Episode: “Cherry Peck”
Reviewer: Tim Stevens
This Week’s Themes: We cannot let the ghosts of our pasts ruin our futures.
Who Was Nice Enough to Say it For Us: Sean (to Cherry Peck)
Things get rolling right away this week when a familiar face shows up at the offices of McNamara/Troy. The preoperative that Matt took out his anger on at the start of this season, Cherry Peck, has come to ask for facial reconstructive surgery to heal the damage that Matt and a hack surgeon did to her. She threatens to call the cops if they do not perform it for free, but Sean calls her bluff and encourages her to go ahead and do that.
Sadly, this standoff is interrupted by a package for Christian…a bleeding package. Inside the doctors find two bloody implants. Using the serial numbers, Sean discovers that they are Kimber’s implants. Meanwhile, Christian discovers a note with the Carver’s signature saying in one. He realizes what we already knew: Kimber did not leave him at all.
Back at home, Matt drops in on his father Sean to get something to help Julia who is having terrible morning sickness. In the course of conversation, Sean reveals that Cherry came by the clinic but he sent her packing. A remorseful Matt asks Sean to do the surgery for free, not because of the blackmail, but because Cherry should not suffer because of the awful thing that Matt did. As I have said before, I’m not a big Matt fan, but even I have to admit that he’s been a fairly decent human being these past few episodes. Granted, it represents a 180 degree turn from the way he has acted the entire season up until this point and that’s not great writing, but I barely cringe when he’s on the screen anymore.
Sean hops from one awkward situation to the next, visiting with Julia to bring her some morning sickness cures (ginger ale, crackers, etc). Poor Sean is just such a mess. He’s just trying to be sweet at first, but then he pushes the envelope too far and tells Julia that he thinks she should move back in with him. The poor guy just never knows where the line is between “nice guy” and “ex-husband who can’t let go.”
Kit, folding to Christian’s persuasion, brings in Quentin. Quentin acts like, well, Quentin and oozes sleaze and arrogance out of every pore. Kit, however, is unusually reserved. I mean, she didn’t even try to make out with him once or question his manhood. Odd, that.
The tête-à-tête is interrupted by news of Kimber being found. She was wandering naked in a swamp in the Everglades, apparently dumped there by the Carver. While she was his (or her) prisoner, Kimber had each of her surgeries “reversed.” We already know her implants were removed, but before that she had the cartilage from her nose removed (to return it to its original appearance), the collagen removed from her lips, her face burned (to simulate sun damage), and chicken pumped into her stomach (reverse lipo) which also gave her a pleasant infection. Oh, and of course, the Carver gave her the trademark cuts on either side of her face. Christian wants to see her right away, but Kit will not allow it, fearful that she will lose her most promising Carver lead to shock and shame.
As Kimber seems to be awakening from a metaphorical nightmare, Julia is experiences literal ones about her baby and her relationship with Sean. Is it weird that I thought, out of everything in the two episodes, that this was the freakest, weirdest thing. Creeped me out something fierce, even if it was wicked cliché.
Christian maintains vigilance outside Kimber’s room, waiting for the moment when he can see her again. Sean has a bright idea and distracts the guard so Christian can sneak in. Funny how that always works in TV, isn’t it. Inside, Kimber blames Christian for what happened to her and questions how it was, if he was so broke up without her, why was he not out looking for her. When she finally allows him to see her, she asks him to tell her honestly what number she is now (1-10). Christian does his best to be a loving man, but can only manage to promise to “make you a 10 again.” Somehow, I doubt that was as reassuring as he was hoping.
He does, however, make good on his promise, reworking all of Kimber’s surgeries to triumphant, surging music. It is all very nice of him to do, but I really have to believe that it was not the most helpful response to Kimber’s concerns about no longer being beautiful or worthwhile.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the clinic, Matt visits with Cherry and the two of them seem to come to an understanding. Matt is actually quite pleasant and even a little sweet to her and the sociopath from earlier in the season begins to become a distant memory more and more.
Kit returns to interrogating Quentin, demanding he remove his pants. He spars with her several times, trying to deflect her requests with his Quentin-ness. Sadly, the Quentin-osity is not up to the task this time and he is forced to drop trough. And then, we immediately cut to another scene, so you just know there’s something weird going on there (Do I hear eunuch? Anyone?)
That other scene is a post-surgery Kimber. She’s still bruised, but clearly better than when she came in. Christian attempts to let her see the results but she tells him that no, she is done with mirrors forever. As Christian tries to convince her not to give in to the Carver’s brutality, she rebuffs him, claiming that he and porn were really her captors (although Christian’s attempts to make her quit porn go unmentioned). She knows Christian loves her and needs to be with her, but she needs to be without him. Even his offer to quit plastic surgery is not enough to dissuade her from this.
It turns out that Matt is not only pleasant now, he is apparently trying to be some sort of saint. He goes to the mall with Cherry to buy makeup for her (him…whatever) and stands up to a cruel clerk on her behalf. However, his triumph is short lived as who should show up but Arielle the Aryan (who is 1/16th black). She harasses the two of them in her own way before Matt sends her packing back to her father. I am guessing that that is not the end of this.
And so we reach the end of the episode. Oh, and eunuch was right. Quentin is without penis. So he cannot be the Carver. Right?
