Six Feet Under 4/28/02 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Just when Nate thought his life was going to be cut short, his life is about to feel like it's a lot more longer than he expected. Lily Taylor did an excellent job in conveying the hurt she felt as Nate told her about his engagement to Brenda. That was some spot on acting.

Love it how Keith is turning David into his "bitch". Karla is one skanky mom, using her daughter for urine samples.

Brenda is out of control, using the book to live her life anti-vicariously, so it seems. I can't see Nate and Brenda getting hitched.

Loved the Dina Meyer cameo as the wife/(step-mom to daughters her age) of the DOTW (Death of the Week). Nate going off on all 3 women was, as Tony the Tiger would say, "Gerr-rraate!"

Rico and Nikkolai's lunch was played for good laughs, first Rico is enjoying the lunch, and then he gets all defensive when Nikkolai starts asking about the facial cuts/bruises.

Claire is still all creep out and attracted to the wrong guys. Just when you thought she was done with Billy, Billybatty pulls a few scars out of the bag and reels Claire back into his insanity.

Ruth almost reminded me of an older version of Ally McBeal in the way she snapped at Claire while trying to get Claire to look in on Nikkolai. Nikkolai is definitely in debt and paid a heavy price for not paying up on the interest/loan.

Nathaniel was either Nate's bad hellion on his shoulder telling him not to tell Brenda about him knocking up Lisa (Lily Taylor), or just Nate's fear of dying alone.

 

[Chris]

The comment about allowing the jackals to have at the corpse had me laughing out loud. Great episode, the DOTW was better played then most.. I loved the "I bought all of them so those bitches.." bit was also in there.. final vengence, I guess

 

[Michael Nelson]

Patrick:

I think Kieth isn't so much turning David into his "bitch" as David is doing it to himself. David is an instinctual giver - he gives of himself willingly, enthusiastically, even to the point of self-destructivness. In this respect, he is rather the opposite of his mother who protects herself emotionally at all times.

Brenda is just as whacked as her brother, except she doesn't have a medical condition to offer an excuse.

I can't quited decide if I like Nikkolai. I guess I missed the episode(s) wherein he was introduced. Were his broken legs the first we learned about his - uh - associations?

You know, I didn't watch the first season in its original run. I watched it when they reran it in sequence a couple of months back. It took exactly one half of one episode to get me hooked. It's a hell of a good show.

 

[Patrick Sun]

David is definitely "Looking for Mr. Goodbar."

Nikkolai was introduced when Ruth went looking for a job (she was still dating the Ed Begley Jr. character at the time) and she wound up at Nik's flower shop since his shop provided the flowers for the funeral arrangements IIRC, and talked her way into a job (there was the funny episode with Mary Gross as the flower arrangement instructor and Ruth's inhibited side that made her a terrible flower arranger at the start of her employment at Nik's). Robbie was a snit to her at the beginning, and then came the "build your house" stuff with her and Robbie, but thankfully Ruth is over that bit of self-programming.

Tonight was the first that we learned of Nik's money problems with the Russian mobsters.

 

[Dan B]

Brenda is just as whacked as her brother, except she doesn't have a medical condition to offer an excuse.

What makes you so sure of that?

 

[Quentin]

Wasn't the title of this episode, "Through the eyes of others" or something like that? A great illustration of seeing people from different points of view.

Lily Taylor is ALWAYS spot on. Man, she's good...

 

[Janna S]

It seems to me that recent episodes have focused more on the individual characters and their associations, and less on the death and dying process.

Although I find the characters and their dilemmas fascinating, I miss the power of some of the earlier episodes when the death, the deceased, and the survivors were significant parts of the show. For example, one of my favorites is the episode where the young gang member was killed, when his fellow gang member ("Powerful") was such a significant presence. I also miss some of the politics of the funeral home industry.

Integrating information about the death industry, and the details of the death of the week, seem to be afterthoughts in recent episodes. Sometimes the death serves purely to drive something related to the ongoing characters (Nate getting the motorcycle, Nate being attracted to the rabbi). Consequently the show is beginning to feel more like a soap to me.

I still love it, and I don't miss any episodes, but it's feeling less significant.

 

[John Berggren]

I really hope at this point that Nate and Brenda do not get married. If they do, I hope they take some time off beforehand to really reassess the situation. Brenda really needs to work on herself before she attaches herself to another.

Billy is creepy as usual, but he's right one when he target's Nate's illness as a reason that Brenda is staying with him.

I still think that Brenda's prostitute friend is growing bored of Brenda's adventures. Sometimes I feel like I want to slap her. I don't know how her character will continue relating in the show if she goes too far, or if Nate finds out about her flings.

I figured that Nate would tell her about the baby, and that would cause her to tell him about what's been going on, but as the episode progressed, I decided that was not likely to happen.

I wonder that Clair won't so much return to Billy as to take an interest in photography. I think the pictures made it clear to her that she had a good eye for pictures. Dramatically, I'm sure she'll still dabble with Billy though as she doesn't learn her lesson. How many times did she go back to Gabe? Billy will have to do something awful before she stops.

Keith is sending mixed signals, as David accused, but David loves him to much to not put up with it. Keith can clearly walk all over David, and David won't mind. I hope he grows a backbone. I still think they can have a great relationship, but it needs to be more equal.

I hate Karla. I hope she gets caught or loses custody one way or another. She really needn't be the parent figure for that child. She'd have a far healthier upbrining with Keith and David, or even Keith alone.

Ruth was barely present in this episode, it seems. I don't know what she's going to do to help Niccolai get out of his situation, but I doubt she makes him go it alone.

Interesting how easily Rico and Niccolai bonded.. they are very alike, very macho and domineering... and quite beaten. The look of them sitting together was perfect.

A few more weeks of season 2. I guess we'll have to wait a full year for season 3. The wait will be painful.

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

SFU is begginning to look more reflective of a daytime soap opera. I say this because it seems that every week the show continues, there is some new conflict in every characters life. This week it was Nate finding out his ex is carrying his baby, Niccolai being hounded by the Russian mob, and every week Brenda has sexual contact with some stranger, one of the next few episodes will probably have her having sex with a woman or her sneaking down into the morgue and having sex with a cadavir.
IMO the show is to cluttered with so many sub-plots that the true heart of the show is being lost.
So when the cliff hanger at the end of the season is that Nathaniel Fisher is still alive and being kept alive by Kroehner in their top secret labratory, don't say i didn't tell you so.

 

[John Berggren]

David - you are right, bored is not the right word. I think your perspective is spot on.

 

[Lee L]

I thought it was interesting when Billy told Claire she "will be 18 for the rest of your life." Was this some foreshadowing or is he just trying to make a point about the inner voice never aging, yada, yada, yada?

I agree about the prostitute and Brenda having a falling out. It almost seems like Brenda is just trying to one up her by saying "hey, look at me, I can be just as much of a slut as you can" when as pointed out, it is really just paying the bills and not because she really likes to have sex with strangers.

I have always wondered how Nate can think this can go anywhere. After all he met Brenda and banged her in the janitors closet at the airport after like 10 minutes.