Sunday nights are my “Jen and 6 Feet Under date nights”. Jen and I were roommates for many years – and we were addicted to 6 Feet Under, and we associate watching the show with one another, even though we now live apart. Also, I don’t have HBO. So every Sunday night, I go over to her place, we drink wine, eat carrots and hummus, and watch the show in UTTER SILENCE, until the credits begin to roll, and then we start to talk about it FEVERISHLY.
As I’ve said before, I think there’s something a little bit off about this season. It feels different. Maybe it’s that it has more of a soap opera-ish vibe, but I even think that the production values are different. It’s lost that stark in-the-presence-of-death color palate, and is much more … er … Dynasty.
I’ll keep watching. There are still moments of acting so beautiful that it takes my breath away.
The show is still capable of surprising me.
Examples:
— When Ruth and George (WHAT A NUT-CASE) go on the hike, and end up stopping by Ruth’s sister’s house – played by the incomparable Patricia Clarkson. What was beautiful was – Ruth has gone through this weird transformation following marrying that lying son-of-a-bitch geologist. She is submissive, unhappy … I can’t get a line on what she’s feeling anymore, what she’s going through. The second she saw her sister (and her best friend, marvelously played by Kathy Bates) – they hugged, and Ruth spontaneously started to weep. I have sisters myself. I SO relate to that moment. You think you’re fine, you go along, you’re handling yourself out in the cold harsh world, you’re having relationships with men that feel intimate, that are intimate – but none of that can hold a candle to the intimacy with family. She just started openly weeping as she hugged her sister. I found that so WONDERFUL, the kind of unspoken moment of truth that is rarely shown in television, and I thought: “Ohhh, okay, so that’s where Ruth is at right now.”
— The fight between Vanessa, her sister, and that hose-monster Infinity was … fantastic. Frightening. Real. I thought: Holy crap. They are going to go GO for it. It was raw, it was messy, there was a hand-held camera. The fact that it was 2 sisters beating the crap out of another woman made it even more dangerous – violent. No holding back. It annoys me when fights between women are called “cat fights”. As though there’s something adorable about women being pissed off. Maybe if they called it a LIONESS fight I wouldn’t be annoyed.
— And yet I feel very sorry for Rico, even though: what the hell was he doing messing around with that ho anyway? By the way, that actress is great. What a completely real character she has created. Waking up, lighting up a joint, completely un-warm, and completely manipulative. Rico is in WAY over his head. He’s not built for infidelity. He can’t do it and get away with it.
— When he slept over in the room with the cadavers, I thought: Damn. That is one bleak scene, man.
— Speaking of those randomly wonderful scenes that 6 Feet Under still has: the scene when Ruth finds out Rico has been thrown out and they have this little 2-person scene together. First: hats off to the writers. It was a perfectly constructed exchange. It went up, down, sideways, forwards … but it felt completely natural at the same time. That was my favorite scene last night.
— I hate George. What is up with that guy? Chopping down that tree?
— In terms of Claire’s most recent plotline: my main fear is that the writers of 6 Feet Under have somehow gotten hold of my private journals and have used what they found therein.
— I loved when Edie said, “First off, could you please turn off that vagina music?”
— I didn’t like the Edie character at first but she has completely grown on me. I like how she treats Claire. She treats her with respect. So often, Claire’s friends and boyfriends treat her like a doormat, like she’s stupid, easily fooled … Edie seems to be straight-up honest. And also seems to ‘get’ Claire. I care about the Claire character. I relate to her. (They stole my journals) I don’t like to see her treated like she’s an idiot.
— WHY is Claire friends with that other bitch? The one who sashays around in the slip and is unbelievably obnoxious? I know girls like that, and I hate her. Whoever that actress is, she has completely succeeded in making me despise her. I yearn to see her trip, and fall, and be chastened somehow. In public. Wipe that smirk off her face.
— Jen and I both screamed – out loud – when Joe (Mr. Wounded-Soul French Horn player) walked in on Nate and Brenda.
— I do not think Brenda loves Joe. I think she is a completely messed-up and neurotic individual (I say that knowing that I am one myself, takes one to know one) – and she saw a chance at having a “normal” life and a “normal” relationship with this guy. She is trying to be something else, she is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It won’t work. And no matter how obnoxiously self-righteous Nate gets, he is also a messed-up and neurotic individual – and the 2 of them were like 2 peas in a pod. Love takes many many different forms. I relate to the Brenda character. I look around me at how other people do it, how the magazines tell us to have relationships, how my friends do it … and I think: Damn, I just … don’t … fit IN with that… I’ll never be able to do it!! Well, who says I have to? Who the hell has proscribed all this stuff? Years of precedence, you might say? Centuries of moral development? WHATEVER. It’s not for me. And it’s not for Brenda and Nate either. They’re drawn to each other, like magnets … they recognize that different-ness in one another … and … maybe it’s not “love” – at least not in the way the world might recognize it. But – who the hell cares what the world thinks?
I remember the look on his face in the episode before last when Lisa came to him at the very end of the show and said, “It’s different this time with Brenda. You love her. It’s real.”
He got this look on his face as though a continent had shifted inside of him. He said, “I’ve got a really bad feeling all of a sudden.”
Ah yes. I know that sensation. To me – the realization of love is usually unpleasant. Like: uh-oh … oh shit … too late to turn back now …
I don’t care what Nate says, Mr. “I just want to have fun now, and go to Travel Town with my daughter, and continuously not buy a stroller because I actually want to feel the fruit of my loins in my arms at all times, so she never has a moment of separation anxiety or pain or sadness and goes on being the unrealistic little Buddha-baby that she is … But hey, man, I just want to fuck Brenda and have fun … That’s what I’m about now ” …: I feel that he loves Brenda.
— I adored the gospel singing at the funeral. The joy in LIVING, not the sadness in death. Those people were celebrating a life, not mourning.
Oh, and I haven’t even MENTIONED David’s journey.
It’s feeling a little bit soap opera-ish to me. I believe in his freak-outs. I personally think he’s the best actor on the show. Why isn’t anyone else but Claire really rallying around to support David? What is the PROBLEM with this family? David is obviously messed up!!
I loved the conversation she had with David, confessing that she had a “humiliating homosexual experience”. It’s the tone of his responses, his entire vibe, the way he LISTENS – that convinces me he’s the best one on the show. His acting is invisible – it’s all in how he listens.
Oh, and I completely did not believe that Keith would sleep with Celeste. Did not believe it at all. It was a plot device. To get him fired. To mess up his life. I HATE it when you feel the clunky hand of the playwright in the plot. You shouldn’t feel them moving the characters around like chess pieces. I did not believe at all that Keith would succumb. No. Bzzzt. Sorry. You lose.
And lastly: a message to the writers of 6 Feet Under: PLEASE RETURN MY PRIVATE JOURNALS. Thank you.
We gave up on the show. We were mesmerized by Season One, waited patiently for Season Two, and when Season Three didn’t show up for months and months and months and months and months…well, frankly, we sorta forgot about it, and when we tried to watch a new episode, we were completely lost and couldn’t remember details that seemed to be essential to enjoying it anew.
Curse you, HBO.
I know what you mean – it seems different, lesser, but then there are still truly cool moments, like the one with Rico & Ruth that you mention. The developments are not obvious – at first I thought the Rico having an affair thing was terrible. But then it turns out less (and more) was going on than met the eye.
As for the family not rallying around David – it seems natural to me that Nate would not. He feels he’s already doing enough by going back to work at the funeral home. Cannot go above and beyond that, or see what David’s going through, b/c he’s too aware of his own sacrifice. And Ruth isn’t taking better care of David b/c she’s freaking out about George/David’s putting on a front for her/the rest of the family aren’t clueing her in to the extent of the problem either.
Yeah – Rico did his best while she had her depression and her bitchy sister stayed with them … But he was pretty much giving, and getting nothing back.
The whole thing with Infinity makes me cringe, though. Like: what is this woman’s life?
Also: Rico: you used the joint credit card to buy Infinity stuff?? What are you – an idiot? That’s what I mean when I say he’s just not built for infidelity. He seems like a pretty straight-up kind of guy.
Ah yes, another show that I’m told is supposed to be excellent but which seems readily apparent would make absolutely no comprehensible sense to someone who hadn’t seen it all from the very beginning. Buffy and the X-Files both most immediately come to mind as past examples.
I loved the gospel stuff too. Every summer in Birmingham, we have a music festival called City Stages, and part of it is Gospelfest, where gospel choirs sing in one of the big old downtown churches. I spent a couple of hours there this year, and I am always moved. There’s nothing else like it…all those powerful voices belting out praises – the room is not so much filled with sound as it’s filled with ENERGY. You sit there and tingle can’t help but move and you think, “YES! They get it! This is the way you’re supposed to worship God!”
sheila, we must talk about this show. what is happening to it? i had many similar impressions. and i can’t for the life of me figure out what this horrible man george is all about. sometimes, i think claire is destined to become the self-sacrificing martyr of a doormat that ruth is. but, then claire has some spunk to her. anyway, even though show has taken some precipitous downward turn, i still can’t get enough.
I believe that George has something terrible he is hiding. A murder spree or something like that.
I just watched the episode the other night with my mom. That was a lot of gay sex to be watching with your mom in the room. And I’m friends with the actor who was getting boned by David! I am now more addicted to your post show comments than the show itself.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen two cats fight. It utterly scary and violent. It’s vicious. I think they call it that for a reason. Not to be cute that’s for sure.
I think they nailed what was up with George in that episode. I don’t think it’s anything too dark and mysterious. He is completely and totally selfish. He has no desire to change one iota and if there’s anything more needed to keep a marriage going it’s adaptability, willingness to bend and change. That’s why all his marriages failed. He is a brilliantly constructed character. So charming at first, so kind and good and I believe he is those things but he has no desire to change himself or his ways AT ALL, thus his going into the other room to watch a show rather than get to know Ruth’s sister. He believes doing whatever one wants is a sign of strength, strength of character. He thinks everyone should be that independent and it’s hard to argue against that. What he lacks is the ability to be vulnerable, to need someone. He won’t ever let himself. He can walk away from any relationship in his life without a problem, his wives, his son and eventually Ruth. Brilliant. Now watch, it’ll come out he’s a serial killer. HA!
I’m extremely attracted to the “other friend” of Claire’s. I have issues.
I thought the way Joe nailed Brenda, and called her on what her real issues were, was incredible. Her addiction to betrayal etc. Amazing.
I think the characters are getting back to their off the wall ways of life. It’s still such a refreshing show for me. Watching people who don’t “fit in” live their lives. I love it.
You know Sarge, David?? I love that guy!
That was, indeed, some pretty hot gay sex there. Ouch! Who knew David was a top? I had him pegged as a bottom. But then again, I have no imagination.
I like your interpretation of George. An unwillingness to grow, and … a stridently independent spirit. Strident, being the operative word. I love Cromwell, he’s such a good actor.
And yeah – Joe’s assessment of her addiction to betrayal was incredible. You could see, by the expression on her face, that he had nailed it.
Wild!!
I’m addicted to it, too.
Oops – I should be clearer:
I’m addicted to the SHOW, not betrayal.
HA! I forgot to mention that after the scene in the church pew when David had another episode, Maria said , to no one in particular, “He’s amazing, the best actor on the show!”
I think David is a bottom. I think he got up top because he’s trying to regain a sense of power after being kidnapped.
Jess –
I love you for leaping right into my seriousness.
I like your theory … I always just had imagined David as the bottom in the relationship.
OK, so I’m sure noone else but you Sheila will get this since it’s buried way down the line, but it hit me today what’s so brilliant about this show. I don’t think it has taken a downward turn, I think it’s planned. Everyone was just sort of coasting along and it felt weak, not edgy, etc. But this past episode begins with Claire’s inability to come, George’s refusal to go to church with Ruth and then David’s obvious eminent nervous breakdown. All in the first minute and a half. Then a man shows up and drives himself to his own funeral, like he said he would, a man of deep integrity and character, as we find out later. A man who, “Always does what he said he would.” The previous episode opened up with a woman and her husband so deeply steeped in denial, so utterly unable to look at what “is” they let her tumors grow to enormous size and take her over to kill her. OK. The characters are starting to bear the fruits of their own denial. The truth is coming through. He shows up on their doorstep, if you will. Ruth is beginning to see the signs she avoided with George. I mean for Christ’s sake he was married seven times before this…hello?! He’s an agnostic, she knows this yet she asks him to go to church with her, “To make her happy”? David’s “Fine.” Just some indigestion. HA! Claire insists she came in the beginning, “Trust me, I was there”, says Edie. Nate’s just out to have some fun, enjoy life, take what comes, yet there he is begging an enraged boyfriend to let him go get his daughter so as not to scare her as he scampers out the house in disgrace. And of course Brenda, we don’t need to go too far to see her inability to accept what “is”.I think I need to watch the shows with you and Jen, I’m missing too much. But thanks to your blog I’m understanding a lot more about it.