6 Feet Under: Some Thoughts

The last moment of Sunday’s episode left Jen and I stunned, staring at the television.

Some thoughts:

— I wish Kathy Bates was my best friend. I love the character she plays. LOVE HER. She’s ballsy, she speaks her mind, she helps Ruth to not be so precious and repressed, she makes fun of Ruth – she tells Ruth the truth. “I’m kind of getting sick of you staying here …” But she does it in a way that you know the friendship still exists. Kathy Bates – great actress, man.

— I had a feeling Edie would turn on Claire. There is nothing worse than a threesome of females. It almost never works. Two will, inevitably, gang up on the other. At least when they’re as immature as the trio on 6 Feet Under. That Anita bitch still grates on my last nerve.

— I felt as though I WAS Claire, when she found out that Edie had used Claire’s non-orgasmic state of affairs into fodder for a performance-art piece. I felt as though I had been betrayed. Horrible. So embarrassing and painful.

— The scene where George suddenly broke down while staring at Maia was unbelievably good. Not just because it was acted well … but … I guess what I found so stunning about that scene, and so powerful – is that it felt completely true to life. In that it was inherently mysterious. Why was he crying? Who knows why anyone does anything? He just suddenly broke down, the cold superior facade cracked – and out came … what? It’s up for discussion. I found it shocking. Jen and I both gasped. We had become so used to his condescending rock-hard attitude – so to see him burst into tears was amazing. And of course, he would do it in private. Where no one could hold it against him.

— The whole “the veiny guy from La Habra” exchange was classic. The shorthand of couples. “You know. The veiny guy from La Habra.”

— I loved the whole creepy sequence of Nate’s bad dream. That’s what I’ve missed so far, in this season. The ever-present awareness of the fact that there are DEAD BODIES in the cellar. I’ve missed the strolling irreverent ghost of Mr. Fisher as well. Nate’s dream, to me, was what told him what we all already knew – that love is growing again with Brenda. He didn’t want her to be “disappeared” – He begged, “Let her stay.”

— For me, the best scene was the quiet one, between Nate and Claire – when she was making her doll house. And they started talking about their father. Beautiful writing, beautiful acting. Those two have not been connecting at all lately – (who could connect with Nate right now?) – so to me, that scene felt very sibling-ish. A breakthrough of intimacy. And Nate’s face started to soften, he actually seemed to be listening. For the first time in a long time.

— Billy Chenoweth and Claire are soul mates. I don’t mean that in its typical definition. I just mean that … they GET each other. He GETS her. Yes, he is a freak. But so is she. When he isn’t off his meds, he looks at her with respect and interest. He finds her funny. He finds her interesting. And she doesn’t recoil in horror from his freakiness. Their spirits are very similar.

— I love that boy who offered his services to Claire. Grinding the corn, and all that. I could have used his help when I was 20!

— The last scene – with the dead horse on the beach was a masterpiece. That is brilliant story-writing. It was played perfectly by those two actresses, too. Who knows what it all “means” … That’s why I felt that scene was so powerful. It didn’t feel like a plot-point, I didn’t feel the awkward hands of the writer manipulating the characters … It felt like a real happening. Sometimes things just happen like that. And it is devastating. I felt deep love for those two women in that last moment.