Nip/Tuck - Series 2 (Box Set) (DVD)

...finally become available to review. Nip/tuck was first released in 2003 and was met with a huge audience with critics loving it. I have been following this series since its wonderful pilot right up until till now as I'm watching the third season on Sky One. On this review I will be reviewing the second season DVD box set so if you have not watched the first season there may be some spoilers in here. I will eventually get around to suggesting the ...
...get around to describing what Nip/Tuck is actually about.


Nip/Tuck is a programme set in the sun streaked, beach filled Miami in Florida. The programme is focused on the lives of two successful plastic surgeons whose business is booming. Sean McNamara is a kind and caring family man who has a beautiful wife, Julia and two children, Matt and Annie. Christian Troy is a bachelor, a playboy whose aim in life is to sleep with as ... more

Well I suggested this product well over a month ago and yes it has finally become available to review. Nip/tuck was first released in 2003 and was met with a huge audience with critics loving it. I have been following this series since its wonderful pilot right up until till now as I'm watching the third season on Sky One. On this review I will be reviewing the second season DVD box set so if you have not watched the first season there may be some spoilers in here. I will eventually get around to suggesting the first season which would have made the most sense to do first but it is me. Well I should really get around to describing what Nip/Tuck is actually about.

Nip/Tuck is a programme set in the sun streaked, beach filled Miami in Florida. The programme is focused on the lives of two successful plastic surgeons whose business is booming. Sean McNamara is a kind and caring family man who has a beautiful wife, Julia and two children, Matt and Annie. Christian Troy is a bachelor, a playboy whose aim in life is to sleep with as many beautiful women as possible. The two surgeons clash at times but overall they see each other as the brother they never had. This programme basically shows us the very different lifestyles that the two surgeons lead. The second season pretty much carries on from where the first season left off. Sean is continuing with balancing his family life with his work while worrying about becoming 40. This gives him a few problems to deal with as his nerves affect his performance in surgery. Christian is trying to balance his womanising ways with fatherhood while trying to be friendly with Gina. You can expect these storylines to be dragged out for awhile and the real fun in this season doesn't start until a new face is introduced into the doctor's lives.

First off the plot lines in the second series can go a little bit off the bar of normal television viewing. Just like the first season we have many more secrets that are revealed such as who is the real father of Matt and how this will effect everyone that is involved. We have new characters coming into it like Ava Moore played by Famke Jannsen, a life coach who Sean hires for Julia only having her form a relationship with one of the main characters. This woman also has many secrets that are shocking and will have viewers open mouthed when revealed. The 'villain' in the last series came in the form of Escobar, but in this series we have a character that is altogether the darker and creepier. This is the 'carver', a sexual predator who rapes and carves his victims faces while leaving a few sentiments with them. Be warned some of the episodes with this guy in are quite disturbing and scary, so if you are the type of person who looks away at the surgery scenes you will hate the scenes with the 'carver' in. Just like the first series the story line can sometimes get a little bit unbelievable, especially an episode that is primarily based on Julia having a dream, extremely odd. But stick with this series and if you liked the first you are sure to love the second.

This series is directed perfectly. Many of the episodes are filmed by various directors but they all keep to the same style. Nip/Tuck manages to show the hard hitting side of Miami at times and then show its beautiful and highly superficial side at other times. It is fast paced and extremely exciting. I don't think there were any episodes of this series that were boring. All of them had an excellent script and were shot fantastically.
Nip/Tuck is a brilliant black comedy where many of the scenes will either have you laughing in hysterics or open mouthed in shock. The season finale is one you cannot miss. But beware I would wait to watch it until the 3rd season has come out on DVD as once you watch it you will desperately want to know what has happened. Believe me it will drive you insane, I know from experience as we had to wait months for the 3rd season!

The cast perform just as brilliantly as they did in the first season and the new arrival of Famke Janssen bought a whole new level of acting into the series. I might be a little bit biased though as she is one of my favourite actresses. My favourite actor in this programme has to be Julian McMahon who plays Dr Christian Troy, he is suave, sophisticated and doesn't really care about anybody except for himself. However in this series he does show a calmer and caring side as he fights for custody of the baby he thought was his. Dylan Walsh plays the family man Dr McNamara. I like this actor and yes he is good but I don't think he is very good at portraying his emotions very well. Every scene he seems to have the same bland expression on his face. Joely Richardson plays Julia McNamara. She is also a good actress but she does have some dodgy storylines in this series, especially the dream sequence which was practically a waste of an episode. John Hensley plays the slightly psycho Matt who will not listen to his parents no matter how much you scream at the screen telling him not to be such an idiot. He is a great actor who I think will be a big thing one day.

The one big problem that I have with this DVD box set is that it has no DVD features! I don't know about anybody else but when I pay for a DVD I want special features. If you want them you will have to purchase the first season box set. All you are paying for with the second season is a moving sequence for the main menus and 5 discs with the episodes on. There are sixteen episodes in this series and at 45 minutes each the entire season would take you just over 12 hours to watch. Do I hear a Nip/Tuck marathon being planned?

Season one and season two box sets are available to buy now. You can purchase them off amazon.co.uk for £31.97 each. The third season will be available to buy in May. To watch the next series keep a look out on Sky One in about six months time when we can expect the fourth season to be shown in the UK.

I recommend this series to anyone who enjoyed the first series and for anyone who just fancies like watching a deeply superficial drama about the lives of very beautiful and rich people with lots of problems.

Nip/Tuck Season two DVD box set is rated 18 and contains strong sex, violence, hard drug use and surgery. So this programme is definitely not suitable for anyone under this age.
 

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