Keith: "Every woman needs to go through falling in love with a gay man. It's a total female rite of passage."There was an interesting theme weaving throughout this episode. Wanted children. Unwanted children. Heterosexual angst.
George's son Kyle, a son he never told Ruth about, was responsible for those cute little packages, and Ruth was all ready to dive in and fix things by inviting the purveyor of shit to dinner. Which was predictable. What I didn't expect was a new side of George, who was outright hostile and cutting toward the disturbed grown son he barely knew. Ruth married a stranger. We all marry strangers, don't we?
Brenda wants a baby. That explained a lot. She was actually talking with Joe about having kids while they were boinking, and Margaret immediately picked up on the nesting vibe at the dinner party. But it wasn't Joe's baby that Brenda wanted. Brenda had a vision of a wounded Nate offering her a plaster baby. Nate dropped by unexpectedly, and Brenda actually had Joe tied up in the bedroom — but she didn't blow Nate off, like she would have if she really wanted Joe instead. It was like, just wait a second while I untie my new boyfriend, don't go away.
Nate was still chasing after Lisa's ghost, but in the oddest way. That psychic adviser, who must have trained her dog to go haul in lost souls in the cemetery, actually mentioned a woman in water as well as an older man who was unhappy in life watching over Nate. That was actually pretty cool. I wasn't sure it meant anything, though. Except that Nate was susceptible to that type of suggestion.
David and Keith were going through some hetero angst. Obviously, Jennifer still loved David or she wouldn't have lashed out so hard. And Keith, still closeted at work, said he felt like Sarah Jane in Imitation of Life, which made me laugh out loud. Lisa's niece Michaela brought David a book about cadavers. She either has a crush on David, or she was fascinated by the funeral home. Or both. Maybe now that Arthur's gone, David could set up an early apprenticeship for Michaela in the family business.
Claire was also going through some hetero angst, even though she had apparently become the hot commodity in art school that she never was in high school. She revealed to Edie and Anita that she'd never had an orgasm. In fact, she didn't even know that she'd never had an orgasm. Very interesting in someone as aggressively outspoken and experimental as Claire. I wonder if Claire will take Edie up on her offer. You think?
Bits:
— The Opening Death was, as usual, misdirected; we were thinking creepoid serial killer, and the poor guy got struck by lightning. Although he did steal her umbrella, which was what got struck. Instant over-the-top karma.
— Jennifer was having some hetero angst, too. Mostly because she was still in love with David, and her fiance was an insensitive jerk.
— Brenda and Joe were sitting on the couch in exactly the same position, observing Nate. That should have signaled that they were a couple and on the same page. Instead, I took it as Brenda and Joe looking outside of their relationship instead of toward each other. Like I've said before, I can assign symbolism to anything.
— During their role-playing, Brenda called Joe a eunuch.
— Nate thought for a moment that the dog was Lisa. And in Brenda's baby vision, Nate was wearing that megaphone collar they put on dogs to keep them from ripping out stitches.
— Lisa told Nate on the phone that the number three was not important.
— Kyle lived in a motel called the Safari Inn. But he never went anywhere.
— Apparently, Margaret and Bern had sex in front of their kids. Some people shouldn't be allowed to have children.
And pieces:
— "Lawrence Henry Mason, 1938-2003."
— The horrendous Olivier was still with Margaret, his new sugar mama. Doing Margaret was certainly better suited to Olivier's skills than teaching. Except that he was still teaching.
— The title referred to men reluctantly performing oral sex on women for a certain amount of time so that they could get on to the good stuff. I seem to recall Brenda saying that Nate was really good at it.
— Michelle Tractenberg (Celeste) played a bitch marvelously well. Better than she played Buffy's sister Dawn.
— Barb, Hoyt, the twins and Michaela took Maya to Legoland. But they charged Nate quite a bit for Maya's share of everything. Not very family-friendly. Plus Barb was mean to Nate about Lisa still being alive. Bad Barb.
Quotes:
Keith: "David, this is a profession, okay? There's an image to project. And that image isn't fucking Keith of Finland."
Nate: "Kinda brings a new meaning to the term 'dump truck,' huh?"
Ruth: "Fine. I'll just resign myself to receiving excrement in the mail for the rest of my days on this earth."
David: "Right. You're the stud because you've had sex with more women than I have. Wow. You're like, almost heterosexual."
Keith: "It's weird at work. I feel like Sarah Jane from Imitation of Life."
David: "That makes me Troy Donahue. Okay, this fits."
Imitation of Life is a classic old movie. Sarah Jane was passing for white even though her mother was black, back when things like that mattered. I guess they sometimes still do. I just don't want them to.
George: "He's never really been part of my life."
Ruth: "If he's sending us shit in the mail, he's a part of your life."
Three stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Just wow - how did SFU creep up to be one of my favorite shows of all times? Nearly all characters feel so fleshed out and deliciously flawed that it's sometimes hard to remind oneself that this is indeed fiction and not... let's say... distant neighbours?
ReplyDeleteThis show makes you really take a hard look not only at the characters, but also yourself. The more I see from Nate, the less I can stand him. This baffles me, since he's supposed to the "hero" we're should root for, right? But all I can see in him is him acting superior when indeed he's really griefing for Lisa. What does that say about me? :) I guess he comes across as deep and relfective, but I feel like he uses Lisa's death as a thing that is - again - all about him, and his pain. We rarely get to see him worry about what effect it will have on his daughter, instead all his pain comes from his guilt, not even him really missing Lisa. That makes him quite shallow in my mind.
In contrast, Claire and David are a lot more self-relfective. Great moment of maturity from David when he comforted his former gf. I dated a gay guy for a long time, too and when he came out and apologized, it was painful, but it was closure.
And Claire... at first, it seems surprising that she's sexually not that head-on like in many other aspects in her life. But then, it's a great call-back to Russel (or was it Phil?) when she wasn't all that happy, but didn't admit it.
Ruth and George: That was a rapid change from the new guy acting warm and heartfelt towards a griefing Nate to a secretive, dismissive, cool husband. In fact, in a way he betrays Ruth with his since now it seems like he put on a front to lure Ruth in... now that they are married, he's showing his true colors. Who wouldn't be disturbed by parcels of shit arriving on a regular basis?
Justin Theroux is a treat for sore eyes, isn't he? How does Brenda find all those hot guys? She feels like she needs to be in control after her escapades in former seasons, but it's not like she's happy or even comfortable in her role. And where does that wish for a child come from? Could she be a good mom or is it the subconscious wish to have Nate - and now Maya - back? Her dream was a pretty on-the-nose hint.