Six Feet Under: The Foot

David: "I don't understand kids. When I was her age, I never would have taken a foot."

Very funny. Too gruesome. Which went together, somehow.

Claire, in the blush of romantic fulfillment, discovered that sucking on Gabriel's toes was a huge mistake. My opinion of Gabriel wasn't exactly high in the first place, but still – what a jerk. Claire showed that she was bolder and more out there than I expected. I mean, stealing a foot and putting it in Gabriel's locker? Pretty darned interesting way to react to someone writing obscenities on your car.

What I enjoyed most about this one was Keith and Claire bonding just a bit as they searched for the foot. Keith is quite a guy. I mean, David had a serious problem, and Keith put on his uniform, went out, and did something about it. Keith explained to Claire why he was with David: "He gets me. When someone sees you as you really are, that's powerful." Keith and David were also very cute together, shopping for a ceiling fan, and lying underneath it later talking about death. They are a stronger, more solid couple than they first appeared to be. And did I mention cute?

David said okay to Nate's proposal to keep the business, and immediately looked shocked. (If David really wanted to be a lawyer, this was his big chance. I must conclude that he really didn't.) Nate and David kept expressing serious hostility toward each other, which didn't bode well for them as business partners. Has Nate really found his calling, even though it includes picking body parts up off the floor? Could be, but this decision was probably more about staying with Brenda. And Brenda wasn't on board. She told Nate several times in this episode that their relationship wasn't permanent. Although that didn't mean she doesn't care for him. She probably trivialized the relationship because she was afraid of getting hurt.

The whole thing with Kroehner, the merchants of death, was amusing at first – especially Nate verbally fencing with Gilardi, whom I will forever think of as that "greedy little Nazi fuck." But it got somewhat disturbing when Kroehner immediately started carrying out their threats. Even worse than losing business and suppliers and dealing with unexpected health inspections was their attempt recruit away the exceptionally talented Rico. Could the Fishers even make it without Rico?

Bits:

— The Opening Death Scene of bakery dismemberment (with cockroach) and their efforts to completely reconstruct the unfortunate Mr. Romano were somewhat evocative of the way the Fishers split apart on whether or not to sell the business.

— While getting rid of Nathaniel's clothes, Ruth flipped the mattress for the first time in twenty years, and threw out a cushion. Pretty obvious symbolism.

— The "torch mart" actually turned into a torch. It was implied that Claire did it. Did she?

— Nate dreamed about a little girl who said, "Are you a cup? How many cups are you? I'm a loaf of bread." I had no idea what this meant, but it probably meant something.

— Instead of a black screen when the scene changes, we sometimes get a white light. Obvious meaning there.

And pieces (insert appropriate foot pun here):

— "Thomas Alfredo Romano, 1944-2001." Definitely cringe-worthy. Gross me out, why don't you. The guy getting chopped up was bad, too. (That was supposed to be an amusing reference to the enormous cockroach.)

— Ruth kept her "best friend" Amelia at a distance.

— "Casket climber." Actually, not all that funny. I know someone who did it, although I left the funeral before it happened and only heard about it afterward.

— Claire's mental song and dance was mildly amusing. David and Ruth backing her up was much funnier.

— Rico substituted a latex-wrapped, duct-taped leg of lamb for the missing foot. You can imagine a suitable expression of amused horror on my face.

Quotes:

Ruth: "Are you bulimic?"
Claire: "Mom, apparently you want a child with an eating disorder."
Again, Ruth was fixated on what everyone was eating because it was something over which she had some control.)

Guy: "I hear old man Fisher kicked. You know him?"
Nate: "Not really."

Gilardi: "And it's only going to grow, with all the baby boomers and all."
Nate: "Gee, there'll be bodies everywhere."
Gilardi: "Hopefully."

Nate: "So in the end, we're all just human McNuggets."

Gilardi: "Now, we maintain a small fleet of vehicles."
Nate: "Hearses."
Gilardi: "Funeral carriages."
Nate: "Death wagons."
Gilardi: "Removal vans."

Nathaniel: "Fine. Go back to peddling soy milk and nailing waitresses. What do I care? I'm dead."

Kid (fake sneezing): "Toe slut!"

Keith: "How can I sleep, knowing there's a foot on the loose?"

Brenda: "There's only one thing that's certain. Everything changes."

Another good one. Three out of four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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