WHEN YOU GO FROM A MINOR PROCEDURE TO BEING JOCELYN WILDENSTEIN AND HOW YOU GET BACK AGAIN...MAYBE
So I watched the Nip/Tuck season finale last night for...I don't know why, but I did. I used to enjoy this melodrama for its first couple of seasons. The third one got bogged down with The Carver which went on a bit long and was generally unsatisfying in the end.
With the one-two punch of Liz's kidney being stolen all urban-legend-like and the insufferable Rosie O'Donnell [no link!], I decided it was time to just bail. Oh, look. There's that shark that's been lingering about. And there's a ramp here now. Hmm.
So, the finale was interesting. I mean that in the Chinese proverb sense. Two things struck me about this and, yeah there's going to be some spoileryness about this, so if it's sitting on your TiVo either go watch it or don't, but do it now. One thing bad. One thing good.
The one thing bad was that they tried to pull of the Magnolia Trick. I somehow doubt that Paul Thomas Anderson originated the following idea (though maybe he did), but he was the one that got it in front of everybody so I'm giving him the credit. The Magnolia Trick is that, essentially, your ensemble cast basically speaks/sings the lyrics of the song ("Brighter Discontent" by The Submarines) lain over the montage they are in. Nip/Tuck didn't actually have them vocalize it themselves, but they mouthed all the lyrics of the whole song through these scenes of their lives, as if they just happened to be saying them (and in the case of a line referring to "hotel stationary / from the time we first met ," the character was using medical office stationary from Troy/Landau, quite plainly).
I didn't think it came off very well, and besides, I regard this as being like the opening arpeggio of "Every Breath You Take." It's kind of weird chord, I think it's got a ninth in it and maybe an eleventh. It a strange minor chord extension or something, I don't know. It's been a while. The thing is, you try arpeggiating that chord for some other song or in a different way (may be even just strumming it) and you think of "Every Breath You Take." Andy Summers and Gordon ruined that chord for everybody else that would come after him (not so much had the song just been a B-side and "Miss Gradenko" had somehow become the popular song of the decade). Anderson ruined that montage idea for those who would come after him. It's too unique an idea to just keep in the box of stuff you use again.
The good: Christian joining Sean in Hollywood to reestablish McNamara/Troy in the other plastic surgery capital of the country. There's no reason that next year can't be like a soft booting of the series. It can get less involved from its own built-up continuity and get back to its roots and also play with the movie star thing (though, I think Nip/Tuck has suffered from Will & Grace syndrome (too damn many high profile guest stars).
And this is Jocelyn Wildenstein.
With the one-two punch of Liz's kidney being stolen all urban-legend-like and the insufferable Rosie O'Donnell [no link!], I decided it was time to just bail. Oh, look. There's that shark that's been lingering about. And there's a ramp here now. Hmm.So, the finale was interesting. I mean that in the Chinese proverb sense. Two things struck me about this and, yeah there's going to be some spoileryness about this, so if it's sitting on your TiVo either go watch it or don't, but do it now. One thing bad. One thing good.
The one thing bad was that they tried to pull of the Magnolia Trick. I somehow doubt that Paul Thomas Anderson originated the following idea (though maybe he did), but he was the one that got it in front of everybody so I'm giving him the credit. The Magnolia Trick is that, essentially, your ensemble cast basically speaks/sings the lyrics of the song ("Brighter Discontent" by The Submarines) lain over the montage they are in. Nip/Tuck didn't actually have them vocalize it themselves, but they mouthed all the lyrics of the whole song through these scenes of their lives, as if they just happened to be saying them (and in the case of a line referring to "hotel stationary / from the time we first met ," the character was using medical office stationary from Troy/Landau, quite plainly).
I didn't think it came off very well, and besides, I regard this as being like the opening arpeggio of "Every Breath You Take." It's kind of weird chord, I think it's got a ninth in it and maybe an eleventh. It a strange minor chord extension or something, I don't know. It's been a while. The thing is, you try arpeggiating that chord for some other song or in a different way (may be even just strumming it) and you think of "Every Breath You Take." Andy Summers and Gordon ruined that chord for everybody else that would come after him (not so much had the song just been a B-side and "Miss Gradenko" had somehow become the popular song of the decade). Anderson ruined that montage idea for those who would come after him. It's too unique an idea to just keep in the box of stuff you use again.
The good: Christian joining Sean in Hollywood to reestablish McNamara/Troy in the other plastic surgery capital of the country. There's no reason that next year can't be like a soft booting of the series. It can get less involved from its own built-up continuity and get back to its roots and also play with the movie star thing (though, I think Nip/Tuck has suffered from Will & Grace syndrome (too damn many high profile guest stars).
And this is Jocelyn Wildenstein.