Six Feet Under 6/13/05

Cafe Society
#1

No thread yet? How can this be? I remember when I’d log on Sundays at 10, and the discussion woudl be well underway.

Anyhow, I agree with those who feel that Lauren Ambrose is flirting with too-thin.
And I’m finding myself actually feeling sorry for George.
And I think Rico is just a :wally .
And I’ve lost a lot of respect for Brenda for her decision to dump the first internship, although maybe it’s just that I’m far more used to positions like internship #1 than internship #2 Also, I can’t even claim that I had respect for Brenda in the first place.

Other thoughts?

#2

Brenda has a lot of knowledge and experience with the topic of psychology, which is why she picked that major, but (just like her mother) she’s very self-centered and doesn’t really have any interest in helping people who need help.
I enjoyed the comment from the second director, who said something like “usually I give this internship to my best student, but someone pulled some strings, so I guess it’s going to you”.

#3

Who played Rico’s girlfriend? I missed it on the credits, and can’t find it through EpGuides.com (not up to date) or HBO.
She looked familiar, in a “Hey, it’s that girl!” kind of way.

#4

Damn. I forgot to watch. It’s gonna take me awhile to get used to tuning in HBO on Mondays.

I’ll be disappointed if Rico and Vanessa don’t get back together, and I hope they don’t do a “Girlfriend of the Week” for Rico’s character. Was he with the dental hygienist from the week before? Or someone new?

#5

Rico’s girlfriend – someone in the 6FU Yahoo group says that was Anne Ramsey, who played Helen Hunt’s wacky sister on Mad About You.

#6

Man, that was wrong by the dental hygenist. You don’t get all hot and heavy making out on the couch (after going as a date with Rico to a wedding) and then the next day not return any calls and then the next day say she thought he could ‘take a hint’. Lame, Ms. dental hygenist, Lame.

#7

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that Anne Ramsey played the director of the second internship that Brenda took. She was the one who said I usually give it to my best student…

I have no clue who the woman was who played Rico’s interest, sorry.

#8

Sharon (Rico’s girlfriend) was played by Jenna Fischer. You may have seen her as the receptionist Pam in the US version of The Office

#9

That’s who she was! Thank you!

And yes, as abbeytxs said, Anne Ramsey of Mad About You was the new director of Brenda’s internship. Definitely not Sharon.

#10

Wow, still hardly anyone participating. I wonder if the reason this is the last season is that the numbers aren’t looking as good as they once did. Wouldn’t the weekly SFU thread have been pages long by now, a couple of years ago?

George, now there’s a sad case. Can someone fill me in on how his illness surfaced? I missed most of the last season.

#11

I saw last season in bits and pieces, not necessarily in order, but as near as I can tell: Ruth was getting on George a lot for not being forthcoming with his past. This was causing a lot of tension between the two of them. George took Ruth to an office party, where she overheard an ex-gf talking about what a cad George had been to her. Ruth confronted him, he gave the typical aloof George response. She began stewing and snapping at him.

And here’s where I may be leaving some stuff out, but as near as I can tell, one night, Ruth woke up, and George was sleeping in the bomb shelter/cellar area of the house (Not sure what it really was), and pretty much told her that was where he lived now. Something sent his little boat over the waterfall, and I think that may have been how last season ended-- just a little glimpse of the crazy.

I could be wrong, but I think the first show of this season had him getting diagnosed and treated.

Thoughts on the new ep:

[ul]I’m really starting to dislike Ruth. I know she’s frustrated that George didn’t disclose his illness before they got married, but damn! Have a little compassion. I guess she may have been falling out of love with him before he got sick, and now she just feels trapped. She’s just pissing me off, though.[/ul]

[ul]Two guys walk into a bar…one of them is Nate Fischer…and he’s the normal one! Go figure.[/ul]

[ul]I really don’t think we’ve heard the last of Claire’s eggs. They teased to that the previous week, so I don’t see how this couldn’t come into play somehow this season. Why would they make us pay attention to that aspect of the Keith-David baby-making story via the teaser, and just have her so ‘No Thanks’ and then drop it. Maybe I’m wrong.
[/ul]

#12

Wasn’t there something going on with George’s family? I remember something about an estranged son who mailed him boxes of dog crap, and a daughter who revealed something to Ruth.

It’s been too long between seasons, and I never watched an episode more than once, so I could be off.

#13

I’m back in for this season, I just don’t comment much I suppose. However, for the good of the thread, I will. :slight_smile:

I hope George goes away. I’m sort of over the character but more importantly I’m so frustrated for Ruth. Is it just me or does George’s daughter always look like she’s about to cry? I recall her from an episode of CSI and she looked the same way.

I agree that Lauren Ambrose is bordering on too thin. David’s dream image of Claire and the screwed up baby is enough to give me nightmares.

I almost got the impression that Brenda would decide to go back to internship #1, Oh and who was slamming Brenda against a wall at the end of the scenes for next week? Billy?

Since she didn’t show up this week, I reeeeeeeeeeeeally hope there’s no more Lisa.

#14

I dunno, to me it looked like a patient.

–

As for George and Ruth. Ruth is really coming off as a horrible person. I mean George was messed up and he was genuinely trying to be sweet (saying that marrying Ruth was one of the best things he’s ever done and all that).

That bar scene really was wierd. I kind of understood what Nate’s friend was getting at (he’s pining for his glory days), but the way he went about it was just creepy.

Billy not taking his pills is going to go badly…

#15

Maybe Ruth will snap too?

#16

Over the seasons (I’ve seen them all) I think Frances Conroy has shown the greatest range as an actor. I can’t imagine her knowing the full “arc” of her character at the outset, nor can I imagine the writers knowing it either. I suspect they wrote to her abilities and as they learned of her depth they expanded the character to fit that. Most convincing. The other characters have all shown growth (or at least some change) but none as much as Ruth.

I won’t miss Lisa either.

I really expect some bad things for Claire from Billy, and I can’t imagine what sort of child David and Keith will end up with; I just hope it’s a better deal than that creature in David’s dream! Reminded me of Chucky or one of the Alien offspring. Yikes!

#17

I have another question about last season’s developments. How did Billy snag that assistant professor job? He must have followed the family tradition in managing to get a degree or two under his belt; I’d always assumed he’d just been too nonfunctional to have managed to stay in school.

#18

I’ve been staying out of this thread because I thought the show was on Tuesday. I only watched the episode last night.

George’s illness began to be seen last season. He was concerned about toxic chemicals in the environment, and began to do things to save himself and his new family such as stockpiling supplies. He became more and more obsessed with the condition of the environment and foresaw a socio-economic collapse in the near future, so he moved into his bomb shelter. In the first episode of this season, we see him talking to himself and Ruth has him taken to a psychiatric hospital. It is explained that stress can bring on the symptoms, and he is treated with ‘electro-shock’ therapy.

#19

As soon as I saw the guy lean out of the car I knew what was going to happen next. Not one of the most inspired opening deaths. I always liked the oddball ones you don’t see coming.

When I saw the “Chuckie doll” Claire I thought ick, then the baby! WTF?

Ruth has had crappy luck and is always the caregiver; the legless grandmother, detox with her sister, the Russian with the broken legs, babysitting Maya and now George. I wonder if he will last the season or manage to round up his marbles from under the furniture and turn into a real sweetheart and give Ruth a happy ending.

That was a really shitty thing for Rico to do, telling Vanessa that Sharon died to get her sympathy and spend time with him.

I looked to me like it was Billy slamming Brenda into the wall in the teaser. Coming off of his meds is always a bad thing. I remember he was a student at that school, (IIRC) he wrote a letter of recommendation for Claire to get in. Somewhere there is the connection how he got the job.

Brenda is being Brenda leaving the social work and following in her Mother’s world of a narcissistic high dollar private practice. (I loved where her Mother said she would send a bill.)

Nate just might wind up the most normal of the bunch after all.

#20

I got the feeling that Brenda wanted to leave internship #1 because of the other doctors, not the patients. In the staff meeting, one of the doctors made a joke at his patient’s expense and Brenda looking a little nonplussed about it.