Brenda: "It doesn't do us any good to live in this constant state of panic."I totally did not see the thing with Hoyt coming. It was outright shocking. It also made everything fall into place, since we never really knew what happened to Lisa. He killed her, didn't he? He must have; at one point, he said that he couldn't let Lisa tell Barb. It probably would have been more denouement-like if he'd actually confessed before putting the gun in his mouth. But like Hoyt's death, life is messy and things aren't always resolved to our satisfaction.
Barb said at Lisa's funeral that Lisa never had boundaries. Cheating on Nate I could kind of get because their marriage was such a farce and she was so unhappy, but sleeping with her sister's husband was an awful thing to do. She didn't deserve to die for it, though. Did Michaela know? Why else would she have put that incriminating photo in the book? But that still didn't make sense, since only Nate realized what the photo meant. But then again, she did give the book to Nate... to give to David. I'm confused.
Every season so far has ended with Nate having a literal brush with death. This one pushed Nate into proposing to Brenda. Will Nate and Brenda end up like Keith and David, who finally settled into a real marriage this season? Or will Nate repent at leisure, like Ruth, whose new bridegroom just officially went nuts? George just retreated to the bomb shelter in the basement as well as in his mind, preoccupied with disaster to the point of serious mental illness. Maggie intimated that it had happened before. What next? Will Ruth and Maggie have to commit George?
Rico's marriage reached the breaking point, too. Rico finally apologized to Vanessa, and immediately thought he could move back in and start over. I haven't been much into this particular plot arc, but seeing Rico and Vanessa crying over the shattered remnants of their marriage was really sad.
A lot was resolved this season. Nate and Brenda finally committed, and so did David and Keith. (And Brenda looked so natural with Maya at the gallery, like they belonged together.) Nate and David both resolved crimes that had haunted them. The Chenowiths were finally acting like grown-ups, at peace with each other. Claire found success as an artist and got a show, as well as smoochies with Billy. Yes, things were still all over the place and everyone still had problems, but that's life.
In fact, there were so many returning characters in this episode and such a feeling of conclusion that it almost felt like the end of the series. I was actually thinking that all we needed was Nathaniel — and in the final scene, there he was. When Nathaniel told David he was proud of him and to just let go of his pain, it moved me to tears; it was so simple and beautiful. Since the ghosts are reflections of what the characters are thinking, it meant that David was finally at peace with himself over the carjacking.
And I loved that it was raining, like tears. The weather in southern California is wonderful, but I desperately miss the rain.
Bits:
— The Opening Death was right out of the movie Speed, except the thing we feared most that didn't happen in the movie actually happened here. It was an extremely icky reminder that life is not predictable or controllable, and you never know what will happen next.
— Claire was so full of herself. She really needs to grow up a bit and get off drugs. Billy needed to get on drugs. Interesting dichotomy there, especially if they just got involved.
— Claire's photos were untitled. They were about people viewed in fragments, just like the Opening Death.
— Jake was number three in the line-up. In the episode "Can I Come Up Now," Nate dreamed that Lisa told him the number three was not important. Probably not related, but I thought it was interesting.
— Roger Pasquese wanted a bodyguard because he wanted to feel safe. This episode was basically about the fact that no one is ever really safe.
— The Fisher house always represents rooms within rooms, people's lives as separate compartments. I noticed it even more than usual in this episode. George's bomb shelter. Rico in Claire's old room. Claire's apartment. The prison. The toilet in the art gallery. And so on.
And (literally) pieces:
— "Kenneth MacDonald Henderson, 1954-2004." Gross out for sure, but he was trying to save someone's life; there are worse ways to go. Although seeing Henderson's body in two parts on the two slabs made me laugh out loud. Maybe I've been watching this show too long.
— David girded his emotional loins and visited Jake in prison, and Jake barely remembered him. He even asked David to visit him again and bring him things, take him to lunch. Insane and bizarre as well as pathetic.
— With detente among the Chenowiths, it was nice that Brenda and Ruth also finally made peace.
— Who was the woman in the blue dress in George's hallucinations?
— The restaurant where George and Ruth met Maggie felt like it was right out of L.A. Confidential, an outstanding movie that James Cromwell did a few years ago with Russell Crowe. Maggie the drug rep was clearly the kid that George loved the most. She said he was a wonderful father. I wouldn't have believed it.
— I was right about Russell's anger about the abortion. There's been a lot of weird legal stuff. I wonder if he'll try to sue Claire for pain and suffering or something.
Quotes:
Nate: "I hit a new low. I made the bereaved vomit."
Keith: "Roger, we had an agreement."
Roger: "I don't think a blowjob is legal or binding."
Nicole Richie: "It reminds me of paper dolls, and bad relationships, and lies people tell about stupid things. Right?"
Jake: "Did you bring me something?"
David: "No. I hate you."
Claire: "You know what? I have no fucking idea what these pictures mean."
Billy: "I know. Isn't it great?"
Olivier: "I toast you with this shitty wine." Olivier thought Claire's first success would corrupt her. But that was just Olivier assigning his own failings to Claire.
Margaret: "I feel fabulous. Everyone should drop an organ. After the first shock, it's positively liberating. So is this the fruit of Nate's loins?"
David: "It can't be so simple."
Nathaniel: "What if it is?"
Definitely a two-hankie episode. Four stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Hey Billie, I just finished watching this episode recently and there was a scene that in this episode that called back to the episode in Las Vegas. The part where Claire and Russel is fighting at the museum and is broken off by Billy. Maybe it's just me, but is kind of reminded me of the time when Nate breaks off a confrontation between Brenda and Billy.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason Michaela put the photo of Lisa in the book is that she was aware of her dad's misdeeds (at least about the cheating on mom) and was looking for a way to have it busted out in the open by someone other than herself. She always had a sad, enigmatic look on her, and didn't answer Nate's question about why she put the photo in the book.
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