Nip/Tuck went all futuristic this past Tuesday, giving the fans an insight into who and what the doctors would be doing in twenty years time. The formula of a "future-episode" is far from original, and it's something that's been attempted many times with other TV shows, but regardless, it was interesting and fun to watch Nip/Tuck do something along those lines.

For me, the dream sequences and hallucinations that accompany Nip/Tuck are one of the best things about the show, so on paper this episode was a dream come true, much like "Julia McNamara" was in Season Two. What was most interesting about the episode (although dissapointingly dull) was the growth of Conor McNamara. In present show time he's only a baby, so seeing him twenty years old was something, but out of all of the evolutions the charac ters went through in the episode, his was probably the least satisfying. Matt was now working with Médecins Sans Frontières, Julia was, umm, well, it wasn't explained what she did, and Sean and Christian now had a franchise of McNamara/Troy surgeries across the world. Annie understandably with her traumatic and problematic upbringing was a complete wreck, moaning, whining, anorexic, agoraphobic- basically your thrity-year-old child from hell.

The events may take place twenty years later, but for the three core-characters of the show -Julia, Sean and Christian- a lot of their personalies and quirks had just been exaggerated or built upon. The best example of this was Chrisitan with his twin brides conveniently unable to speak English. Full of charm, still a nymphomaniac, and retaining his quick one-liners. The fact he was very Jack Nicholson-esque in his appearance was just the icing on th e cake. The complete transformation of Matt now as a doctor was a complete surprise, and very assuring for people like me, who just wish the writers would give him some happiness for once. The scenes with Annie were a little overdone though, but presumably it's an evolution we'll see over the coming episodes seasons, which should make for some fantastic viewing.

With the action frequently switching between present time and future time, there was little room for further explanation and story telling as far as the character's evolution was concerned, and that was probably the downfall of the episode. Compared to past episodes this season it's understandably far from achieving the title of "episode of the year", but Conor McNamara 2026 is fun, well-written, and an absolute joy to watch if you're as serious about these characters as I am.

What does the next twenty years hold for these characters? Well, you'll just have to stay-tuned to watch that development and evolution take place for yourself...