SEASON 2

EPISODE 6: IN PLACE OF ANGER

A company cruise in some harbor. A drunken man, having made quite the ass of himself, falls overboard and is filletted (sp?) by the boat's propeller.

Brenda's sex drive has returned to normal. Nate is all happy and thrilled and stuff about being newly engaged. Brenda doesn't seem all that phased. Let's see, she asked him to marry her, WHY???

It has been three weeks since David began a new relationship with Ben the lawyer, but he seems...hesitant.

Ruth's sister Sarah comes to visit. Like Ruth and Claire, Sarah has lovely red hair and very fair skin. Unlike Ruth and Claire, Sarah is very extroverted, touchy, huggy, demonstrative. She dresses like a hippie, and sashay's about the house rather than simply walking. She immediately takes note of Claire's amateurish artistic abilities, offering strange mixed-message critiques on them.

At Rico's house, silly Vanessa is mad at Rico because the house she plunged headlong into has a problem with seeping water and mold growth.

As Sarah interacts with Claire and Nikolai, Ruth busies herself quietly alongside them, getting dinner ready. Her passive aggressive body language and verbal replies to anything said to her suggest that she is either jealous of her obviously happier, or at least earthier, less uptight sister, or she still hasn't quite forgiven her for things done in the past. It seems that years ago, David wandered off into the canyon and got lost, while Nate, aged 15 at the time, was deflowered by one of Sarah's artist friends.

All I could think was, Ruth, you made the phone call to motivate your sister to get back into touch with you. Why? Just to have this opportunity to make an ass of yourself yet again???!!! Poor woman, still so unhappy even after being exposed to The Plan.

I did think Aunt Sarah was a little bit of a pervert when she, upon greeting David, opened his coat and let her eyes roam all over him. Of course, by this time, having shared vodka with Nikolai, she's a little tanked. Being the earthier, more friendly sort, she easily takes over all of the dinner conversations, while Ruth seems on the verge of exploding into tears or more profanity. Nate senses the tension and decides it's time to announce to the kinfolk that he and Brenda are getting hitched. WHAT IS RUTH'S PROBLEM???!!! She doesn't like Sarah, she doesn't like Brenda, she's jealous of everyone, it seems. Is she angry because she didn't get to control the situation??? Because they didn't talk about things she is interested in (like she's interested in anything!!!)??? I swear this woman reminds me so much of my grandmother it's hard to take sometimes. My grandmother didn't like anyone I brought home to her, didn't like any of my dad's wives or girlfriends either, was very passive-aggressive, didn't have ANY hobbies, didn't want to talk about anything except getting people to go to CHURCH with her and how we're all going to HELL if we don't go to church with her, etc...sorry, momentary lapse with the task at hand...

Nikolai is a lot more patient with Ruth than I would have been, I'll tell you that much. Brenda, as usual, thinks Ruth's anger and ill-ease are all about Brenda. Sarah understands all of it, having lived with Ruth most of her life.

David talks to Ben later on, and it's apparent he's not as smitten with Ben as he wishes he was. He still loves Keith, who has severed contact between them to avoid any more mistakes. Then again, I would have been glad not to have invited my boyfriend to a dinner as tense and miserable as the one with Sarah turned out to be.

Nate tells Ruth that she either accepts Brenda or she doesn't, because he's marrying her. Ruth doesn't seem hell-bent on Nate being alone and unhappy all his life, yet she isn't quite sure Brenda is the right one for him. As usual, it's hard to say what Ruth's troubles are, except that she's a miserable person within herself and it's nobody else's problem, or fault.

The wife of the man who was sliced up by the boat propeller can't make up her mind which funeral home gets to do the honors, because she wants the cheapest funeral possible. Her body language and verbal responses indicate that although she was married to the man for decades, that union was anything but happy for her. After sparring with Kroehner for a while, Fisher & Sons is chosen to hold the funeral. Mitzi Dalton Huntley comes calling again, and talks David and Nate into accompanying her on a trip to Las Vegas "to have fun".

Claire tries to have a "moment" with Ruth, perhaps having picked up on Ruth's sadness that Claire and Sarah had such a good rapport with each other the night before. But Ruth is so busy being nasty about Sarah, about things that happened twenty years ago, that she blows it with Claire, who gives up.

Vanessa, who isn't all that likeable this season so far, gets wayyy to nit-picky about Rico picking up a body. "What are you, his lapdog?" No, Vanessa, he's just doing what his job requires him to do in order to keep you in your house that you insisted on buying!!! Sheesh!!!

Nate takes Mitzi's offer and literally rips it apart. David looks like he wishes Nate hadn't been so hasty. It was a lot of money, and sometimes, struggling to keep a small business afloat is nothing short of thankless. Later, Nate has a headache, and lies to David about having told Brenda of his brain condition.

Brenda has a dream that Nate is smothering her. The dream is yet another factor setting in motion a pattern of behavior that will come to an ugly head later in the season. Already having done a form of prostitution once with Melissa, Brenda is finding herself more and more intrigued...about...something. She ends up giving a client a hand job. When it's over, she tells the guy she can't have him as a customer anymore. This tells me she at least feels her conscience rising up after doing something she knows constitutes as cheating.

Nate is somehow talked into letting the deceased's wife see his non-restored remains. I would have said, "Lady, if you want to that bad, you can open the casket yourself, because I'm not about to." If only Nate wasn't so naive. The woman is looking for some easy money, the bitch! It's clear to Nate only after the woman has a good hyena laugh and walks away, obviously not intending to stay for the funeral at all.

Ben knows David isn't into it, so he breaks it off with him. I don't think David should have gotten off so easily, but oh well.

Ruth and Sarah have a long, revealing talk, and finally reconcile. All those questions about what the hell is Ruth's problem are at least partially answered. She's a font of rage, resentment, and of course repression, and let's not forget she's a friggin' martyr, wanting to be needed by everyone instead of simply asserting herself and saying she's a person worthy of love and respect. The most touching and consumating moment comes when Ruth pulls out a box of Claire's childhood art, and they finally have their "moment".

An intriguing episode that deserves an A+.