After six seasons of FX’s sex-soaked drama Nip/Tuck (Wednesdays, 10:00 p.m. ET), Sean McNamara's ambivalence about his friendship with Christian Troy is a well-worn plot device.  Inevitably, though, Sean's disgust proves to be a contrivance, since he always, at some point, engages in the same behavior as Christian.  Such was the case in the January 6th episode, which featured the usual profanity, explicit sexual content, and gruesome gore that's become Nip/Tuck's shameful trademark, causing the program to once again be named Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

In this episode, Sean and Christian have won a prestigious award from their alma mater.  Numerous flashbacks retrace the pair's relationship, as Sean laments that his personal and professional life hasn't turned out the way he had hoped.  In an early encounter, Christian proclaims that he has seen the future.  He holds up a Penthouse magazine and scoffs at Sean's intention to practice meaningful medicine.  Little does Sean know that on that day the die had already been cast.

Meanwhile, in the present, a patient with a rare and disturbing genetic condition wants reconstructive surgery for his lips.  Self-mutilation is a manifestation of the disease; it is revealed that the patient had bitten his own lips off.  During a flashback, the patient is shown as a little boy, who is compelled to chomp down on his own fingers as blood streams down his mouth. 

After the surgery, Sean and Christian fly to Miami to receive their award.  During the flight, Christian squirms in pain, having just received a vascetomy which Sean performed.  Christian had the procedure done after his mistress became pregnant.  In an earlier scene, the mistress waits for Christian's overbearing wife to leave before she states, "You should be thanking me...For waiting for her to leave before I told you I was pregnant, s*** d***. Nice job pulling out." On the airplane, Sean flirts with an attractive woman in first class, who invites him to join the "mile high club."  Christian warns him that flights are stricter post-9/11, but Sean ignores him and proceeds to have sex with the woman while everyone in the front row can hear her moan, "Oh, God!  Don't stop!"  Eventually, a US marshal arrests Sean for disrupting the flight.

In Miami, Christian surprises Sean by arranging for them to sleep in their old dorm room, where Christian promptly coaxes a pair of 18 year-old-coeds to play a game of strip poker.  While Christian takes a hit from a bong, the young girls strip to their bras.  Sean refuses to play, increasingly more fed-up with Christian's antics. 

Finally, when Sean learns that Christian bought the award with a sizable donation to the university, he smashes the trophy to bits.  But, as is always the case, he ends up forgiving Christian, enabling Christian once more to engage in his usual crude, narcisisstic behavior.  

As the series finale draws near, the producers want audiences to believe that both men are searching for true meaning in their lives.  Perhaps they will find it, perhaps not.  Either way, one this is for sure: there will be plenty of profanity, sex, and violence along the way - the same kind that has earned it the title of Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

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