(S05E17) "Christian, I don't like men. I like you." - Liz

Christian and Liz?!? Can anyone honestly say that they ever saw this coming? Of course, the opposites attract argument exists - "butch lesbian anesthesiologist" and "slightly mysoginistic sex-crazed plastic surgeon" are just about as far apart as you can get. But I suppose it only makes sense that the guy who uses woman before he trusts them starts to fall for the woman he in theory shouldn't be able to have because, Christian put it best, "she's a lesbian!"

Despite all the pitfalls that this relationship certainly has (Christian is not a one woman guy - especially when that woman plays for the other team), at least it's something different. Once again, the "Sean still loves Julia" plot reared it's annoying head. We get it already. The proponents of this awkward courtship will argue that we don't know who Sean is without Julia and that's why he's always carried the torch. But that's just it - I don't know who Sean is without Julia either and it doesn't seem like Ryan Murphy and Co. plan on telling us.

(S05E15) "Shaft had tit cancer?" - Christian

She sure made it look easy, huh?

After the way part one of this season ended, with Sean finding out who Colleen really was, most were amazed when they saw Colleen jamming a knife into Sean's back in the mid-season finale. With his new celebrity status, the likely restraining order Sean had out on Colleen, and the assumption that there must have been some sort of security at the new McNamara/Troy LA office, it seemed unlikely that Colleen would have been able to get within 100 feet of Sean. Not the case.

Again, she made it look easy.

(S05E14) "I pretend to do the thing I actually do and suddenly I'm cool." - Sean

Going into this episode, I was really expecting it to be just be so-so. With the trend of so many other shows being cut short because of the WGA strike, I just assumed Nip/Tuck would fall victim as well. Not the case. Even if this season's full order of 22 episodes had been met, this installment was still clearly meant to be a mid-season finale. There's no way an ending like that gets a new episode the very next week. It worked here as the season ender and it worked well.
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(S05E13) "Wait... you met your father?" - Matt

This is the way I remember Nip/Tuck. Hands down, best episode of the season right here. Controversial, all the main characters played a big role, and best of all? It was funny! The one thing that depressed me was the very end. Why? Because of that ridiculous "future" episode from last season, we know Julia can't die.
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(S05E12) "There are seven signs of the apocalypse, right? Not two?" - Christian

One of the things that I've always enjoyed about Nip/Tuck is the way that Sean and Christian are constantly compared to each other. No matter how much they fight, no matter how much the writing may lead you to believe that they clash, no matter how much you juxtapose them in any number of varying scenarios, they always turn out looking far more similar than different. This episode was a prime example.
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(S05E11) "Mommy's not coming back because Daddy killed her." - Christian

Um... wow. I'm never going to a Build-A-Bear Workshop ever again. I'll come back to that later, but let's touch on the theme of this episode first: cannibalism. There's a topic that Nip/Tuck hasn't tackled before and Ryan Murphy and Co. didn't hold back either. From the teacher who bites her Kindergarten students, to the metaphors of Hollywood agents eating you alive, to the newlywed couple that actually... ate each other, all the bases were covered. Who's hungry?
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(S05E09) "I was never in any danger of being drugged by the gays." - Freddy

After a month off, Nip/Tuck is back. Only 14 of this season's 22 episodes were finished pre-WGA Strike, so it makes sense that FX threw that mini hiatus in there. I was really looking forward to this episode, and even though I liked it, there was still a lot of stuff that just didn't feel fresh to me. Recycled is probably more accurate. I love this show, but c'mon... Sean and Christian fighting over Julia is really getting old.
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(S05E08) "Your promises are sh*t, Matt." - Sean

They really are, aren't they? Matt is pretty much full of it, most of the time. Granted he escaped death here, but when you consider his track record (white supremacists, transvestites, Scientology, foreskin removal), it's pretty safe to assume that he'll get wrapped up in something else before too long. That's why I found it so amusing when Sean apologized and Matt said he just really needed to grow up and stop being Sean's "child." Why? So he can graduate to more adult scheming? He's there already! Last I checked, you don't see too many eleven year olds cooking meth and raising a child with a former porn star. Matt has always led a screwed up life, so it's not as if any of this comes as a surprise. Fortunately, the rest of this Christmas themed episode took the torch from previous Nip/Tuck holiday installments and the results were hilarious.

(S05E07) "The Celtics are good again!" - Dr. Joshua Lee

Yes. Yes they are. Besides the fact that I'm a huge Boston fan and absolutely loved that line, this was a fantastic episode to boot. Honestly, it might be the best of the season thus far. We're actually half way through the chunk of completed episodes (14 were wrapped before the strike hit) and it looks like this season is finally going somewhere. Up until now, it's been a lot of "we're in LA, so let's take advantage of that" plots. But now, we're seeing some real serious stuff take root. And by serious, I mean old men who have been abducted by aliens.

(S05E06) "These people are crazy. The only reason I moved out here was because they threw a bunch of money at me. And... the golfing opportunities." - Nurse Linda

What a great episode! It was different, unique for this show, and was clearly a challenge to shoot and edit so that the "reality" look and feel were achieved. It certainly wasn't the best episode of Nip/Tuck, but I'm all for stuff like this. Taking chances with proven formulas is something I can respect. Anybody pay attention to the beginning? When Christian was trying to convince Sean to do Plastic Fantastic with him? Christian made some comment about how "reality is the future." Granted this was written and shot at least a few months ago, but it's still a little eerie considering the current TV climate because of the WGA strike. Kind of ironic that we all sat down to watch a scripted drama spoofing reality TV when all these writers are fighting to be compensated for creative episodes like this and actual reality is slowly taking over every channel.
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(S05E05) "You don't want to play this game with me." - Christian

No you don't. The second Christian said that to Eden, a clock started and all episode long we were waiting for the alarm to go off. What was he going to do to her? For a minute, I honestly thought nothing. He gave her the pills and Eden was on her way, her mouth shut about Christian and Julia's night together. Maybe it was because I watched the episode early this morning and I was still a little drowsy, but I never saw it coming. Well played Dr. Troy.
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