock plot developments were clumsily dropped in with zero build-up. The concept of this story was well-intentioned, but the devil is in the details, and the details weren't that great.

Nip/Tuck: Virginia Hayes (6.15)

And the show begins to come full-circle. Escobar Gallardo is always a reliable villain, and I enjoyed the power play between his ghost and Sean. There's always been a connection between the two of them, Escobar representing the rationality and aggression that Sean rarely employs in reality. The subplot with his daughter Aurelia was a little heavy-handed (Rosemary's Baby... really?), but I enjoyed the show exploring old stories at this point.

Nip/Tuck: Sheila Carlton (6.14)

Kimber appeared in two sequences here, both in Christian's subconscious and both likely reflective of how he saw her. The Kimber glimpsed at McNamara/Troy was subservient and quick to put herself down, apologizing to Christian for not 'being good enough' for him. The second Kimber appearance was confident and angry, confronting Christian after he sleeps with her mother and exposing him for who he really is. When Kimber was alive, Christian liked to pick and choose which elements of her character he wanted. He ridicules her and calls her a whore, then later wants her to act like a porn star in the bedroom. In the end, Kimber could never win with him. Now she's dead and Christian is unhappy. It's an interesting idea to explore, but only renders Christian more ugly as a character.

Nip/Tuck: Joel Seabrook (6.13)

It would have felt wrong to give Kimber a happy ending. Right from the very beginning she's always been the archetypal 'victim'. She has dreams of becoming a model/actress/whatever, submits herself to various forms of humiliation and self-abuse along the way, becomes involved in drug addiction, pornography and cults, and finally ends it all. It's a horrible fate, but one that was inevitable. What makes her demise even sadder is the fact that her professional life hasn't been this positive in a while. While she's still drifted aimlessly through various careers of late, she seemed to have a newfound direction and a drive to overcome the obstacles in her life.

Nip/Tuck: Willow Banks (6.12)

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.

Nip/Tuck: Dan Daly (6.11)

We can already see the major theme that will run through this final group of episodes, that of the deconstruction of Sean and Christian's relationship. It's an inevitable approach to take. But what I found most interesting about this story was that so much of it came down to both character's inability to change or grow. They're both stuck in the same roles they inhabited right back in 2003 when the series opened, and are still making the same dumb choices. This feeling can also be found in every other regular character, none of whom have changed all that much since season one.

Nip/Tuck: Wesley Clovis (6.10)

This is another strong episode for the first half of season six, one that puts characterization at its core and gives almost every member of the show's ensemble something to work with. The emotional heart-strings are pulled by Kimber and the titular Wesley Clovis, two naïve characters who are cursed by their flaws and both end up suffering terrible consequences as a result.

Nip/Tuck: Benny Nilsson (6.9)

There's obviously an artificial quality to the drama present throughout this episode. Brendan McNamara, until this point, never existed, and his presence is ridiculously jarring. It's another example of the writers pulling faux drama from their collective butts to create some kind of standalone storyline... and that sucks. However, there are sparks of intrigue here and there, things that render Christian once again an interesting character.

Nip/Tuck: Lola Wlodkowski (6.8)

I have no idea what the show was trying to say with this one. Lola dares to be both confident and sexy as well as fat, but it turns out that she's just as sad as anybody else. Kimber is sexy and thin, but doesn't enjoy the pleasures in life and spends most of the episode counting calories and indulging in bulimia. So what's the message here? That you're unhappy in both extremes? Christian enjoys sex with Lola, but insists that he's not a 'chubby-chaser'. Lola is diagnosed with cancer. A punishment for being sexually vicarious? Huh? I enjoyed Danica Sheridan's performance, but the story was tonally bouncing off the walls. From fat suit sitcom sex to crushing cancer drama. Shivers.

Nip/Tuck: Alexis Stone II (6.7)

Erica makes an interesting point at the start of this episode, where she criticizes Sean and Julia for repeatedly making the same mistakes over and over, without learning anything in the process. It's one of the few bright spots of wisdom in a final season full of people making the same dumb choices that they've always made. And considering Erica's fate, I'm not sure what the show is trying to say. Erica isn't a nice person. She's rash and arrogant and judgmental, but generally her heart is in the right place. And while she did endanger Annie, I don't see why she deserves to be falsely imprisoned yet Sean, for doing the exact same thing just a couple of weeks ago, gets off scot-free. I guess it's another amusing example of Nip/Tuck's fractured morality, and the same questions remain. Is this intentionally batshit and unfair, or is it just poor writing?

Nip/Tuck: Alexis Stone (6.6)

Nip/Tuck unearths its past here, resurrecting Erica to create some sparks. It's a typically soap opera-style storyline, with double-crosses, secret filming, extreme hostility and mother-daughter slaps across the face, and it's a wonder how a respected actor like Vanessa Redgrave can slip so easy into this silliness. Erica's actions may be overt, but she's finally somebody who recognizes Sean and Julia's obnoxious parenting over the last couple of years, so consumed by their own self-involvement that they've ignored the rapidly-increasing insanity of two of their children. Parts of this episode almost feel like fan service, a final acknowledgment of how awful most of Nip/Tuck's characters are. That self-awareness doesn't last for long, but it's welcome here.

Nip/Tuck: Abigail Sullivan (6.5)

Finally, there is an acknowledgment of sorts by Sean and Julia that they are both truly awful parents. However, realization of their problem doesn't help matters. Julia is still being written as a hateful shrew, somebody who dares to throw the 'irresponsible parent' card at Sean despite how messed-up Annie became under her watch. Just three weeks ago she was eating her own hair, for God's sake! Then there's Sean, who entirely crumbles under the weight of his own personal failure. But at least with him it's partly understandable. His wife was horrifically murdered and mutilated, and then turned out to be a sleazy con artist who had designs on making him her latest victim. What a rough day for the guy.

Nip/Tuck: Jenny Juggs (6.4)

Only on Nip/Tuck will you see a serial killer con-woman stumbling into another random serial killer right in the middle of her own murderous scheme. I don't know if that's poor writing or just the worst luck in the world. Teddy's demise was pretty hilarious, something I'm not sure the show was aiming for, and I enjoyed her last-minute plot to dispatch Sean, Annie and Conor. She's one ruthless asshole. Her interaction with Annie prior to the camping trip was also a lot of fun, in particular her sniping about 'mentally unstable' pre-teen girls. Heh.

Nip/Tuck: Briggitte Reinholt (6.3)

It feels almost redundant to bring it up, but Nip/Tuck always had stunning music selections throughout its one-hundred episodes. Briggitte Reinholt does that now-familiar Nip/Tuck trick of connecting a song to a specific storyline. Here, we have two genius song choices. The first is Nasty by Janet Jackson (totally appropriate in its kinkiness), used throughout the Mike transvestite story. The second is that truly haunting and gorgeous In the City by Cromatics, which is used so well alongside scenes of the death and carnage orchestrated by Teddy. Song selection is so important on a show like this, and when done well it completely raises the greatness of the episode.

Nip/Tuck: Enigma (6.2)

No matter how many times Christian victimizes her, Kimber keeps on coming back for more. It's a classic masochistic relationship. Christian sees Kimber as easy prey, somebody who will satisfy him both sexually and emotionally; while Kimber's only true happiness has been with Christian, as she knows that there have been times when he's seen her as more than just a piece of meat. The scenes between the two of them were a lot of fun here, from the romantic music by Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield that played over their scenes, to the petty jealousy Christian experienced as he saw the chemistry between Kimber and Mike. Kimber, like always, is trying to find some happiness in life but, equally 'like always', comes up short. She's now working out of a low-rent nail salon in West Hollywood alongside a group of catty Asians ("poor Orange face" hah!), and Christian represents some form of escape.

Nip/Tuck: Don Hoberman (6.1)

In Nip/Tuck's later years, there was always the sense that a season begins with a clear agenda and drive. Characters are well-utilized, plots unfold naturally, ideas are crafted. But, without a doubt, a couple of episodes in... the wheels fly off, and the series once again becomes the manic, ridiculous caricature that pretty much engulfed the second part of season five. Season six is no different, since Don Hoberman is an aggressively entertaining opener to the final year. The general theme is 'age'. Sean and Christian have hit emotional, physical and financial road-blocks, their stupid decisions threatening their business and their personal lives. It's an obvious route to go down for the final season, but it works.

Nip/Tuck: Giselle Blaylock and Legend Chandler (5.22)

Nip/Tuck is usually at its strongest when a central idea runs through several of the various subplots piled in on one another. The season five finale is all about mortality, those hungry for it, those losing it, and those just discovering it. At its heart is Christian's impending death, an event that causes him to focus his life, gain some newfound perspective, and forget about the things that once made his heart tick. He wants to go to Europe, buy expensive suits and eat unhealthy food. He wants to marry somebody for love and compassion, not because they necessarily look pretty on his arm. As always, we understand why Christian is doing this. Liz is a different story, but the finale manages to make the most of a ridiculous storyline. At the same time, we have one last attempt to reverse Christian's terminal prognosis, real-life vampires seek eternal youth, Kimber faces up to her own personal emptiness, and Teddy's agenda is revealed. It's a doozy of a finale, and considering how awful the back-end of this season has been, it's surprisingly entertaining.