Oh, Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

I have to say that I wasn't entirely pleased with how gender roles were portrayed in last night's episode of Nip/Tuck. Here's background and a summary for those who didn't see it or don't watch the show:

Dr. Sean McNamara and Dr. Christian Troy are the handsome plastic surgeons who have been running their own business for 15+ years. They are best friends, and they are sort of opposites: Sean is more cautious and concerned with being the good guy. He is more talented at surgery than Christian. Christian, on the other hand, is the charming, broad-shouldered, metrosexual womanizer. He can be cruel and superficial, but he does have a heart.

Julia, Sean's ex-wife, suddenly proclaims that she's a lesbian early on in the season. She introduces her girlfriend, Olivia (played by Portia de Rossi), to Sean and Christian. She was married to Sean for several years, and they had been through several problems and separations. She claims that the root of it all was her gayness (which I think is a crock of shit).

Christian and Julia have always had an unrequited love story throughout the show (Christian is also the father of Julia's first son). A few episodes ago, Christian told Julia that she was just running away from him by claiming she's a lesbian. She slept with him, and he thought they would be together, but she really just manipulated him to "get it out of her system" and go back to Olivia.

Olivia is confident and tough; it's pretty hot. But in last night's episode, Julia and Olivia are carjacked by a pervert. Olivia proves she's not as strong as she seems; she whimpers the whole time. They survive, and Julia calls Christian to pick them up from the police station. Julia decides to get a gun for protection, and she and Christian go to the shooting range to practice. The symbolism and writing are so fucking obvious: purchasing a gun and being strong is equated with going back to dick.

At the end of the episode, Julia shows up at Christian's door and asks him to take care of her and make love to her. I'm a bit surprised that the writers of the show would be so predictable and stereotypical.

Julia annoys me for several reasons:

1. She's ugly and looks like an aging, blonde ferret; I have no idea why both Sean and Christian are so in love with her.
2. There's not much to her character; I have no idea why both Sean and Christian are so in love with her.
3. She's a pseudo-bisexual who runs away from her issues by trying to play for the team opposite of the the team she's having problems with.
4. When she sees Olivia's (understandable) weakness in the face of being gunned to death, she writes Olivia off and goes to Christian so she can be taken care of by a big, strong man. It's so predictable.
5. She might not even really have feelings for Christian; she might just be screwing him to get revenge on Sean for sleeping with Eden (Olivia's daughter).
   

Okay, um, I should get back to studying for finals and working on some real problems.