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Six Feet Under: In Case of Rapture

Dorothy: "Some people think I'm in heaven. But guess what? There is no heaven. Except right here with you."

It's not that they do twisted off-the-wall stuff. It's that they do it so well.

Much of this episode was about the same theme as the Opening Death: the marriage bed and the afterlife. Nate was nearly ready to accept Lisa's death, but his job was a constant reminder; he was imposing his own feelings about dealing with grief on the customers. Dorothy Sheedy's husband just skipped the grief and went right to the afterlife part, and Nate found that unrealistic and unacceptable. If Nate were a priest, we could say that he lost his faith: he no longer believed in what he was doing. No wonder he quit.

Nate and his dead father conversed, but only outside of the house. Maybe Nathaniel Senior no longer felt welcome because of George. Arthur, who was an unwanted presence around the house much like Nathaniel Senior, pointed out that the new and exotic Persian table didn't fit in the Fisher kitchen... much like George. In conscious or unconscious revenge, George ate Arthur's labeled food and lied about the definition of Formica in order to make Arthur look stupid.

But with Nate on a temporary or possibly permanent sabbatical, Arthur might be more needed than ever to help poor martyred David, who had to deal with gallons of blood bubbling up into the house. At least David's relationship with Keith appeared to be working for a change. Every couple needs to set their own boundaries; I guess theirs will include the random blow job. It just bothered me a lot that Keith wanted his new job so much that he went back into the closet. I remember that, not long ago, David was in the closet and Keith was so angry about it that they broke up. Guess it's different when the shoe is on the other foot.

Brenda's relationship with Joe was much like Rico's with Sophia: lots of playing house but no sex. Both relationships felt so artificial. Brenda decided to follow the steppy rules and wait for ninety days to sleep with Joe, but why? She already broke the rules for Nate, didn't she? And now she's going to become a therapist? What's wrong with this picture? She would probably be a good one, but wasn't it something she always hated about her parents?

As everyone else in the family was busy defining their relationship with someone else, Claire continued her voyage of self-discovery. An angry feminist performance artist and blood backing up into the house gave Claire a new artistic perspective. Claire hasn't allowed herself to rebel too much. Maybe it's time.

Bits:

— Dorothy Sheedy died because she thought helium-filled sex dolls rising into the sky was the Rapture. (This was probably my favorite Opening Death; it was priceless, like the blue ice.) Right before she ran out into traffic, she was listening to a Christian radio talk show discussion about the blessed confines of the marriage bed. She was probably happier in the moments before she died than she had ever been in her life, certain at last of heaven.

— Ghost vision Dorothy got into bed with Nate and had sex with him while praying, even though she told him there was no heaven. Do you think Nate was identifying with Dorothy's husband, perhaps? Nate also kept looking at Dorothy's grief-stricken son and thinking of Maya, but then he walked right past the kid. The old Nate would have stopped and tried to help.

— Claire got back into her art by taking photos of blood and shit. She and Anita talked about defacing images of Jesus to get an independent study credit.

— Keith desperately wanted to fit in at his new job. He was acting straight to be like them. Even his suit looked exactly like theirs.

And pieces:

— "Dorothy Sheedy, 1954-2003".

— It was three months later and Maya was back, looking more than three months older. But I'm glad they didn't recast her. Those twins just look so much like Peter Krause, and they're obviously comfortable with him. Perfect baby casting.

— A "horse" is a piece of rock found between the walls of a fault. Formica was developed as an electric insulator. And the average person changes career seven times during their life. George is definitely the academic type.

— Keith's new employer, the Safeguard Protection Agency, has handled all three MJs as well as CD. Everyone famous was referred to by a code name, like Safeguard was the Secret Service and their charges were super important. Which they're not. Except I'm sitting here writing about them, aren't I?

— The poet that Edie ridiculed was played by Buffy actor Tom Lenk. And Dorothy was played by the talented Beth Grant, who did a guest shot on Angel.

Quotes:

Claire: "George has been telling me all about his rocks. Who would have thought they could be so fascinating?"
George: "Aren't they?"
Claire: "It's like going to school in your own home."
She sounded sincere, but wasn't. Claire does not like George.

Keith: "Is this too much?"
David: "No, sir. You are all that and a box of cookies."

Claire: "I feel violated."
Anita: "I don't think he's ever been laid."

Edie: "Can we make a rule for open mic night? No more angry poems or songs with clitoral or vaginal references in them unless you have one?"

Nate: "I am just trying to help the guy face the truth. What? I'm uniquely qualified, don't you think? I'm a funeral director and my wife is freshly fucking dead. Who's more qualified than me?"

Nathaniel: "Getting married, becoming a father, getting creamed by a bus, those are some of life's big moments."

Keith: "You better not think you're getting out of having sex with me tonight."
David: "Okay. But I might need you to talk about water rams and hand snakes."

Nate: "Look at this, Maya. Somebody sent Grandpa a big steaming pile of dookie."
Claire: "Wait! Don't throw it away before I can get my camera!"
And Claire was worried that if she started working again, her work would be shit. Who would send George a Tupperware container full of shit?

Sort of disturbing. Three stars,

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

2 comments:

  1. Not only was Tom Lenk in this episode, but Michelle Trachtenberg aka Dawn was, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I’m so enjoying checking in with your reviews after each episode! This is my first run through of this show and I’m BEYOND invested

    ReplyDelete

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