We see what looks like Billy Chenowith dozing and jerking awake in a hospital room. But wait, it's Brenda Chenowith! As they did with the Fisher Family, the people who cast this show knew their lookalikes. Anyway, it is their father, Bernard, who is dying this week, of gastric cancer.
Nate plans a nice day without Lisa, who is going to a "cooking zoo". He is saddened to read that Mr. Chenowith has passed, and wants to go to the funeral. He actually calls Lisa to ask permission. I'm all for spousal respect, but I do not understand why Nate has to ask permission to go to a funeral. Shockingly, Lisa is okay with it...well...at least we think she is...
Rico tells Nate he ought to take Baby Maya to Vanessa to sit while he's at the funeral, but when Nate gets a whiff of Vanessa's vibe, he feels very uncomfortable. Rico's all offended of course, but he too has noticed a change in his wife. The very skimpy backstory on this situation is that Vanessa's mom died a few months ago, and she's been depressed. I find that very normal, but as the season moves, Vanessa and Rico will be facing a huge situation stemming from her grief.
Ruth is inexplicably drawn to young Arthur, who to me has already become a useless character. Really I don't mean to be so mean, and I have nothing against Rainn Wilson at all, but this character...they had to have intended to go somewhere with him!!! And I guess they did go somewhere, ending up with one of the most unfounded infatuations I've ever seen. I can only repeat myself in saying Ruth is desperate for someone, ANYONE, to talk to. I insist however, that her romantic feelings, in all their ridiculousness, do not even ring true. She's far too attractive a women, dare I say, for her age and in spite of her drab fashion sense, to latch onto such a dowdy introvert as Arthur.
In even less interesting news, David and Keith are going to Terry's gay party to drink mimosas, play Leading Lady's and avoid Trixie, the little pooper dog. What is WITH gay men and little pooper dogs???
Claire and Russell are a couple now, and in spite of
Claire's vehement protest, Russell buys her a tube of expensive cobalt blue paint, believing that everyone deserves to splurge once in a while. Too bad Claire's a photographer and not an oil painter.
At Bernard Chenowith's funeral, Margaret may be drunk (it wouldn't surprise me at all), Brenda's holding everything together (as usual) and Billy looks limp with grief. He manages to get up and say a few words about how great his Dad was. I'll never know, and I'll never stop wondering, what WAS that third picture???
Keith's having a keen time, a swell time, at the party. I don't wanna be catty, but if I was orchestrating a Leading Ladies Guessing Game, I'd give each player a name that is at least somewhat known. And Gretchen Mol and Jeanne Tripplehorn are just not in the same league as Katherine Hepburn, or Judy Garland, or Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts.
Brenda is sincerely grateful to Nate for coming to the funeral. It just shows. For Nate, to sit looking at the ocean and talking about timing with his old friend seems to fill him with a sense of badly needed calm, which is shattered to bits when Lisa learns that Nate took Maya to the funeral. She obviously thinks that the infant will catch some disfiguring disease if Brenda handles her in any way. Again, I believe in respecting your spouse, but let's take a good look at Lisa and her actions. She's angry that Nate took Maya, a child that is EQUALLY his, to the funeral of his ex-girlfriend's father? Yes, but that's not the whole issue. She didn't really want Nate to go to that funeral. She just pretended she was okay with it because if she would have said no, she would have looked like a MASSIVE bitch. No, she's just a little passive aggressive beast who hates that Brenda used to be Nate's girlfriend, and hates Brenda period. Lisa's a fucking loon. I hate the woman okay???!!! Kudos to Lili Taylor who is very skilled to make me hate the character as much as I do.
My favorite moment is perhaps the only time that the Chenowiths have what you could call a "moment", the only scene in which they appear to be a loving, functional family, pulling together in a time of tremendous loss.
Nate continues to ponder his own happiness as Mr. Chenowith appears to him in a dream and assures him that Brenda will be alright, no matter what happens.
This is a good episode, but it appears to be missing something when you consider Vanessa's storyline and Arthur's pointlessness. It gets an A-.
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