Diary of a Six Feet Under Virgin – Ruth comes into her own

by Bob Degon

(Season 1, Episodes 4-7)

I’m seven episodes in now and some of the questions that I had after watching the first three episodes of Six Feet Under have been answered. I got to see that boring death in the opening scene, and I’ve learned a whole lot more about Brenda and who that strange guy was (her brother).

I got chided in the comments of my first post for not mentioning David. Through the first three episodes I wasn’t able to get a really great read on the character. Through four more I don’t know that the picture has become much clearer, but I’m getting the idea that that is the point with David. There is so much about his life that is in conflict with each other. It will definitely be interesting to see how his character grows and changes over the course of the series.

“Familia”

This episode stood out for me as one of the more interesting so far. There was a great blend between the story of the Fishers and the story of the corpse, a gang member. There was a lot of great interaction between David and the deceased gangbanger. I’m really loving that storytelling technique, it’s unique, fits in perfectly with the style of the show, and works well to develop the characters. More haunting!

Usually (if I can say that after seven episodes) the story of the deceased tends to get pushed into the background, but in this installment the battle between the parents of the deceased and his gang leader was really interesting. It was a very powerful ending when the family and the gang prayed together for the dead young man, along with the Fishers.

“An Open Book”

After meeting Brenda’s parents in this episode, it isn’t hard to see why she is so screwed up. Poor Nate. At some point doesn’t he have to realize that she isn’t worth this? I guess I’ll find out. If that weren’t bad enough, I had to deal with a good couple splitting up. It was a bit depressing, to say the least, seeing David let his relationship with Keith completely fall apart. I can’t say I’m totally surprised though. Their relationship was summed up for me when Claire asked Keith what he saw in David. What indeed.

On the lighter side, this episode featured Ruth’s desperate attempt to reconnect with Claire by taking her down to visit her cousin (played in all her pony-tailed glory by Cristine Rose from Heroes) and her bestest buddy of a daughter. Amazingly, it sort of worked when they both realized that they would never, and should never, have a relationship like that.

“The Room”

I mentioned in my first post that the beginning of this series was reminding me a bit of Twin Peaks. This episode really hit home in that respect, as secrets about the Fishers’ dead patriarch surfaced. There was also a great moment of dark humor as Nate visited his father’s “room” and fantasized about his father blazing up with a bunch of bikers, having fun with a hooker, and eventually shooting into a crowd of people. Good times.

I have to admit that Ruth really annoyed me at the beginning of the series, but I think that she really began coming into her own in this episode as she reconnected with her hairdresser affair (Ed Begley Jr) and took a job in the following episode with the florist. It’s nice to see her moving on and becoming interesting.

“Brotherhood”

David continues to be a frustrating enigma of duality. He seems so afraid of his personal life and homosexuality that he overcompensates. In this episode he chose to back the conservatives in his church, rejecting a young, progressive priest. The irony is that members of the search committee were afraid that the new priest was gay (he wasn’t), and if David were honest, he never would have been made a deacon. A sad truth.

Brenda just got stranger in this episode, along with her brother. I have a feeling that those two are going to be causing a lot of trouble before all is said and done.