Olivier: "Have you ever committed infidelity?"Claire: "No, not yet. But someday, hopefully."
Olivier: "Infidelity is not funny, Claire. It's tragic. All betrayal is tragic."
Gee. You think this one was about feeling trapped?
Nate, who can't even buy a CD without guilt, finally told someone that he felt like he was in prison. How interesting, after all the lying that typified their relationship, that the one person he was honest with was Brenda. Nate's first glimpse of Brenda showed her backlighted by a sort of glow, like a halo. She looked good to Nate because she symbolized freedom. Nate wants to be free. He's not dead yet. (Which was the song that was playing at the end of the episode.)
Will Nate start cheating on Lisa with Brenda? You think?
Nate went out for a drink with Brenda. David went out for a drink with Terry, whom he apparently had sex with way back when he was having covert liaisons in men's rooms. Keith stayed in for a drink with another security guard who went apeshit. Keith finds his job meaningless. (Join the club, Keith.) He thinks being a security guard is humiliating and pointless. David appeared to be more emotionally invested in the Gay Men's Chorus than in Keith. Was David thinking about cheating on Keith? You think?
In keeping with our theme, Ruth was forced into a living situation she didn't want, over-organized her interaction with Arthur in an attempt to gain control over the situation, and ended up trapped by her own house rules. I thought it was pretty funny that Arthur loved all of Ruth's obsessive house-sharing details. They bonded in the end over that dead mouse. I think Ruth and Arthur were just weirdness doubled.
Claire's situation was harder to peg. Apparently, Olivier was jealous of the developing Russell/Claire romance, so he maneuvered her into canceling her date with Russell by telling her that a poisonous past love affair ruined his chance to be famous. Why has Olivier fixated on Claire? Is it just the obvious?
Bits:
— When the lost arguing hikers opened the car door, a large white bird escaped. Will's soul was finally free.
— The old mousetraps that Ruth found forgotten in the kitchen cabinets of course symbolized everyone's current situation, as well as that of past emotional traps returning.
— Lisa said that she somehow got pushed into a nail by someone she didn't even see. Injured by Nate seeing Brenda, probably. Except that Lisa hadn't known it had happened at that point. Poor Lisa. Part of her must know that Nate doesn't love her.
— Brenda confessed that she took off and never found out if Nate survived the surgery. Diane's husband Will just didn't come home one day, and for twenty-five years, she never knew what happened to him.
— Will's best friend talked about Will being free, not tied down to the old ball and chain like the rest of us. Death is freedom, huh? Yeah, that's healthy.
— Bettina was off to Montana to help her nut job daughter. Trapped in that relationship, too, of course.
— Nate and Brenda had their drink at a place called "The Panic Room."
And pieces:
— "William Aaron Jaffe, 1951-1975."
— Brenda went to Santa Fe, Austin, and Tahoe, and ended up at her mother's. And she's now making twelve-steppy amends.
— Arthur Martin felt utterly freaky. Not serial killer freaky, but really strange.
— The body of the woman that Rico was working on was obviously breathing. They're usually more careful than that.
— Beautiful solo by Michael C. Hall. He has a gorgeous voice.
Quotes:
Guy: "I mean, your solo is a little... it's..."
David: "What?"
Terry: "It's prissy. It's like a little girl's dollhouse, like a kitty-cat greeting card, like a poofy white cutesy-pie. It..."
David: "Thanks, Terry. I get the point."
Music store clerk: "This CD is so great for, like, taking diet pills and cleaning your bathroom."
Dream Lisa: "How on earth do you expect Maya to go to college? You're throwing everything we have together away for fucking Beck?"
Arthur: "I should write down that part about never aiming the shower head at that part of the tile."
Ruth: "No need. It's all in the little booklet that's hanging by the sink."
Olivier: "I was never really in love with her, you know."
Claire: "Of course you were. You ripped a jasmine bush out of the ground for her and put it in her car."
Bettina: "We're all voyeurs at heart. We all just dying to see everybody else's fucked up weird private shit."
The usual well-written, well-acted episode. Three stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Brenda's finally back - while I can't really warm up to that character (contrary to Ruth), I was wondering all the time when she'll pop up in Nate's life again. The way his marriage is "functioning" or rather not functioning at all, it was just a matter of time till him and Brenda hook back up again. Why did Lisa cry when she found the receipt? It was just drinks (so far), right?
ReplyDeleteTalking of Lisa, how passive-aggressive was her deciding to not take a new job? Sounds a lot like she planned that all along, playing family with Nate, moving in, marrying... why is she not happy with her life right now? She got what she wanted and still she nags and nags.
I don't think David wants to cheat on Keith - or maybe it's just my wishful thinking because they're just such a great couple. Maybe David just didn't want to Keith to find out what he did when he was still in the closet - or maybe back then he was already together with Keith and cheated?
I think the reason Lisa is unhappy even when she has Nate is because she knows deep down that she doesn't really have him , and he doesn't really love her. Or atleast not in a way she wants him to.
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