Six Feet Under – Episode 11: The Trip

Dillon Michael Cooper. 2001-2001. Sometimes babies just die. No explanation. No reason. Nothing that can console. No meaning whatsoever. Just the pain that remains.

How much can even a good funeral director do for a young couple whose baby has just died of SIDS? David and especially Nate try to help the Coopers as best they can, but the parents, barely children themselves, are just about holding on to their sanity. It gets to Rico almost as much, though; this isn’t the kind of work he was hoping for, especially with a second young ‘un of his own on its way.

And now for something completely different: road trip! Nate’s on his way to Vegas, baby, due to the Annual Western States Funeral Director Conference: “Just me and David and 300 funeral directors loose in the city of sin.” Brenda, in the meantime, is studiously avoiding picking up the phone; her brother Billy’s having one of his bad (well, worse) phases, calling her incessantly and begging for her help.

Ruth, meanwhile, is trying to work her way up to having that conversation with David. After Angela’s parting shot in the previous episode about David being gay, Ruth is finding it impossible not to see the signs – such as a young buck leaving David’s house in the morning, the condom wrapper on his floor and the bottle of lubricant gel. David, too, seems to have a hunch regarding what his mother wants to talk about, but he postpones the conversation until after Las Vegas. He’s also not altogether happy that Nate keeps needling him about the speech he’s agreed to do at the convention, filling in for his late father, or that Nate’s trying to goad him into revealing what they’ve learnt about their competitors at Kroener – that they burnt down the house across the road to screw with the Fishers’ business.

Just before they leave, Brenda turns up, announcing that she’s joining the Fisher boys. That’s the okay part. The somewhat less okay part is this: Billy at his psychotic best goes after them, sneaking up on Brenda at the blackjack tables. David celebrates a success, though, doing the sort of firebrand speech in defense of the independent funeral home (and sticking it to Kroener) that would elicit a slow clap in most series or movies.

The other independent funeral directors practically carry him out of the room on their shoulders, but instead they take him to a strip club – when in Vegas, and all that… Not that David appreciates the rich display of surgically enhanced female flesh wrapped around poles – metal poles, at least for the moment – so instead he decides to celebrate with Brad, the male hooker, who ends up looking about as much like his picture on the flyer as Brad Pitt looks like Paul Giamatti. That’s still less bad than being caught by the police as David’s having him over the hood of a car in a parking garage.

How David uses his one phone call? Well, he’s got friends in the police, but this particular friend is less than pleased about David’s escapades. Not exactly the best way to endear yourself to your ex, David, and never have the words “I did this because I love you” sounded so painful, or “Goodbye, David” so final. (It isn’t final, of course, but you can practically see David’s heart whimpering pitifully.)

It’s not as if David’s acting ill-advisedly in matters of the heart, though; when Claire finds out that her own ex, Gabe Dimas (he of the kid brother who accidentally shot himself), almost killed himself with an overdose, she heads to the hospital to comfort him… and ends up confessing that she still loves him. She’s always had too much of a thing for bad, troubled boys.

Talking of which: Brenda and Nate aren’t too pleased to find out that not only did Billy follow them to Vegas, he also decided that it was a good idea to sneak into their hotel room while they were sleeping and take photos of them. Stalking or art? You decide.

Stray observations:

• Yes, it’s the Vegas episode, but it’s actually quite good. It’s especially nice to see David out of his usual element.
• “Brad” looks disconcertingly like the most dishevelled, least successful Hugh Jackman impersonator ever.
• Even watching the series for the third time, I still find little baby Dillon’s death one of the most disturbing ones on Six Feet Under.

Quotes:

• Brenda: “Call me from Vegas.” Nate: “I will. Unless I’m flailing about in a pool, having sex with some showgirl.”
• Nate, reading the conference programme: “‘The emerging role of funeral directors in mass aviation disasters.’ That sounds like fun.”