Keith: "Can you believe Lisa? I've never met anyone whose self-perception is so far removed from reality."How we see ourselves, and how others see us.
Nate apparently went from Charlotte light and dark to Lisa dull and bland. Lisa was passive-aggressive-ing Nate into a stupor. Nate and Lisa never fight because they're not human any more; they're pod people. Keith thought they were creepy, and he had a point. I also thought Keith made an interesting leap of self-awareness in the shrink's office when he said he had married his mother. Nate has also married a toned down, vegan version of his mother. Not good.
Speaking of mothers, the whole situation with Lisa's boss Carol and the corn muffins, cinnamon toast and name-dropping was just bizarre. Carol must see food as love, herself as an infant, and Lisa as the mommy who must always see to her needs. That would explain why Carol was so threatened by Nate's and Maya's mere existence, and why she was calling Lisa on the phone about something as ridiculous as salad dressing. This is not a healthy working relationship. Why can't they all just move back into the Fisher house? It would be a healthier atmosphere for the baby, and that's saying a lot.
Instead of just one death, we got four — and Fisher & Diaz buried both a murderer and one of his victims. Death is democratic; it comes to everyone. There was something really interesting about the "ghosts" of the murderer and his victim arguing with each other. They were Rico's ghosts, so it must have been Rico working out his feelings about the situation. I thought it was odd that Rico was acting like such a prima donna with David and Nate. Was he just exerting his new authority as a partner? Taking revenge for having been an underling for so long?
Finally, I thought Ruth and Bettina (Kathy Bates) recreating the plot of Misery with Ruth's sister Sarah was hilarious. So was the final scene with the two of them stoned on Vicodin as Sarah screamed in the background. Sarah said that she became addicted to Vicodin when she began seeing herself as she really was. Which fit right into our theme.
Bits:
— "Matthew Clark Hazen, 1962-2003. Martin Jacobs, 1978-2003. Andrew Wayne Milne, 1952-2003. Daniel Grant Showalter, 1968-2003." Three victims and their murderer.
— Another misdirected opening death. We think it's the guy with the match in front of the gas stove who was interrupted by the telemarketer, and it turned out to be the telemarketer. Telemarketerssss. That scene was pretty effective and gruesome.
— Claire thought she and Phil had a real connection. Phil didn't think that he and Claire had a connection at all. And Claire never even noticed that Russell was into her, something glaringly obvious to me; she thought he was gay.
— Phil dropped out of music school because he wanted to create great music instead of learning about great music. Claire was feeling the same about art school. Phil and Claire didn't get the point of college.
— Ben Foster, Patricia Clarkson, Kathy Bates. Fabulous actors. This show rocks.
— David was singing in his sleep. Was he just deeply into his new interest? Happy, despite his problems with Keith?
— Nate and Lisa got their kumbayayas out with "Maya row your boat ashore." People can be incredibly silly about their own babies.
— There were two completely unrelated mentions of potato salad. I have no idea why I felt compelled to mention this, but I noticed it, so there you go.
Quotes:
Claire: "I mean, I hated fucking high school. But still, it was my life, and it was all I knew, and then it was just over." Like the telemarketers. Commencement as death.
Keith: "I always thought by being gay, I'd avoid fucking my mother. But I guess that's not the case."
Russell: "Not even my imaginary friends understand me. Maybe they do, they just don't like me."
Claire: "I think you need better imaginary friends."
Russell: "No, I think they're the best I can do."
Such an adept character statement. In a couple of wry lines, we got some real insight into Russell.
Carol: "Who is my most bitter enemy? The one person I hate most in the world?"
Lisa: "We're having a little get together..."
Carol: (makes a buzzer sound) "Melissa Gilbert. And who opens the door at Mark and Pam's house? That's right. Melissa Gilbert. It was like staring at evil itself."
Sarah: "Somewhere along the line, I started to realize I was no longer the youngest or prettiest girl in the room. For awhile, I satisfied myself with being the most intriguing. But eventually, I just became the one in paisley."
Ruth: "It's so peaceful out here."
Sarah: (screaming, off camera) "I'm dying!"
The standard good SFU episode. Three out of four stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Man alive! I do not like Lisa!
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