Teddy Bear Teeth

This week's Nip/Tuck put teeth on a teddy bear -- both figuratively and literally. Colleen (Sharon Gless) sure showed some teeth this week, both in her Teddy Bear craftsmanship and her murderous turn to keep Sean as a client. But more on that later.


The flesh of the weak is the food of the strong
Shishio Makoto, Rurouni Kenshin

The patients this week were doe-eyed newlyweds who, it turns out, turned to cannibalism to survive their honeymoon. The husband, Kyle (played by Jeff Hephner, who we last saw on The O.C. as Matt, Seth's comic book partner,) served himself as an appetizer, and the surgery to repair him featured just enough bars of Total Coelo's eighties oddity "I Eat Cannibals (Pt. 1)" to illicit a laugh, before tastefully moving on. Wife Lanie -- played by Lily Rabe, the daughter of Jill Clayburgh -- feels so guilty about eating part of her husband, so she offers up some of her own rancid flesh for her husband in post-op, making him sick. The surgery to repair her flesh offering naturally featured Billy Idol's "Flesh for Fantasy." It must've been a hoot picking music for this episode.

Meanwhile, Christian deals with a couple instances of teddy bear teeth. First, in a dream, he tries to break the news to Wilbur that baby's mama is dead, straight up, no chaser:

Mommy's not coming back because Daddy killed her. Daddy was horny, and tired, and mommy offered him cheap sex and well, basically, I screwed her off the balcony.

To which 3-year old Wilbur eventually replies, "mom's a skank." It was only a dream, but there were some serious teeth on both these instances when hugging a teddy bear was called for. It's certainly not uncommon for 3-year olds to act out dealing with a changed environment, so Wilbur being accused of biting his classmates felt very real. Our (nearly) 3-year old is still battling nightmares over the recent death of our family dog, and it's a tricky thing, to pull all the teeth out of such terrible news. Let's just say giving a puppy -- who's teething, no doubt -- to sooth Wilbur's baby mama grief is NOT the answer.

Next up is Gina's funeral, which starts out as a classy affair, set to Handel's "Sonata No. 6 in G Minor", but when the eulogies start, it turns into something entirely different. Her Sexaholics Anonymous cohorts don't hold back when discussing her prowess in the sack. "She gave the rim job of a lifetime" confesses one, while the leader later admits, "I'm going to be whacking off to those memories." These eulogies definitely had teeth!

But back to Colleen -- Sharon Gless again owned every scene, taking Colleen from kind old Jewish aunt in big glasses to her murderous extreme and back again. I loved that she had her own build-a-bear factory in her tiny apartment, and the Agent Teddy Bear (with teeth) was a nice touch, both commenting on the cannibalistic nature of the business and visually tying the episode together. But stuffing Bob the CAA agent to "Me and My Teddy Bear," while another fine instance of teddy bear teeth, was way over the top. That's something for Hearts & Scalpels to parody in an upcoming episode for sure (or appear in a collection of horror stories.)

Next week, we get a 80's Ladies night, with Joan Van Ark and Donna Mills from Knots Landing, Shari Belafonte from Hotel and Deb Shelton from DePalma's Body Double.
"The eighties never left" - Ryan Murphy.

Playlist: Nip/Tuck - Episode 5.11
1. "Prelude No. 22 in B Flat Minor, BWV 891" - Johann Sebastian Bach - Sean & Christian discuss Gina
2. "I Eat Cannibals (part 1) - Total Coelo - Sean & Christian perform Kyle's surgery
3. "These Boots Are Made For Walkin' - Nancy Sinatra - Sean performs Colleen's hammer toe surgery
4. "Sonata no. 6 in G minor Larghetto" - George Frideric Handel - Sexaholics Anonymous members deliver eulogy at Gina's funeral
5. "Me And My Teddy Bear" - The Tinseltown Players - Colleen stuffs Bob Levitz like a Teddy Bear
6. "Flesh For Fantasy" - Billy Idol - Sean & Christian perform Lanie’s surgery / Christian discusses Wilbur’s teacher
Compiled by Avalon at niptuckforum.com

More: Sharon Gless' wrap present to Ryan Murphy was a Teddy Bear with a noose around it's neck.

Previously: Possession and The Other One-Tenth (Episode 5.10)

A pebble in a lake

Early on in this last Sopranos episode, Christopher says something that speaks a lot to creator David Chase's methods: "Like a pebble in a lake. Even the fish feel it." He may have been speaking about the prior death of Vito, but the sentiment that even the smallest events have a larger rippling effect rings true in the series. It's what makes episodes like this so hard to gauge, where little happens and you can't figure out what's going to come back and be a significant player in the plot. And with only five episodes left, Chase's slow boil is reaching the point where this lake is stealthily cooking all the fish at once.

The episode ("Chasing it") is on the surface about gambling, but really it's about self-destruction as a means of coping. Tony's been surrounded by 'yes' men and living high on the hog for some time now, but since surviving Junior's bullet, he hasn't been happy with being the boss and the knowledge that the only ways out involve death or disgrace. His gambling problem manifests itself as a substitution for confronting these feelings, and it's telling that the music that underscores his gambling is "Goin' Down Slow" by Howlin' Wolf. Meanwhile, Vito Jr is dealing with his father's death and public embarrasment through teenage rebellion. You'd think Tony could empathize given his storied rebellious past, but in the wake of his piling gambling debts, he sees it more as a money problem.

Speaking of money, Tony's trusted friend (and unofficial consigliaro) Hesh unknowingly gets caught in Tony's self-destructive storm when he loans him money. Furthering his self-destruction, Tony adds Hesch to the list of people (Bobby, Christopher and Paulie;) he's alientated in these last episodes. Even Carlo gets Tony's wrath, for both not bringing in as much as Vito did, and for bringing up an episode from The Twilight Zone. The episode ("A Nice Place to Visit") involves a gambler/small-time crook who never gets a break, and finally dies and finds himself in a place where he can't lose a bet, and everybody says they love him. This turns out to be hell. In Ray Kurzweil's 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines, he makes the following point:

Death gives meaning to our lives. It gives importance and value to time. Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it. If death were to be indefinitely put off, the human psyche would end up, well, like the gambler in the Twilight Zone Episode.

This rings true for both Tony and the whole ending of The Sopranos as a series. Meanwhile, it's not all so serious... Nancy Sinatra sings "Bossman" at a party for Phil, celebrating his ascension to 'bossman' of the NY family. Brother Frank Jr has already appeared as himself on the series back in the 2nd season ("The Happy Wanderer" - which was also an episode about gambling, brining it full circle.) One has to wonder if there's enough time left for sister Tina to make an appearance as well, especially considering she's the one that revealed daddy's ties to the mob (and JFK.)

Playlist: The Sopranos - Episode 616
1. "Peppermint Twist" - Joey Dee and the Starliters - Tony vents to Silvio about Vito Jr. at Satriale's
2. "Kernkraft 400" - Zombie Nation - Tony loses a bet at the Bing, as the NY Giants win ahead of the spread
3. "Bossman" - Nancy Sinatra - Nancy Sinatra performs at Phil's party
4. "Goin' Down Slow" - Howlin' Wolf - A night of gambling, and again at the end as Tonys pays his debt and his respect to Hesch
5. "Ralph's New Blues" - Modern Jazz Quartet - Tony pays Hesch a visit
6. "Rompe" - Daddy Yankee - AJ takes Victor to the Latino Day Parade
7. "Livin' La Vida Loca" - Ricky Martin - Marching band plays this as Blanca breaks up with AJ at the parade
8. "Honky Tonk" - Bill Doggett - Tony drives by a mosque and recognizes Ahmed and Mohammed from the Bing

More: The concept album Spiritual Machines from Our Lady Peace is based on Ray Kurzweil's book, and even has a track with the passage quoted above ("R.K. on Death.")

Previously: Why James Dean died and Paulie lives on (Episode 615)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, nancy sinatra, twilight zone, books, age of spiritual machines, rhapsody