I may or may not have said once that Season 4's deaths sometimes contribute nothing to the main stories. In this episode, a young woman dies after celebrating her anniversary with hubby, by falling in the shower. That's pretty much all about her...until a while later.
This episode may or may not be my favorite...I haven't decided yet, but this episode is definitely in a class of its own. Very unformulaic and very powerfully acted by Michael C. Hall by David.
The side stories, first, are of Ruth encouraging Nate to join a bereavement group. Sounds like a good idea for a young man who has recently lost his wife to a mysterious death, until Nate sees that the only other people in the group are elderlies who had the good fortune of not only having decades with their loved ones, but having real love with their loved ones. Nate can claim neither in his marriage to Lisa.
Ruth is also playing matchmaker, scheming a set-up between George's disturbed son Kyle and her friend Becky, a rather quirky and funny cashier. When George learns of this, he isn't happy.
Claire's incredibly beautiful self-portraits are given unfair criticism. It's obvious pal Anita is shooting them down only to get back at Claire for putting down Anita's photos last episode. Why the bitchy lesbian teacher is so nasty is beyond me, except she's another Olivier type, with the need to make everyone feel really shitty about their stuff just for the sake.
Rico edges closer to a full-blown adulterous affair with Sophia, who is growing more clingy and needy by the day.
Brenda visits with her mother Margaret (Joanna Cassidy) who does her usual digging of dirt and dishing out of criticism, all with a radiantly gleeful grin, and that wonderful cackle of hers! : )
But the episode belongs to David. Keith has departed to go on tour with Celeste and is probably 3000 miles from home when David, driving the refrigerated van containing the dead wife, stops to assist a stranded motorist. David finds his passenger attractive and charming as he agrees to drive the guy to a station for some fuel, and experiences a nightmare that he will never forget. I won't go into detail about the ordeal he suffers, but the storyline is so powerful that the writers wisely chose not to segment it after a point.
Just this storyline alone makes the episode deserve an A or even an A+ because it is so compelling and shocking.
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