SEASON 3

EPISODE 3: THE EYE INSIDE

A young college-age woman is walking on the street when she is followed by a herd of menacing males and their wolf whistles. In a panic, she dashes into the road and is killed by a car. Later we learn that the guys who basically scared her to her death were a bunch of idiotic friends of hers, who really didn't mean any harm.

David has made a couple of new friends in the LA Gay Mens Chorus. The blonde Patrick kinda reminds me of the gay young man who was beaten to death at the end of S1.

Ruth has a new friend also, in Bettina. They go hiking together and later, Ruth asks Claire advice on how to ask her friend out on another "date". Ruth is also very cool about Claire's new boyfriend Phil having spent the night.

Nate seems unhappy lately (doh!!!). He's so in need of quiet and so overly stressed out, that he pulls to the side of the road to "unload" some of that stress.

David and Keith take off for a vacation, I forget where. It's fun to watch David imagining vomiting and hatred and angry shouts of, "THIS IS A FAMILY PLACE!!!" "NO! YOU CAN'T HAVE MY SON!!!" and sad to see David's self-consciousness, to see the lack of freedom that heterosexual couples take for granted. Later it's great relief to see David relaxing and screaming, "YEAH, WE'RE GAY IN HERE!!!"

Claire is beginning a new class at LACArts called Form In Space. Her new teacher, Olivier Castro-Stahl (Peter Macdissi) seems awesome. Fiery, no-nonsense, serious, unpretentious, Olivier stresses the importance of "the eye inside", and finding your own artistic style, voice, etc. Cool guy!!! Of course, first impressions do die hard.

The diabolical Carol finally pushes Lisa over the edge, and the newlywed Fishers end up moving back into Mom's house. Nate's not thrilled of course, and I don't understand why. Anyone should be thankful to be rid of a blood-sucking tick like Carol. Now all he needs to do is get rid of the other blood-sucking tick stuck on his back.

Ruth's facination with Bettina doesn't seem to be homosexual, but there is a facination there. Maybe it's her mid-life crisis. All her life, Ruth's been repressed to the point of nearly stopping breathing. Bettina's unapologetic, unregretful attitude about her life, and her naughty love of shoplifting are like a magnet for the mousy Mrs. Fisher.

Rico continues to admire and respect Nate's natural gift for counseling the bereaved. At the funeral of the girl who was chased into the street, her friends/killers are contrite and disbelieving of their own behavior. Somehow these fools missed it when it was determined by the world as a whole that some "jokes" aren't funny, at least not for women, who collectively have to live every waking moment as moving targets for depraved rapists and killers.

Claire, after waiting and hoping for Phil the Guitar Crematory Dude to drop his other groupies and accept her as his one and only girl, gives him the boot. It is probably the ONLY amiable breakup Claire will ever have. She finds hilarious comfort and kinship with the shy, tangle-haired redhead Russell, and it definitely looks like these 2 have far more in common anyway.

And Lisa, well she just keeps on squawking and scratching at the Henpecked Rooster Nate. He can't even watch a rerun of Friends without her wanting to have pointless discussions (that can't possibly WAIT) about baby products, groceries, moving-in preparations, and other crap that Nate has absolutely no interest in.

This season isn't bad so far. There are a few moments when I find it a bit disjointed and even lacking in the wicked comedy of Seasons 1 and 2, and this is mainly because Lisa will spend this entire season making Nate wish he (or she) was dead. But when the entire story unfolds through this season, it ends up being a pretty good story. I'll give this episode an A-.