Six Freak Pairs Out of Control

Commentary on last night’s Six Feet Under, my favorite TV show.

Ruth and Arthur – Gah. Creepy. Arthur is both pathetic and frightening with his ‘love me mommy, I’m a virgin’ posturing. For a while, we thought Arthur could be a necrophiliac but I dunno… After all, he hasn’t had any loooove with the living, so I doubt he’d have the nerve to do the dead. And someone needs to slap Ruth. Hard. Perhaps though, she is on the road to recovery, having told Claire she recognizes she’s done nothing but bed hop since Nate Sr. died. Eeek! I have known fumbling, semi-emasculated, adult male virgins like Arthur. Ruth had better show him the highway instead of “her way” – she’ll be so much better off.

Brenda and Billy – WTF?!? Perhaps Nate’s past accusation wasn’t so far off the mark. Really, didn’t y’all wonder with that whole ‘Nathanial and Isabel’ shit? Maybe it did happen before if Billy thought he could get away with it again. At least Brenda bolted. How much this indicates her improved mental status, I’m not sure.

Nate and Lisa – Oh, thank god Lisa is gone. Please don’t let them drag out her demise. We’re hoping her car went over a cliff. Mel thinks she might have offed herself. I say no way would she commit suicide. Not if she thought Nate was gonna make an effort to toe the line and kiss her ass. Controlling, manipulative, passive-aggressive bitch. We don’t like her, can you tell? As for Nate and Brenda smooching, totally natural. Those two aren’t done. That much is obvious. Of course, about the time Nate gets over Lisa being gone (ten minutes, ya think?), Brenda will have (re)lapsed into crazy again.

Keith and David – I think Keith is still a time bomb waiting to happen and David needs to leave. Pronto. I didn’t really buy Keith’s efforts at self-improvement or relationship improvement up until he tried to talk to his father about their past. Still, Keith should have known that the old man hadn’t changed. Certainly, neither of them should have tried to force the ‘you must accept us’ issue with Keith’s old man. People in that situation should leave their folks out of it and move on with their lives. Create your own family. If an olive branch is extended, accept it. Don’t try to shove one up someone’s ass.

Claire and Russell – I knew it. It was so obvious that something had happened between Russell and the art teacher, even before Billy admitted to boffing Olivier when he was a student. Too bad… it was a nice little romance for them, kind of puppyish and cute. I was enjoying it as a contrast to all the other characters’ craziness and would have liked to see it continue. Claire is right not to take back a liar who might have behaved unsafely in his confusion. Not only are there the issues of exposure to disease, but her unhappiness now would be nothing compared to continuing the relationship, only to have it end when once she’s become more emotionally attached, because he’s decided he really is gay. Been there, done that. It wasn’t pretty.

Vanessa and Rico – She really worked herself into a frenzy. More than once. I thought Rico was going to have to put her in an ambulance. Dude needs to get his wife domestic help that can babysit her or something. He is not seeing her problems clearly enough, or is in denial. She needs serious help.

Only three more episodes and the season is over. Damn. Already?