Jean Louise McArthur AKA “Viveca St. John”. 1957-2001. Roger Ebert once wrote this about the rise and fall of porn star Dirk Diggler of Boogie Nights fame: “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” I’m sure there’s something similar you could say about Ms McArthur, a middle-aged porn actress, dying because her pussy cat decides to throw an electrical bathroom appliance in the bathtub as she’s getting ready for a date.
Is it possible that Alan Ball has some hang-ups about organised religion? At the very least the irony is pretty heavy-handed when the first scene after Death of a Porn Star is closet case David in church with his mother. Like any good boy, he whiles away the time ogling one of the guys in the choir. When after the service he’s asked by the priest whether he wants to take over the position as deacon vacated by his late dad, David’s puzzled but honoured. He’s doubly puzzled but less honoured as the funeral tourist (who finally gets a name – Tracy Montrose Blair) from previous episodes shows up at church and hits on him in the most obvious way – which David deflects by mentioning his own girlfriend, in fact, his fiancee. I wonder: could this be an episode focusing on David’s troubled attitude vis-a-vis his homosexuality? And WWKS (What Would Keith Say) to being denied in public yet again?
In the meantime, Nate goes to visit Brenda at her parents’ place – Mommy and Daddy Chenowith are away, supposedly, so the two lovebirds decide to use the pool for a bit of quality pool time. Which is when Margaret and Bernard, Brenda’s parents, make their appearance. Being caught by your parents as you’re tongue-wrestling with someone else never really becomes less awkward, does it? Still, Brenda makes Nate even less comfortable when she introduces him: “Margaret and Bernard, this is Nate Fisher. The man I’m having sex with.” I guess psychoanalysts’ kids do it differently.
Talking about uncomfortable conversations: after her bout of footnapping, Claire’s been asked to see the school counsellor, together with her mother. It’s quite clear that the two women have very different perspectives to family life: “You were a very happy little girl and you know it,” Ruth says, only to have Claire reply: “Just because I was too young to realise what freaks we were.” As they both argue about who had the worse childhood, the counsellor chips in: “This, is good for you two to talk like this.” He orders them to schedule in some mother-daughter dialogue time – so Ruth goes out to get some videos for her and Claire to watch. (Runaway Bride and The Nutty Professor seem to be exactly the right kind of movies to appeal to someone who steals chopped off feet for kicks.)
Back at the Fisher home, David’s talking to Viveca St. John’s husband, as Rico tries to repair the damage done to the dead woman by the electrical current: her breasts, the best – or at least biggest – money could buy, have been whacked out of shape. They’re “cockeyed”, in Rico’s anatomically confusing terms. And the hubby wants to have her buried in a flimsy dress, with a plunging neckline and no bra. Never a dull day at the funeral home. David’s less than comfortable with Rico and Nate standing over her body and going on enthusiastically about her greatest hits.
Movie night at the Fishers isn’t going all that well, although at least Claire and Ruth are in agreement about not wanting to watch two hours of Eddie Murphy and fart jokes. Nate isn’t having a much better time: he’s been invited to the Chenowiths, except it’s only Margaret and Bernard, no Brenda. It’s sort of a dinner/psychoanalysis evening, which with those two must feel a lot like dinner with cannibals, with you as the main dish. At least the booze is good and plentiful, and Nate finds out about Brenda’s brother Billy, not exactly the most stable member of the Chenowith family.
“St. Bartholomew is an old church. A conservative church. A church that doesn’t need to have its boat rocked”: David’s welcome to deaconhood makes it clear that he’s unlikely to be able to make St. Bartholomew more progressive any time soon. The subtext in the scene could be cut with a knife: it’s clear that especially the older priest has his suspicions about young, clean-cut and slightly prissy David who isn’t forthcoming on his part, but in turn David practically challenges the men of the cloth to come out and ask him whether he’s gay. The subtext pretty much stays sub-, though, and David remains firmly in the closet.
Meanwhile, the mother/daughter bonding continues, as Ruth whisks Claire off to her cousin’s, to show her a better example of a mother-daughter relationship. The two do everything together, from watching Gilmore Girls to crushing on their spinning instructor. They play Scrabble in such a cutesy way that you can practically see Claire fantasising about double homicide. Something good comes out of it, though: Ruth and Claire are in absolute agreement about the sheer hell of happy-clappy mother-daughter tag team and flee their house in the middle of the night.
Oh, and Nate? After dinner with the Doctors, he heads straight to Brenda’s to give her a piece of his mind. He’s less than pleased at having been treated like a lab rat, both by Brenda’s parents and by her. Slowly but surely it’s dawning on him that she may not just be the hot and eminently smart woman he happens to be sleeping with: quite possibly she’s neurotic enough to make his family look normal. well, more so, at least.
Still, the next morning when they go for breakfast, Brenda gives Nate a key to her flat, suggesting that she’s working on her trust issues and he’s the man she wants to work on them with. David and Keith, however, are having a less good breakfast, squabbling about David’s appointment as deacon. “David, we have our own church in West Hollywood, which means that the other churches don’t have to tolerate us”, Keith says. “Frankly, I resent the notion that I need to be tolerated.” He adds the interesting question: “Why do you embrace an organisation that doesn’t embrace you?”
They’re still arguing as Brenda and Nate leave the breakfast place and see the two of them together. Guess that’s one closet you’re no longer in, David. It still takes an amazingly long time for Nate to catch on that the two guys don’t just “play racquetball”, unless you say that while wriggling your eyebrows suggestively to emphasise the innuendo. Only when David demonstratively puts his hand on Keith’s does the penny drop. “Oh my god, I think David is gay,” Keith says, while Brenda’s more amused than shocked: “I think David is lucky. Did you get a look at that guy?” But then David ruins it all by choosing his deaconship over a weekend away with Keith. One step forward, ten steps back. After breakfast it’s also all downhill for Nate and Brenda; when they get back to her place, semi-naked Billy’s already there, and his Chinatown-inspired introduction (“She’s my sister. She’s my mother. Sister. My mother! … Sorry, nobody’s ever laughed at that.”) doesn’t go down well.
After their bonding experience, Ruth finally confesses to Claire that she had an affair while Nathaniel Sr. was still alive. “Whatever relationship you and I have, I want it to be honest, even if you hate me,” Ruth says. Claire makes the point that at this point in her life she needs to figure things out on her own: at 17, having a problematic relationship with your mother is normal. Yes, stealing a foot is weird, but “living in a house where a foot is available to be stolen is weird,” as Claire astutely puts it.
What is also weird: porn star funerals. There’s something sweetly innocent about all of Viveca’s former colleagues reminiscing about her and her talents. Ruth’s rather shocked at the goings ons, but then she would, wouldn’t she? “I’m just glad your sister isn’t home,” she says to Nate. David, however, seems moved at the display of genuine affection for a woman who made her living fucking on film. There’s so much more life, so much more love, in the funeral service for Jean Louise McArthur than there is in the church services at St. Bartholomew’s. As he sits through the Sunday morning service, in his mind all the parishioners are replaced by young, muscular, naked hunks – and one angelic looking Viveca St. John (if angels can have ’80s hair), waving him goodbye and blowing him a kiss.
Still: when Nate after the service walks up to David and asks about Keith, David says: “He’s just a friend, Nate.”
Stray observations:
- This episode was directed by Kathy Bates, who will show up in person in later episodes.
- Margaret Chenowith – my most hated character in Six Feet Under makes her first appearance. In two viewings of the show, I never really warmed to her; perhaps the third time’s the charm.
- Talking about annoying Chenowith characters: I sometimes think that if Brenda wasn’t played by brilliant actress Rachel Griffiths, I would get tired of her neuroses. As it is, though, Brenda’s one of my favourite fictional characters.
- David and Keith watch Oz, courtesy of HBO. I wonder, does Jimmy McNulty ever watch The Sopranos?
- Having your shrink parents write a book about your childhood? Not high up on my list of good things to happen to you.
- Sandra Oh! As a blonde tearful porn starlet! Take that, Grey’s Anatomy.
Quotes:
- “No offense, but I’d rather drive a rusty railroad spike through my skull.” Claire, at the suggestion of going along to spinning classes with the Stepford Cousin and her daughter. Don’t hold back, Claire – what do you really feel?
- Imaginary Viveca St. John: “Do you think God cares that you’re gay?” David: “Do you think God cares that you fucked 30 guys at once?” Viveca: “Oh, so you equate being a fag with being a whore?”
- Nate, after bumping into his brother and Keith: “This is Brenda, my… girlfriend.” Brenda: “I prefer the term ‘fuck puppet’.” Heh.
- Larry Wadd at Viveca’s funeral: “I can honestly say I’ve never received a better blow job in my life. Nobody was even filming!”
Related posts:
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.