Christian Troy

Christian Troy
First appearance	Pilot (episode 1.01)
Last appearance	Hiro Yoshimura (episode 6.19)
Created by	Ryan Murphy
Portrayed by	Julian McMahon
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Plastic Surgeon
Family	Gail Pollack (mother) Mr. Troy (foster rapist father) Max Pollack (half-brother) Sarah Pollack (half-sister)
Spouse(s)	Liz Cruz (divorced) Kimber Henry (widowed)
Children	Matt McNamara (son with Julia McNamara) Emme Lowell (daughter) Wilber Sutherland (adoptive son) Unnamed Child (via artificial insemnation with Liz Cruz (aborted) Unnamed Child (unknown sex with, Kimber Henry, aborted)
Relatives	Jenna McNamara (granddaughter)

Dr. Christian Troy is a fictional character played by Julian McMahon on the FX Networks series Nip/Tuck. The show revolves around McNamara/Troy, the plastic surgery practice he runs with his business partner and best friend, Sean McNamara.

Character history

Christian Troy is initially characterized as a self-absorbed womanizer with no qualms about using people to get what he wants. He drives flashy cars, wears Gucci suits, and frequents Miami's best nightclubs.

However, the character is eventually shown to have a vulnerable side beneath his callous exterior. In one episode, he confesses that he was molested as a child by his foster father. This early trauma destroyed his faith in a just god. In another story arc, he meets his biological mother, who tells him that he is the product of rape; she then cuts off any contact with him because he is the spitting image of his father, her rapist, and because she doesn't want her "real family" to know about that part of her life.

He has had affairs with most of the series' female characters, including Sean's wife, Julia; initially unbeknownst to Sean, his son Matt is, in fact, Christian's biological child, with whom he is very close and protective of. The show's first two seasons include many episodes centered around Christian's dysfunctional relationship with Kimber, a former patient whom he often manipulated and cheated on.

In the first season, he had a one-night stand with Gina Russo, a recovering sex addict. Gina, angered to have broken her vow of celibacy, resolved to make Christian's life miserable, and the two initiated a bitter, love/hate sexual relationship that was not resolved until the fourth season. After the one-night stand, Gina became pregnant and throughout the pregnancy, Christian believed he was the father. At birth, Christian realized he was obviously not the father since the child was half black. However, Christian takes care of and becomes the surrogate father to her son, Wilber. After becoming a father more of the soft side of Christian emerged. The clearest example of this came around the time of his fortieth birthday. After trying to hire a nanny to watch his son, he began sleeping with her, and while having sex with her one night, he found out that she had been giving Wilber cough medicine to keep the baby quiet. He immediately fired her and spent the night of his birthday with his son, his birthday wish being a prayer to God to make him a good father. He would later lose Wilber to Wilber's biological father who decides to sue Gina for sole custody.

In the third season, Christian himself is sexually assaulted by The Carver, a masked serial rapist preying on McNamara/Troy's patients. He is briefly suspected of, and arrested once for, the Carver's crimes. A distraught Christian temporarily withdraws from work, prompting Sean to bring in another surgeon, Quentin Costa. Costa involves himself in Christian's relationship with Kimber Henry, and the two become bitter rivals. Christian almost married Kimber but she was kidnapped by the Carver^[1]; after she was rescued, she would not, at first, let Christian see what the Carver did to her face and body. She broke off their relationship so she could do some soul-searching. Eventually, Kimber came back as a Scientologist^[2]. When Kimber became pregnant, Christian stole DNA for a paternity test, convinced he was the real father.

Distressed by his apparent inability to form an intimate adult relationship, Christian entered psychotherapy with Dr. Faith Wolper — and eventually had sex with her^[3]. Dr. Wolper also suggested that Christian's relationship block existed because he was really in love with Sean. During that time Christian began dreaming about having sex with Sean. She later told him that she was a recovering sex addict, and realized after their tryst that she still had a problem. She then asked him to remove a tattoo an ex-lover had forced her to get as a means of degrading her^[4]. Christian eventually realized the dreams were the result of his own personal identity crisis, and resolved his problems with Sean^[5]. He also began an affair with Michelle Landau, the wife of McNamara/Troy's new owner. Soon after they met, Christian suspected her of having a relationship with a woman named James who was smuggling organs out of the clinic. Christian found out that James was Michelle's former pimp and paid James off to leave her and McNamara/Troy alone.

Michelle's husband, Burt, found out about the affair from Wolper, and tried to force the two to have sex in front of him. When Burt later tried to have sex with Michelle, he had a stroke and died after she refused him medicine. After Burt's death, Christian and Michelle became engaged, and Michelle agreed to be Wilber's adoptive mother. James did not keep her end of the bargain, however; she used McNamara/Troy as a base of operations. Christian then found out that James worked for drug lord Escobar Gallardo (one of the series' primary villains). James eventually committed suicide^[6]. He and Michelle bought Sean's stake in McNamara/Troy after Sean moved to California. Just as it seemed they would live happily ever after, Christian found out that she had been James' accomplice in the organ smuggling ring. Disgusted, he left her and followed Sean to California^[7].

However, life wasn't easy in LA and they spent their first 2 months without any clients. Desperate, they join a show as consults and guest-stars. Due to hair implants gone wrong he was cut out while Sean enjoyed his first day of fame. Out of spite he broke a confidentiality agreement and revealed he had done some surgery on an actress to get recognition himself^[8]. This falls flat as he is double crossed by the magazine, which doesn't publish his story and tells his agent. He then does a porn photoshoot, attracting gay men to his office. He also takes part in Marylin Monroe impersonator conflict but they reconcile and end up having a three-way where Christian wants to be like a star^[9]. He then has sex with Julia only for her to reveal it was to get him out of her system. Christian dabbles in male prostitution after a woman mistook him for an actual prostitute named Campbell^[10]. Afterwards, the client tells a friend, her friend's fantasy ends badly, making Christian give up his night job as a prostitute, and Christian decides to give religion a try after meeting a nun^[11]. He then has trouble with Eden as she threatens to tell Sean about his night with Julia, he solves that problem by setting her up to look like a drug addict and admitting her into rehab^[12]. She comes back while they are filming a reality show and reveals the truth but Sean doesn't believe her and she then tells him she lied. He is also trying to get Julia and Olivia to break up^[13].

Julia and Christian begin to have relationship behind Olivia's back. Sean eventually discovers their relationship and both admit to him that they are in love. However, Christian is tempted to cheat on Julia yet again with Gina, who was hired temporarily as receptionist. Oddly enough, Sean had chosen Gina for this position because Christian was the least likely to cheat with her, but the two find non-coital means to have an affair. When Gina admits the affair to Julia and Christian meets her on the roof of his office building to serve her a restraining order, he is offered a condom by Gina. He begins to have intercourse with her on the ledge of the roof, when Gina is thrust off the building, falling to her immediate death.

Matt slept with a patient of Christian's named Emme after Christian tried to set them up together after Matt's breakup with his Israeli girlfriend Rachel. After they had sex Emme mentions to Matt that Christian is her father. She had earlier told Christian that she was from Cleveland, Georgia and that she was conceived via a one-night stand. Matt and Emme discussed staying a couple despite having the same father. Emme's mother Darlene Lowell, a woman who lost her legs to diabetes, came to LA to meet with Christian, whom she says took her virginity during his spring break in Fort Lauderdale, which resulted in the conception of Emme. She informed Christian that Emme was his daughter and that Emme was sleeping with his son. The two immediately got a paternity test to ensure that Emme was Christian's daughter and the test proved positive, afterwards they informed the two siblings that they should stop their sexual relationship to be replaced by a more platonic relationship. Emme and Matt confronted each other before Emme left for Georgia and she tried getting him to come with her, but he eventually broke it off with her.

In the "Season 5 Part II" premiere, it is discovered that Christian has developed second stage breast cancer after revealing he had found a lump on his chest while accompanying Liz who had just had a mammogram. At the end of the episode he underwent a mastectomy with Sean promising to perform the reconstruction. After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, Christian becomes very ill and Liz decides to stay with him while he recovers. Eventually the two end up having sex, leading to them becoming a couple briefly until Christian recovers enough to resume his womanizing ways. A hurt Liz quits her job at McNamara/Troy and moves back to Miami. Despite his apparent good health, Christian learns that the cancer has spread and he has six months to a year left to live. Realizing he doesn't want to spend what time he has left alone, he travels back to Miami and asks Liz to come back by proposing to her. Liz returns, and discovers that a large amount of medicine is missing from the storeroom. Christian admits to Liz that he stole it because he found out his cancer had returned and he was going to use the drugs to kill himself, but changed his mind. Liz is insulted that Christian asked her to marry him so that she "could help him die" and throws the ring back at him. Later, Liz changes her mind and agrees to marry Christian after realizing he is sincere in his wish to spend what time he has left with her.

However, shortly after his wedding to Liz, he receives a phone call from his doctor telling him that his cancer is fully in remission. His results were switched with another patient's due to a computer glitch. The doctor wishes him and his new wife a long, happy life together.

In the beginning of season 6 Christian and Liz have broken up due to Christian finding out about his cancer remission and is not dying. Liz has become very bitter and in return for breaking her heart sues him for divorce and threatens to take everything he owns. Meanwhile Matt has taken up Mime lessons, but after it tanks Matt uses his theatrical look to hold people at (fake) gunpoint. After seeing a patients darkness kill his own family, Liz decides to drop her case and set Christian free, wanting nothing to do with him.

Christian and Kimber marry in Season 6, but the marriage is ill fated from the start. Kimber is having an affair with Sean, which makes her feel extremely guilty and affects her sex life with Christian. In order to spice things up, Christian tries to strangle her during sex (at the suggestion of one of his surgery patients)since she refuses to do it to him. Since Kimber refuses to participate, Christian attempts to strangle himself in the shower and passes out. Kimber discovers him laying on the floor and comes to his aid. He then confesses that Kimber deserves better, and that he will never be able to love her like she wants to be loved. Though Kimber makes a last ditch effort to save the marriage, Christian has already given up, which drives Kimber to drown herself by jumping off a boat.

Christian feels guilt ridden about Kimber's death and blames himself, although when Kimber's mother comes to town, he has no qualms about sleeping with her. Kimber's ghost then appears and ridicules him for his actions. Her ghost also appears a final time, and reveals she killed herself to escape him, and believes that Sean might do the same if he remains at McNamara/Troy since Christian's lifestyle destroys everyone around him.

Julia returns to town for Matt's wedding to Ramona, and reveals that she is engaged, but this does not stop Christian from making moves on her, telling her he still loves her. Julia rejects him and leaves, crushing Christian's ego.

After much thought about how his lifestyle is affecting Sean, Christian makes the decision to dissolve the partnership between them. He tells Sean that he knows he is miserable at McNamara/Troy and that there is no reason for him to stay since Julia has taken the children to England. Sean has become attached to Raphael, the orphan that Ava Moore left at the practice, and knowing that Sean does not want to give the baby up, Christian gets him a plane ticket to leave the country with Raphael. Sean reluctantly agrees, and walks out of the office to see a new sign up in the foyer..."Troy/Cruz".

Upon their last goodbye at the airport, the ex-partners are of few words, say their goodbyes, and separate at the terminal. Though Sean looks back, Christian keeps walking until he reaches the bar where he meets an attractive young blonde. Revealing the fact that he will never change, he attempts to make a move on the girl, who rejects him until he says he can't take a drink because he has to do surgery the next day. She replies, "You're a doctor?", an allusion to the way Christian first met his late wife, Kimber Henry. Christian smiles and says, 'Plastic surgeon.'

References

1. ^ Nip/Tuck 3.12
2. ^ Nip/Tuck 4.02
3. ^ Nip/Tuck 4.01
4. ^ Nip/Tuck 4.07
5. ^ Nip/Tuck 4.12
6. ^ Nip/Tuck 4.14
7. ^ Nip/Tuck 4.15
8. ^ Nip/Tuck 5.01
9. ^ Nip/Tuck 5.02
10. ^ Nip/Tuck 5.03
11. ^ Nip/Tuck 5.04
12. ^ Nip/Tuck 5.05
13. ^ Nip/Tuck 5.06