My take on Lisa is that she’s running away. I don’t think she’ll commit suicide–I think she’s just taking off and leaving Nate and Mya. This scenario leaves room for the possibility of her reappearing later on in the series after Nate and Brenda get back together, of course.
The scenes with Claire and Ruth were just beautifully done. I love to watch these two actresses play off of each other. Brilliant!
As for Russell–I think I might be correct in my first guess early in the season that Russell is going to go whacko on Claire. That little “I can’t live without you” comment from him really makes it seem like he’s gonna go psycho or something. Plus, Claire’s comment of, “Yeah, things would be different because you’d be dead” is a bit of foreshadowing, I imagine. Poor Claire.
I had the horrendous luck to be watching last night’s show on satellite, with storms all around us. We lost six feet under right as Brenda and Nate kissed. Arrrrghghg!
Great episode, as usual. As I’ve said before, I really don’t think that Lisa offed herself, because it’s just too obvious. I agree with Greywolf73 - I think she’ll be AWOL for quite a while, be presumed dead, then show up next season and try to get the baby back. Or maybe an accident. I agree she’s a neurotic nut case, but not suicidal.
Poor Billy. Either he’s emotionally dead from the meds, or he’s completely whacked.
When Nate and Brenda were kissing, I just had the awful feeling they were being spyed on. Billy? Or maybe Lisa. The door was wide open, and I was expecting Lisa to come storming in as they were kissing.
I recently bought the first season of SFU on DVD, and spent last weekend watching it. Ruth and Clare have both changed so much from that season, and their scene together this episode was so touching. Ruth has always been my favorite, and I’m even starting to like Clare more. I was a lot like Clare as a teenager (but I never stole a foot), and the during the first season I rolled my eyes at a lot of stuff she said or did.
Maybe she did, and that’s why she took off? I got that feeling too, but dismissed it as too obvious. How hokey would it have been for her to have come in at that exact moment when they were kissing. I still had a bad feeling that she had to be around somewhere, maybe even outside, and at least saw Brenda around. I dont’ know. I think she just took off. She’s such a nutjob, who knows? There often seems to be heavy foreshadowing with this show, so when Nate’s on the cell phone with Lisa and the signal starts breaking up, I kind of got a chill when he said “Lisa. . .I’m losing you. . .”
This is a longshot, but what if Lisa went away to test Nate? Just to see if he gets with Brenda in her absence?
And Billy? Not even gonna touch that one, but I ‘knew’ since last week… eeww.
And the ‘last three episodes’ thing took me by surprise.
Really big episode. So much happening…
Claire and Ruth – my gosh, they even look alike, don’t they?
The writers are so good. Ruth’s line, about her relationship with Nate Sr., and how no one will ever love her like that again, that no one will remember when she was young and pretty. I said almost the same thing to a friend, after my husband died. Good writing.
Can’t agree that Lisa was suicidal, unless the “let’s be friends” talk with Nate was final proof to her that she will never inspire the passion in him that Brenda did. But killing herself leaves Maya with Nate, and with Brenda. She just wouldn’t do that, IMHO.
I would hope for something nasty to happen to Olivier, but people like that never seem to get their comeuppance. What? It’s okay to boink your students in college?
I don’t think Lisa has any ulterior motives–I think she was genuinely happy and relaxed before she left, and not displaying any classic pre-suicide symptoms. So if she’s missing, her car’s at the bottom of a cliff.
Russell, on the other hand, is Not Long for this World. It’s not just an ear he’ll lose.
Brenda & Billy–I’ve thought incest since Season One–I was just surprised at Brenda’s reaction. I would’ve been less surprised if she’d said that she didn’t want to do that–again.
Having sex with a student is … most of the time … frowned upon by colleges. However, policies do vary. I doubt someone like Olivier is tenured. The worst he would get would be something like not having his teaching contract renewed.
I don’t think Lisa killed herself either. Running away doesn’t seem impossible either. Remember: she didn’t leave Nate a list. That would be a sign that she’s not coming back.
Billy…jeez. He was the sane one for a minute there, now he’s completely fucked up. I could see that he was melting down and wouldn’t be surprised if there was a history of incest between him & Brenda.
Am I the only one to wonder how Nate could live in a house with 3 redheaded women? His mother, his sister, and his wife? No doubt that Lisa’s psycho (has been since Nate & Claire went to Seattle), and Ruth, God bless her soul, giving Yuri the $25,000 and blowing the rest on a horse race. Let’s not forget Claire putting the foot in Gabriel Dimas’ locker, and everyone suspecting her of burning down the Kroner funeral home.
Vanessa scared the shit out of me for a second there. When she grabbed her chest in the club, I thought Rico was going to end up putting her makeup on her. I really don’t want to see that. I want to like Vanessa, but think she’s heading for something really really bad.
I agree about Keith & David heading for a break-up. I really like Keith too. I don’t know how he’s put up with David’s alternating doormat impersonation & guilt trips for so long.
If you’re implying she may have…known she wouldn’t be coming back, well she sure didn’t show any other signs. In fact, I thought that Nate and Lisa had finally reached a point where they could start fresh without all the expectations, and find what happiness they could. Nate does not need to get back with Brenda, I shudder at the thought. Brenda brings way too much drama into Nate’s life, which he doesn’t need with the stress of his job (as the scene in this episode reminded us.) And then of course there’s the everpresent Billy problem. In short, I hope Lisa turns up alive, because Nate/Brenda was a disaster, is a disaster, and will always be a disaster.
Well, if this becomes a love triangle, it will look alot like Nate’s. They both seem to be struggling with the choice between a complicated, emotionally taxing relationship, and a more normal one. David and Patrick might be a more similiar pair, but I’m not sure that’s what David really wants. David has a real submissive streak in him (the aforementioned “doormat impersonation”, nice description jack@ss), maybe he really wants to have someone more like Keith than Patrick when all’s said and done.
As a guy, I feel a little sorry for Russell. Yeah, it’s weird, immature and a little creepy…but he’s a teenager. So’s Claire. Teenagers do stuff like that all the time, they haven’t yet learned it’s creepy, and they probably saw it work on Dawson’s Creek (as you point out.) If Claire doesn’t want to date somebody who’s still finding themself, then she shouldn’t date anyone under the age of 30. Heck, I’m 24 and well out of my teens and I still can’t say for certain that I know the path my life will take. When you deal with younger people you can’t expect Mr. Stability. If it’s not sexual confusion like Russell’s, it’s confusion about something else.
True, but I also can’t help feeling a little sorry for Arthur. He’s as inexperienced as Russell was, but he was older and had just bottled up his desires. I’ve often wondered if there’s a point of no return, a time after which you have behaved so long in a certain way that you’re incapable of entering a radically new sort of existence. It appears with Arthur that the answer is “yes.” While I figured Arthur and Ruth weren’t a good pair, I’d have liked to see Arthur learn something from the experience and break out of his shell a little. He was starting to, but he just hit a wall.
Me, too. I thought brother/sister incest was part of the Chenowith family tradition! And, I too was surprised at Brenda’s reaction last night. . . unless her counseling has been so successful as to cause her to mend her ways!
I think Lisa is a sucking hole of need, but who wouldn’t be with Nate around? I adore Lili Taylor and want always to watch her. Brenda pisses me off and annoys me.
I think that Clare’s reaction to Russell was way over the top. Get a grip, girlfriend, yer man tells you about his sexual confusion and you act so…typical. I thought she was more enlightened than that. Oh well.
She did what she should have done. Anyone who cheats on their boyfriend/girlfriend, whatever, is utter repugnant scum. Anyone who would give such a person a second chance deserves to be cheated on and taken for granted. Good for her for showing that piece of crap the door.
David should do the same thing for that sleeze Keith.
Help me, I’m trapped in the Ricki Lake Show!!! Must…fight…sudden…urge…to shout out…meaningless catchphrases…YOU GO GIRLFRIEND, DITCH THAT ZERO AND GET WIT’ A HERO, ONCE HE A CHEATA’ HE ALWAYS BE A CHEATA’, U DIG?
Well, not to poke fun, I don’t think you’re advocating a blind and bitter opinion necessarily, like the ladies on that show in the audience do. But I think you should consider that these people are teenagers, and therefore not the model of responsibility. I think it’s a little unfair to hold them to such a high standard. You think they should be “dumped”, ok. Calling a 19-year-old boy who is sexually confused and has a lone sexual incident with a man while he has a girlfriend “utter repugnant scum” is going a tad bit too far, IMHO.
Had another comment to make; I’m going to catch this week’s episode again so I can re-watch it and listen more closely, but did anyone else notice when Ruth asked Arthur about sex that he spoke of it in a terms of hurting, etc.? I’m thinking, and I’ll freely admit that I first read this comment on another board although I am uncertain which one, that -maybe- Arthur was sexually abused as a child. Hence his confusion as to whether or not he has actually had sex, as well as it being a painful experience for him. I don’t know, though; like I said, I’m going to re-watch it to hear exactly what he says to Ruth about sex. Poor Arthur–he’s certainly got his problems, but honestly he does seem nice, just … very quirky. (and that’s putting it mildly! :p)
When she was Claire’s age my cousin got more upset than that when her hair wouldn’t stay how she wanted it. Sure, Russell’s supposed to be confused because he’s a teenager. Well, Claire gets to react at the most extreme end of the spectrum because she’s…a teenager.
As for Lisa, if she were planning suicide when she left I think she would’ve been more clingy with Maya. “Remember Mama loves you.” etc. most likely leading to Nate saying, “Geez Lis, it’s only a weekend.”. I thought that her not leaving a list for Nate was indicative of a new level of ease in Lisa’s life. When they were speaking on the cell phone she seemed genuinely relaxed and happy, not in the kind of despair that I would expect a suicidal person must feel. The scenes from upcoming episode seem to forecast her death so I’m guessing that she’s not dead, but a Jane Doe ina hospital with extensive brain injury.
Boscibo’s notion that Lisa somehow saw Nate & Brenda kissing is intriguing. Maybe she was really happy and on her way to her sister’s when Nate’s call made her realize that she could relax right there at home so she headed back, snuck up the stairs to surprise him and…there he was smooching Brenda. Lisa turned around and went back to her car driving and crying without a destination on the mean streets of L.A. and gets carjacked. . .
Reason #5001 I’m glad I don’t live in Lawrence, Kansas. But hey, it’s no surprise to find differences of opinion between a beaker and myself. I don’t care to toss around accusations of being “scum”, but hey I only lived in Johnson County for two years so I guess I didn’t pick it up while I was there. I guess we’ll just have to let the YMMVs rule the day.
