A middle aged woman succumbs from what appears to be ovarian or some other abdominal cancer. Her husband is broken up about it. Her son is angry that his mother didn't seek treatment before it was too late.
This death, like many deaths in Season 4, doesn't have much of a relation to the storyline. Claire's crush on her friend Edie intensifies. Sophia the stripper continues her manipulation of Rico Not So Suave, and Rico scoffs at David's inability to work with the public. David, still suffering the effects of his ordeal with the hitcher he picked up, prefers to work behind the scenes, mainly cleaning and reorganizing the prep room.
Ruth and George go hunting for fossils and end up visiting Aunt Sarah (Patricia Clarkson) and the delightful Bettina (Kathy Bates).
Anita looks on in disgust as Claire, Nate and David sing a song to Maya. Later, David decides to take in a movie with Claire and Edie, but as soon as a scene comes along involving gun violence, David has another panic attack and ducks out.
Even though Brenda has moved into the nice house with Joe, she is cheating on him with Nate, and looks like she wishes she could tell Joe it's over. Nate is all too eager to tell Brenda that no, she sure hasn't changed.
Vanessa follows Rico over to Sophia's house and gets a good look at his "other woman".
Nate, eager, as I said before, to have the funnest most stress-free life of all time, is not only dating and banging Brenda, he's dating and banging Maile from the doggy-sitting place. He has a vision of the late Lisa, who sings the same kiddie song about a Petunia In An Onion Patch and encourages him to make a life with this Maile woman.
David tries to have a carefree one nighter with a bartender, but again, his post-traumatic stress gets in the way.
Vanessa and Rico have their inevitable big blow-out and she tosses his ass out. Rico finally has sex with Sophia, and gets to play with the gazongas he paid his hard earned money for.
Brenda confesses to Joe that she's being unfaithful.
And finally, her bi-curiosity at an all time high, Claire and Edie begin a sexual relationship.
I still think this show was better in past seasons when everything seemed to tie in together and have some kind of point to make. But it could be that the writers felt that these characters really need complex, separate storylines. This is just how I honestly feel: The show was at its all time best during Seasons 1 and 2. This episode gets a C+ from me.
