Monday, July 18, 2005

Staring into the abyss, Quaker style

Six Feet Under Ep. 58

Fresh on the heals of death comes another Six Feet Under... it's got me in too funky a mood to recap, but here it goes anyway. Our stiff this week is a case of SFU/Entourage synergy, with the actor who plays Wicks (the money behind Queens Blvd.) plays the stiff of the week (SOW.) This SOW is a Quaker who quacks in a theater, while the actors figuratively die on stage. Maggie's a Quaker too, and as part of the hip L.A. Quaker scene, she knows the SOW. So she calls Nate in the middle of the night, sobbing, and Nate's sleep-filled eyes light up, and it's not because he's getting some business. Durrell and Anthony discover David and Keith's gay porn collection and a lesson in privacy ensues. Brenda is picking out maternity wear when she gets a call from the Doctor telling her she might not need such clothing. It seems their unborn child might have a disability (of course it does, this is Six Feet Under we're talking about here,) but more tests need to be done. Brenda doesn't want the test and Nate doesn't want his life to be hard. Claire turns down a chance to drink with her co-workers because her shit don't stink (or it actually does, but not as bad as her co-workers when they repeatedly mimic Austin Powers' yeah, baby.) Ruth is quick to inform Claire that she's not better then everyone else, and Claire tells Ruth that she's looking into the abyss when she tries to do art now and it feels painfully alone - to which Ruth identifies with too much and quickly changes the subject. You see Ruth is trying on beards, Kaballah, her knitting circle, a Jay McInerney reading ("I used to use his coke-dealer" says Ruth's former soap star knitting friend,) pretending to be alright. Farmer Hoggett informs her that he's getting married again and Ruth goes to her friend's cocktail party and loses it ("just let me die alone!") flushing her famous potato salad down the guest bathroom. Rico's found that being home isn't what it's cracked up to be, as it seems Vanessa wanted him closer so she could show him how little she feels for him (and it only takes Rico 4 or 5 shots to the head with a blunt hint for him to get it.) David and Keith decide to go to Durrell's school performance on bio-diversity against his will, and after a charming song on Dutch Elm's disease, finally make a connection with him and they all go out for, uh... something that's not pie at Marie Callendar's. Ruth loses her way to the Jay McInerney signing and ends up at Farmer Hoggett's fiance's office and gives her a blow-by-blow of the madness of king george. After another night of staring into the abyss (and meeting a cute lawyer, Ted, at the office) Claire decides to go out with her co-workers for pichers o' brew after work (yeah, baby.) With the romantic atmosphere of a mechanical bull & requisite pichers, Claire shoots the shit with Ted ("being a lawyer's only one part of me.... I'd like to you show you my other parts" - yikes!) Beer goggles-in-tow, she appears to be hooked. Fuck art, I guess. After a pep-talk from mommy sensitive ("come on Brenda, don't you think I wanted to abort you and Billy?") Brenda decides to look at it from Nate's point of view and goes to tell him, but finds him looking rather un-funeral-home-director-like into Maggie's eyes. So instead she tells him to to whatever he wants to do, she doesn't fucking care anymore. They both silently make their choices as Nate looks back into Maggie's Quaker eyes and Brenda goes back to buying maternity clothes.

Next week: Nate sews his Quaker oats

Full tracklisting with scene descriptions

Previously:
The loss of the loss of virginity (Ep. 57)
Accept, adapt and adopt (Ep. 56)
Life is not a vending machine (Ep. 55)
Six Feet Under: Ep. 54
Mortality, insanity, paternity and more insanity (Ep. 53)
Requiem for a soap opera (Ep. 52 - Season 5 premiere)

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3 comments:

Shawn Anderson said...

Six Feet Under - Episode 58

* "Fallen" - Sarah McLachlan
* "Anyway You Want It" - Journey
* "Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)" - Oscar Peterson Trio
* "Let It Ride" - Ryan Adams
* "Blow, Gabriel Blow" - Cole Porter

Steve Portigal said...

Vanessa's behavior - she's pissed, sure, but she's more than pissed - reminds me of her chemical imbalance problems of the past, and I'm disappointed they are making no mention of it. She hates Rico, she just wants someone around to make her home life easier without much emotional effort, but she was clinically depressed and unmedicated and distant not that long ago. Wouldn't one think about similar problems when her behavior gets so out of "normal"? I guess not in this show, since that's in the already-written-and-forgotten-about past

Shawn Anderson said...

Yeah, that's the problem with bringing these normally peripheral characters to the forefront... we're not as enriched background-wise as with the rest of the characters (and with the series ending, we probably never will be.) It's becoming more apparent, though, that Rico has a lot to do with her depression. I'd be depressed too if I had to live with someone who will only respond to literal communication. I think what depresses her most, though, is that compared to what she sees out there for her, she had it good with Rico... and it wasn't (isnt') that good at all.