Jonathan Arthur Hanley. 1946-2001. Death by wife. Obviously divorce is always an option – but sometimes taking a frying pan to the cranium of the guy who’s making your life hell can be so much more satisfying.
Which makes the Fisher brothers anxious. Apparently Mrs. Hanley decided to off her husband not because of sexual abuse, as Nate theorises – but because the man was boring. Which is fairly disconcerting for David and Nate, who realise with a note of alarm in their voices: “Sometimes I’m boring.” “I am too.” Let’s hope that Brenda doesn’t give the pan option too much serious thought.
Nate may consider himself boring, and he can be resentful with the best of them, but he’s also a pragmatist, at least when it comes to business. Now that Rico’s gone to make more money at Kroener’s, they need a replacement, not least since David’s restoration skills aren’t exactly up to anything other than “peacefully passed away in his sleep.” The boys’ preferred option: Angela, played by Illeana Douglas as the perfect option at first glance. It takes them a while to understand that Angela may be a bit more extroverted than they’re used to; tight, revealing clothes and flashing way more ass than most people would deem appropriate, at least in the mortuary, are just the beginning. What’s really irksome, though, is her ability, in between her incessant, inappropriate chatter, to see right through Nate and David – so obviously she’s gotta go again.
Then again, it’s understandable that Nate didn’t twig her personality at first. With Brenda’s family outweirding anyone by a factor of 10, it takes a lot for lesser weirdos to register. Nate’s less than happy to accompany Brenda to a vernissage of her brother’s art – which includes a charming shot of Nathaniel Jr. urinating against a brick wall, which Billy apparently shot on a day out following Nate around without his knowledge. (Ruth’s admirer Nikolai, who doesn’t exactly get what’s supposed to be artistic about taking photos, recognises the appeal of the pissing picture, mind you. He may not understand art, but he knows what he likes.) Brenda tries to talk some sense into Billy, but to no avail.
When Billy breaks into and wrecks the office of the psychiatrist who had analysed Brenda as a child and turned her into a cause célèbre, even Brenda’s parents – usually highly tolerant of intolerable behaviour – want to have Billy institutionalised, with her help. This, in turn, makes Brenda all protective again; if she has to choose between siding with her boyfriend (and having Billy committed) and pissing off her parents, well, that’s no choice at all for her. As they say: they fuck you up, your mum and dad.
I’m not sure you can blame Ruth and Nate Senior for all of their children’s problems, though – they’re plenty good enough at screwing their own lives up. Clumsy as David may be about it, he’s trying to get back onto Keith’s radar, making sure to join the right food drive slots to see and talk to his ex. Which seems to work at first. After stopping by the gallery to check out that classic, Nathaniel Pissant, they end up in David’s room – unfortunately for David, though, Keith doesn’t want a night of hot, sweaty lovin’: he wants to be a friend to David – which poor, confused, frustrated David may need even more than to get laid. Pity David doesn’t see it like that, so he ends up on his own, other than his right hand and the guy on the sex chat line.
Still, a good, relaxing five minutes of fun with Ms Palm and her five strapping young lads seem to give David the impetus to do something he’s pretty much wanted to do ten minutes into the episode: fire Angela. Even if he then hides upstairs until she’s done with her restoration and has left. How to deal with the lack of a third pair of hands, though? It’s simple really, so simple that it took them a couple of episodes to figure it out: if you’ve got someone as gifted as Rico, you don’t just let him go. You offer him more money.
As a distraught Angela leaves, she bumps into Ruth. What seems to make her more sad than having been fired is the house, the family, the inability of people to express their feelings. “I usually say whatever I’m thinking… Everyone is so fragile and can’t bear to hear anything.” Just as she’s about to walk out the door, she turns around and says, “You know something? I’ve never worked in a funeral home that was this depressing.” She’s got a point, though; for a series that so far has been a black comedy at least half the time, it’s more of a case of laughing so you don’t cry. And this is only season 1, the most cheerful of them all.
Stray observations:
- Ruth’s taking Nikolai to art exhibitions now? Bad news for Hiram, I’d say.
- This is my third time watching Six Feet Under, and I’m only now realising that season 1, while being a great introduction to the characters, is considerably more episodic than later seasons, lacking strong overall plotlines. Unless the season 1 plotline is all about Billy, in which case I’m screwed, as I never liked the character.
Quotes:
- Angela, on David suggesting that she might dress more professionally: “Give me a break, David. They’re just nipples… And it’s not like this guy’s gonna be laying in the casket and people are gonna be saying, ‘Oh my God, the embalmer’s nipples were hard,’ they’re gonna be saying, ‘How did they put his face back together after he went through the goddamn windshield?’”
- Keith: “People should be with people.” David: “Yeah, sometimes people are just too stupid to know it.” Trite but true.
- Nate, to Brenda: “I know this is really hard for you… I love you and I need you. And it’s okay for you to need me too. I want you to need me.” Brenda, frightened: “I’m doing the best I can.”
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Matt K. is a survivor of academia. He's fanatical about good TV and movies. He lives in Switzerland, which means that he gets his chosen drug mostly in the form of boxed DVD sets. You can read more of his musings on TV, life, movies, books and video games at http:\\goofybeast.wordpress.com.