A rather gory and overblown elevator death. Ex-wife hasn't seen the deceased since 1990 or so. Nate makes her puke.
Claire is excited about her gallery show. To celebrate, Anita presents Claire with a gift of cocaine.
Nate is going crazy-and driving Brenda crazy-thinking the Kimmell Klan is going to take his daughter away from him. It's only his guilt over having deceived them. He thinks that because he did something "illegal" with Lisa's corpse, the Kimmells have the right somehow to hurt him. There is no legal basis for their threats. You wish you could reach into the screen and stick a valium down Nate's throat.
David IDs the psycho who tortured and beat him. He wonders aloud if he should go visit the guy in prison and unleash all his hatred and bitterness. Keith thinks it's a good idea, if only because it will help David get it out of his system.
Ruth finally gets to meet another of George's kids, Maggie, a pharmaceutical rep from Hawaii. Maggie drops some hints that George has some issues.
Nate finally gives Michaela's book to David, and there is a picture of Lisa tucked therein. Nate gets under Brenda's skin over the pic, and because it looks like Lisa's standing near the beach, Nate is suspicious. He decides to get in the car and drive up to Santa Cruz to ask about the picture, since Michaela obviously knows something he doesn't.
Tired Pasquese plotline continues as he tries to manipulate Keith into a "part-time" bodyguard job. Sounds more like a full-time boy-on-the-side job to me.
Nicole Ritchie wants some of Claire's art. Paris wants some of Russell's sculptures---just kidding. Yark, yark, yark, I'm so funny huh???
Ruth spots Georgie talking to himself. Calls Maggie of course, but she didn't answer.
Rico has a genuinely touching moment with the wife of the man who was killed in the elevator, and for the first time in a while, we are afforded a glimpse into the customer care of Fisher and Diaz.
Claire's first art show is experienced by her through the euphoric buzz of cocaine. She spouts off a bunch of inane shit for 20 minutes and then goes back into the bathroom to have more nose candy with Anita.
Vanessa accepts Rico's heartfelt apology, but still wants a divorce. It's not because she hates Rico or doesn't forgive him.
Ruth and Brenda share their one and only scene together this season.
David visits his tormentor in prison, and comes away more baffled than before.
Claire's men are on hand to see her shining moment in time. Russell's jealous, Jimmy's pissed (because she's not paying any attention to him...he got her this fucking show!!!) and Billy's sexy as hell, and of course, he's the one that gets the most attention from Claire as they discuss why her pieces are untitled.
Nate arrives at the Hoyt-Barbara place for a showdown. I thought in some ways this sequence was a bit on the soapy side. I had no problem with the Lisa-Hoyt affair. You can expect that from a person like her. During all her crap, nit-picking, hen-pecking, manipulating, controlling bullshit, she was cheating on Nate with Hoyt. I found it quite plausible that he was the one who killed her. It's usually someone you know, right? So that must be why Lisa "loved Big Sur" so much. Hoyt would drive down from Santa Cruz and Lisa would drive up from LA.
Did he drown her? Shoot her? Strangle her? You don't find out. All he says is, "I didn't get mad at her. I sang her a song." Yeah, buddy, you sang her a lullaby alright. We are given no real answers---and in an effort to clean up/close up this plotline beyond a doubt, they have Hoyt blow his brains out. That was the part that was soapy and overblown and melodramatic.
This scene, above all the others in Season 4 that disappointed me, was a telltale sigh that this series, once so fresh and invigorating, had become stale and lifeless and generic. Sorry for being so harsh. It certainly isn't the fault of the talented cast. I still think Peter Krause gives heart and soul to Nate. It's just the writing and the storylines.
But Nate does get the closure he needed so much. Now he feels he can truly move foreward, with Brenda.
George decides to move into the bomb shelter, to live.
Claire and Billy, at last...
And the scene that sort of cancels out the mean things I said above??? The scene of David and Nathaniel Sr. in the rain. Beautiful.
Thus closes off Season 4. Some episodes were wonderful, some were pitiful. But this season finale deserves at least an A-.
Back to SIX FEET UNDER Season Four
Back to SIX FEET UNDER
Back to SISTO ACT
SIX FEET UNDER