I’ve watched the 3 episodes of this latest season. Something’s off. The characters are not behaving like themselves. I can feel the hand of the writers, moving them around like chess pieces. There’s something that feels false, pushed, orchestrated.<\/p>\n
— While I do not find it unbelievable that someone as conservative as Rico would be completely undone by having a one-night stand with a stripper, I do not find it believable at all that he would suddenly set himself up as the stripper’s sugar-daddy. Not believable. No. What would be more interesting would be to watch what has happened in Rico’s marriage because of that one secret indiscretion. He’s not a slick guy. I would imagine he probably had never been with anyone else but his wife. He’s strongly Catholic. What torment would he go through? But this whole stripper side-plot seems contrived, silly, and not realistic.<\/p>\n
— I have a message for Nate: BUY A STROLLER. I am so SICK of seeing Nate walking around with that kid in his arms. Nate, there are things called STROLLERS. Buy one.<\/p>\n
— The whole plot of Claire being fascinated by the Mena Suvari character is also not realistic. Claire, I think, is too cynical to fall for what is, essentially, a pose. Mena Suvari plays a platinum-blonde performance-artist hottie, who wears leather, and says “irreverent” things that are supposed to be shocking and at one point, Claire asks her friend, “So is she bi?” And her friend replies, “She’s a hardcore radical lesbian feminist.” I admit that I yelled at the television. “She is NOT.” I know some hardcore lesbian feminists, and count some of them as my friends – and only on the planet STUPID would Mena Suvari’s character be a “lesbian feminist”. It is a male fantasy of a lesbian. I don’t get why Claire thinks Mena is cool. Mena seems like a little girl playing dress-up, trying to shock “Daddy”, and her performance art is stupid. Claire is a true subversive, a true artist, someone who smells artifice and phoniness from miles away. Doesn’t make sense. My guess as to what is really going on is that Mena Suvari, since American Beauty<\/i> hasn’t done much, her career has stagnated. So Alan Ball created this character for her just to jump-start her career again.<\/p>\n
— I hope Arthur hasn’t left the house for good. He added that creepy American Gothic sensibility which seems to be the core of the show, but I’m not feeling that creepy core in this season. Not at all.<\/p>\n
— I can’t let it go: Nate: BUY A STROLLER.<\/p>\n
— I am bored with Brenda now that she has “gotten healthy”. Her downward spiral added such tension to the show, such a disturbing quality and I miss that. Nobody else was as messed up or as brilliant as she. Maybe the writers have something in store for her, but I miss the pot-smoking sex-addicted genius.<\/p>\n
— Justin Theroux is hot, and also odd and neurotic, and I hope his plot line continues. I remember thinking, “Who is that smokin’ hottie<\/i>??” when I saw Mulholland Drive<\/i> and so I’m glad to see him again.<\/p>\n
— I don’t think Nate should leave the funeral business. That’s the whole point of the show. Two brothers inherited this business: Nate is the more free-spirited one (and yet righteous in that kind of “I ran an organic food co-op in Seattle” brand of righteousness), David the more conventional. But seeing Nate in that environment was always so interesting, because you knew he was suppressing half of his impulses. Suppression of impulses is one of the KEY elements of drama. Somehow, this season is missing that.<\/p>\n
— Oh, and here’s another message for Nate: GET YOUR OWN APARTMENT. Only on television do full adults linger about in their parents’ houses, with no questions asked, for seasons on end.<\/p>\n
— There’s also something off about the production values. The colors are different, they are brighter, more garish. The “sets” don’t have the same empty creepiness, like an Edward Hopper seen slightly askew. A glance through a wavery mirror into American life. That’s what the production values always said to me before. The kitchen in the house is not filmed anymore with that same sense of isolation, and cleanliness. Perhaps it is because of the advent of George (the brilliant James Cromwell). George is up to no good. I’m sure he’s a serial killer, or maybe a secret agent for the United States government (his ominous comment about how “controversial” geology is because of the “oil” is a clue of things to come). <\/p>\n
— Speaking of George, since Mrs. Fisher (brilliant actress, love her) married George and has gone all domesticated, she has somehow disappeared from the radar. I miss being a part of her journey, which was always so weird and compelling and moving. The mother, trying to find her own way, after being widowed. Now she’s married again … but … I have no idea how she feels anymore about things. I miss her context.<\/p>\n
— I think Nate is hot. Okay? I also think that Peter Krause is good. He is so open. But now all he seems to do is walk the sidewalks endlessly, holding his daughter in his arms<\/i> because he has never heard of strollers, and goes to play-dates, and … I miss the angry Nate. I miss the rebel, the guy who would explode, who had a sense of humor too. I want a scene where that kid is not in his arms, too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve watched the 3 episodes of this latest season. Something’s off. The characters are not behaving like themselves. I can feel the hand of the writers, moving them around like chess pieces. There’s something that feels false, pushed, orchestrated. — … Continue reading