SIX FEET UNDER

SEASON 2

EPISODE 8: IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

It's Christmas 2001. A biker hardass gets on his hog, dressed as St. Nick, to go to work at the mall. As he waves and ho-ho-ho's to a bunch of kiddies, he gets splattered by an oncoming truck.

Ruth is going nuts because Christmas is two days away, and only one if you do any celebrating on Xmas Eve. She's making her guestlist out for dinner, begging her offspring to accompany her to church, and squawking about the tree not having been decorated yet. David is preoccupied, Nate is his laid-back content self, and Claire is the Grinch.

Dave and Nate help the wife of the deceased biker (Rusty Schwimmer) pick out the coffin and plan a "big ass Xmas biker funeral."

Rico reluctantly tells Vanessa why he decided to fire his cousin Ramon from rennovating the house. Oh, Rico, never tell a woman about another woman's hubby doing the nasty with someone other than his wife!!!

It is, of course, one year since Nathaniel Sr. was killed in a car accident. Each of his three children has a memory of the very last time they saw their father. Nate's is of Thanksgiving 2000, just about one month before the accident. Nate had come down from Seattle to visit and eat, and obviously had not spent all that much time in Dad's company. He is only minutes away from getting on the plane to go back home when Nathaniel comes walking up, a lit joint in hand. Nate and Claire, who also were enjoying a little weed, put their joint out, simultaneously with Dad snuffing out his, as he chirps out his familiar greeting, "Hey, buddy boy!" They have a brief, strained conversation about Mom's dinner, life in Seattle, and other trivial stuff, and you get the sense that Nate and his Dad just were nowhere near as close as they should have been. They are like strangers in the scene.

Brenda is in a very posh department store, perhaps Xmas shopping. She alienates a sales clerk and plays a sexy game with some way too pretty man who is obviously a male version of Brenda. Brenda ends up being booted out by the disgusted saleswoman, but not before she shoots off her mouth with, "Do you validate?" I'm too dumb to know what the hell that was supposed to mean. Later, Brenda shares her adventure with her friend Melissa. Melissa, who has fewer and fewer scenes lately, looks like she is less than intrigued by Brenda and what Brenda finds so intriguing.

At the flower shop, Nikolai is feeling quite frisky. Ruth is her usual self, slapping Nikolai away from her and making him laugh.

David pulls out the box of Christmas decorations, and remembers the last time he saw his Dad. Nathaniel, hot buttered rum in hand, practically begs David to take the time to sit down and just "visit". David, ever the uptight, serious guy, wants to get back down to work on a body. He seems so uncomfortable with the idea of just having "Christmas" with his dad that it's painful to see. If only, he must have thought later on.

Brenda and Nate trek over to Margaret's condo for Xmas Eve, and Brenda is shocked to see that Billy has been discharged from Clarendon Hospital. The backstory (you must get the book BETTER LIVING THROUGH DEATH for all these cool backstories that didn't make it to the screen!) is that Billy wasn't due to get out until May of 2002. But Margaret, who usually gets her way in matters of this kind, arranged to have Billy released a few months early. Brenda knows why of course, and is disgusted with her mother. As Nate and Billy have their first sane conversation ever, I found myself wondering if Nate would be nicer to Billy now that he has learned what it's like to suffer from a disease involving that complex, wonderous, delicate piece of jello in our heads, the brain.

Billy does indeed seem like a whole new person, that zany-eyed, big-haired psycho all but vanished, replaced by a docile, well-groomed Billy who seems repulsed by who he was before his latest hospitalization. He even asks Margaret to remove the creepily beautiful portrait hanging on her wall, the one in which you can't tell if his eyes are opened or closed. Ma Chenowith, up to her old tricks, reveals to Billy that Brenda and Nate are engaged. Perhaps Margaret was hoping for some kind of sobbing, jealous confrontation between her kids, but Billy seems to love the idea. Nate thinks Billy is okay, but Brenda isn't convinced, and calls her mother a "fucking evil bitch".

In less interesting news, Taylor doesn't like Keith's Christmas dinner. "It tastes like throw-up!" Keith feels very unappreciated. I would have told the kid to go to her room and stay until she thought of something nice to say. But Keith is too busy being hard on himself, and isn't much nicer to David.

Ruth and Claire, on their way to church, stop in to the flower shop to grab some poinsettias, and discover that Nikolai has been attacked and robbed, and that both of his legs are broken badly.

Claire has invited her new boyfriend Toby to meet the family and have dinner. Toby, whose folks are part of the pagan-worshipping art crowd who partied at Sarah's last episode, seems utterly delighted by the idea of having a real Xmas dinner with a Christian family. Claire looks like she wants to laugh right in Toby's sentimental face. She, too, remembers the last time she saw her father. She was on the phone with Gabriel Dimas, discussing meeting him at the meth-den no doubt, when Dad comes walking into the kitchen wondering aloud what he'd really like for Xmas. Claire, annoyed of course, hangs up and chews Dad out a little, and declines his invitation to go get Nate at the airport. As she remembers, she looks like she too, is wondering, "What if?"

Christmas dinner with the Fishers. Nikolai, having been prescribed some pretty strong painkillers, is boo-hooing, too emotional for one of his "Lord Have Mercy" prayers I guess; Brenda, sporting a new engagement ring, is self-absorbed as usual, still thinking Ruth hates her guts; Claire is nauseated by Toby's brown-nosing: "Dinner looks incredible, Mrs. Fisher"; Keith and Taylor surprise David by showing up, and Keith says a very lovely prayer. The angel fantasy was a terrific touch.

Upon learning that Claire and Billy have been corresponding over the internet, Brenda feels slighted. It seems everytime she emailed or called Billy over the past several months, he ignored her.

Rico also has a memory of his last contact with Mr. Fisher. He comes to work and is immediately sent back home by the old man. "Be with the young'ns while you can. They grow up fast." As Rico fondly recalls his old friend and mentor, his doorbell rings, and it's Ramon, who pretty much rearranges Rico's face. Good ol' Vanessa felt it was her womanly duty to tell Ramon's wife that her hubby is not only a cheater, but is gay, or at least bi. This will have been the second of three episodes in a row where the phrase "fucking fuck!" is said.

Back at the Fishers, Toby feels like going out and looking at all the lights and maybe even singing carols. Claire, of course, scorns the idea, and Toby, having given Claire a piece of his mind, leaves. He didn't last long, did he? Oh well, Claire is once again drawn to Billy, in spite of the way Billy did her in Season One. Those "cute boys in distress". What is it about them?!

David, Keith and Taylor return home, only to be greeted by Karla, Taylor's wayward mother. And suddenly, the gay couple's life with their unexpected child is over.

Nate presides over the biker bash, which is the most fun funeral since the porn queen's in S1. Mrs. Johnson, the biker's wife, shares Jack Daniels with Nate and waxes wisdom about how some people just live their lives differently than others.

Later, Nate and Brenda have a very upsetting clash over Claire's involvement with Billy. On Xmas Eve, Nate seemed to think Billy was fine. But mention Billy and Claire in the same sentence and Nate blows his stack. Even though Brenda announced that she is not responsible for Billy, his problems, or any threat he may pose to anyone, Nate still treats her like it's her duty to keep her brother in line. It isn't fair for Nate to lay that onto her. In the middle of sex, Nate has a horrible seizure, and can no longer keep his illness a secret from Brenda, who holds him close and says some eerie things that you know she's said to someone else in her life: "Maybe we can have your doctor switch you to something stronger...Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you...Awwww, you'll never be a burden to me..."

Ruth also has her memories of the last time she sees her husband. He steals some veggies and dip from her platter and when he goes to kiss her goodbye, on the way to get Nate, she pops another carrot into his mouth.

As the surviving Fishers remember their loved one, it is all too apparent that they miss him terribly, that they loved him, and that they realize that they took him for granted, that their last moments with him were all times that could have been different, just from them taking the time to talk to him, get to know him a little better...their love and regret is so bittersweet that you might find tears rolling down while you're watching this lovely, frustrating complex family. I liked this episode so much that apparently I had a lot more to say than usual. I give it an A+.