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Six Feet Under: The Last Time

Ruth: "You're everything. You don't even know. You're everything to me."

At the end of the first season, Nate discovered that he could be dying. Here, at the end of season two, they left us with Nate going under anesthesia, a white light, and the Bus of Death stopping to pick him up. I love Nate, dammit, and I hate this. I don't want him to die. Maybe he's just flirting with death. Nate is a chronic flirt, after all.

The scenes with Nate and David doing the pre-need, and David in tears alone in Keith's apartment got to me. So did Nate crying in his mother's arms. What's worse? Knowing that you could be dying, or knowing that your child could die? I'm a mother. I think I'd rather be Nate in this situation.

Lots of stuff about fatherhood in this episode about possible impending death. Nate met his baby daughter for the first time. Claire finally grieved for Nathaniel Senior in, of all inappropriate places, her college interview. And Keith decided not to be Taylor's father, after all... without even consulting David, who loved being Taylor's father. Bad Keith, no biscuit. And I thought they were the functional couple.

Lots of serious bureaucracy with big consequences. Keith got suspended from the police force. Claire's entire future was at the mercy of a stranger. The funeral home inspector was ready to take the Fishers' business down. At least Rico is going to be a partner now. After those powerful scenes in the previous episode about Rico and his father and Nathaniel, I think it's a terrific solution.

Brenda left. Probably off to find herself. I hope she does.

Bits:

— This episode didn't begin with the usual opening death; it started with Nate asleep in bed. I don't have to say why, do I? And then his alarm rang. Literally a wake-up call.

— Nate took care of Aaron because (obviously) he was seeing himself in Aaron's shoes. Or Aaron's cremation box. Aaron's death was upsetting. And now, he gets to spend eternity on a shelf at Fisher and Sons.... and Diaz.

— The story the crematory guy told about the baby teeth and the death of hope was the flip side of Nate and baby Maya, whose name means "messenger of the gods." I think it was Maya that made Nate suddenly so determined to have surgery. Or Aaron. Maybe it was both.

— Brenda ran into her fantasy guy at Sex Addicts Anonymous. Of course, now she can't sleep with him.

— Ruth told Nate that Lisa reminded her of herself. That can't be good. Maybe that explained why Nate kept going back to Lisa but didn't want to have a relationship with her.

And pieces:

— "Aaron Buchbinder, 1976-2002." Way too young. Life is not fair.

— Nate's doctor was a horse's ass. I think Nate should have gotten a second opinion, in a big, big way. Use your head, Nate. So to speak.

— Claire missed her own high school graduation, upstaged by her brother's brain surgery. Claire didn't care because deep down, she's a sweetie.

— In contrast to the huge fight in the last episode, Nate and Brenda had a calm conversation about her sexual addiction and his totally routine brain surgery. Nate, brain surgery is not routine.

— Many icky details about cremation, which still creeps me out much less than embalming and caskets. Although I'm glad they didn't show us Aaron's half-cremated body.

— Parker isn't going to Yale, after all. Maybe there really is justice in the universe.

— David and Claire getting stoned together was pretty funny. David doing a Nikolai imitation was, too.

— Everyone is always so good, but I thought Peter Krause was particularly good in this episode.

Quotes:

Claire: "Do vegans breast-feed?"

Nate: "I thought Kroehner folded."
David: "This must be the final mindfuck of Mitzi Dalton Huntley."

Brenda: "And now your life is just one long hot fuck with God?"
Scott: "I'm an atheist, actually."

Nate: "Is Father Jack doing your service?"
David: "No, but that's just because I don't want to give him the wrong idea."
Nate: "What kind of idea is he going to get when you're dead?"
David: "I don't know. I just don't want him cruising me in the afterlife."

Keith: "I know a lot of ex-cops. They all work in security."
David: "What's wrong with security? It's a national obsession. It's the new freedom."

Claire: "East Valley will be fine. They've got a darkroom. They've got paint. Everyone says you get out of college what you put into it, anyway."

Four out of four stars,

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

2 comments:

  1. Not sure how they succeeded in doing so, but the saddest scenes for me weren't Nate's but David's. First his crying on the sofa and later that ugly fight with Keith (with totally inappropriate laughter in the background on TV) felt so utterly real and screwed up like life sometimes happens. There just is no scenic backgroundmusic to life.
    I really have to give it to A. Ball, this show is something else and definately a far cry from True Blood.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The season finales in this series are outstanding, and that bus of death scene was epic. I can't think of a better way to leave the viewer anticipating the next season.

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