Diary of a Six Feet Under virgin – Season four ends on a low note, a really low note

by Bob Degon

(Season 4, Episodes 10-12)

Alright, so there is a small moment of hope and wisdom to end the season between David and a vision of his father, but come on, the end of this season was pretty bleak. Let’s summarize, shall we: Nate drives his former brother-in-law to blow his brains out right in front of him, George is crazy, Claire gets coked up at her art show and alienates all her friends, David has to face his attacker, and Rico’s marriage officially comes to an end. Good times.

The penultimate season of Six Feet Under seemed to really fly by. There was one less episode than usual, but it felt even shorter than that. I can’t believe that I only have one season left, but it looks like there may be some interesting things in store for the Fishers come season five.

“The Black Forest”

It turns out George and his estranged son may not be that different after all. It turns out they’re both pretty paranoid conspiracy theorists. I don’t know how I feel about Ruth going back to George. I just don’t see him changing. He seems like… a jerk, plain and simple.

It looks like David still isn’t really back to normal. This episode featured him beating up a patron of a sushi restaurant for being “rude.” Yes, it’s probably something we’ve all fantasized about doing once in a while (or constantly, all the time), but we don’t actually do it. I’m starting to think that Keith is a saint for sticking by David through all of this.

Nate and Brenda seem pretty happy together now that they are back together. I honestly hope things work out for them. They both seem like they have grown since the first couple seasons. Can they really make a go of it?

“Bomb Shelter”

Poor David (at least I’m not saying “Poor Nate” for a change). After everything he’s been through, he has to face the prospect of being sued for half a million dollars. It just figures. Luckily he has Keith to help him get out of it. I’m so glad that this didn’t turn into some over dramatic Indecent Proposal situation. It’s nice that David and Keith take sex so casually.

Why would Nate think it was ever a good idea to admit that he didn’t give the Kimmels Lisa’s ashes?That just isn’t smart, Nate, not at all. I hope we don’t get drawn into some sort of custody battle over Maya, even though the Kimmels wouldn’t really have a leg to stand on.

This whole Claire/Russell photograph storyline is driving me nuts. The both of them are being a bit petty if you ask me. If they just got over themselves, I think they would both realize it doesn’t matter. Also, I realize that Claire is in art school, but her increasing drug use has me a tad concerned.

“Untitled”

If you were having a super important moment in your life like your first big art show, would you really want to spend it high on coke? I just don’t get it. I would want to make sure that I took in every moment with a clear and sober mind. Maybe that’s just me. Claire certainly didn’t do herself any favors with being coked up, though. She pissed off all her friends, and pretty much came off as an arrogant jerk. That’s not how you get rich art buyers to like you.

It’s clear that George is really a sick man. His daughter pretty much came out and said so, but seeing George talking to himself and moving into the bomb shelter certainly removed all doubt. Ruth seems at her happiest when she is caring for someone, so I think she will come through for her new husband.

I thought that the meeting between David and his attacker in prison was fairly interesting. I was expecting it to be a little more dramatic. I think it really worked well, though, as it showed David that the kid was really just a sad, lonely, and mostly crazy dude. Hopefully David realized this and will be able to find some closure.

Also finding some closure was Nate, in one of the more bizarre plot twists so far. It turns out that Lisa had a thing with her sister’s husband and he was there with her on the beach when she died. It’s really unclear if he had anything to do with it or not, but killing himself certainly didn’t make him look like an innocent man. The whole episode did seem to give Nate some closure, though, as he went straight home and wanted to create a future with Brenda. We’ll see if that works out….