I spent most of last Saturday night watching FX's Nip/Tuck Season Two Redux, a rotating mini-marathon for lazy viewers like myself. For the past two Saturday nights, FX has aired four episodes chronologically. This Saturday will feature the 3rd leg in the marathon, and the final three episodes of Season Two will air Saturday, May 7th.

Judging by what I saw last night, I'm not sure I can handle another weekend of this. I cried...even through the constant barrage of bizarre storylines. (Stigmata? Masturbating in public? Almost statutory rape? Black Dahlia murder copycats? Christian donates sperm? Famke Janssen? Sure!) It's John Irving meets Mrs. Robinson meets The O.C.
But oh, those characters. No matter how many babies with vestigial tails make it into the operating room, it's Christian, Sean, Matt, and Julia who make you want to look away, such is the suffering in their lives. Which is exactly what makes you want to watch. "Agatha Ripp," (Episode 8) in which Liz has an abortion without telling Christian, and Julia finally reveals Matt's real father to Sean, was about as cruel as I could stand. Gimmicky religious bits aside, I sobbed when Liz begged a stigmata-suffering client to touch her stomach and heal her baby, and I winced when Sean clobbered Christian—who was already devastated by Liz's news—bellowing "I loved you best!" at his bleeding, broken friend. A perfect note of pure despair. Even Christian cried.

FX has put in orders for Nip/Tuck Seasons Three and Four, so there's no worry that we'll run out of programming anytime soon. Season Three will begin sometime in September. Until then, if you're interested in killing a Saturday night with a bottle of wine and four hours of painful, cathartic identification with fictional plastic surgeons, do it with FX's Nip/Tuck Redux.