An old woman succumbs to natural causes while sitting on the pot. If experience serves, she was probably trying to pass a few petrified turds that even the All-Bran couldn't remedy, and ended up triggering her vagus nerve.
Nate's 40th has arrived, and he begins the day by giving the wrong response to Brenda's announcement that she is again pregnant.
At Claire's new domicile, her boyfriend Billy is really out to lunch lately.
David worries about the surrogate being able to conceive, and nitpicks her food and drink choices when they go out to eat.
Ruth joins a knitting bee and makes some new friends that have huge helpings of advice to give her. Like how to get rid of a crazy husband you no longer want.
Keith's sleazy boss, Mr. Pasquesi or however you spell it, has a couple of kids. At first David is less than charmed that they have to come along as D and K run errands in preparation for Nate's surprise birthday bash, but Dave is left even more aghast by the kids' worldly knowledge.
I almost thought we were going be facing yet another silly sexual romp with David and the hairstylist he just met, but at this point, David no longer seems turned on by anoymous sex. Thank goodness. I was sick of that by last season. No, now he has decided Keith is his life partner and is focused on fatherhood. His old friend Terry from the chorus tells him about an adoption agency that does not discriminate against gay couples.
When Nate comes home to a surprise party, it is obvious he is angry rather than pleased, and makes no attempt to hide it. At first I wanted to declare him a most ungracious and assholish birthday boy, but when I saw that Nate's old friend Todd (sans Dana) had been invited, and that moron Tom Wheeler, I only felt sorry for Nate. Todd, Tom and Billy share stories about grievous scrotal injuries they've seen somewhere. Whoo-hoo! Great party! And with Ruth barking louder than a rottweiler at Claire in front of God and everyone, it was clear that this is not only a very un-merry birthday, but also the most dysfunctional one in recent TV history.
Nate tries to lighten things up by announcing that he is again a daddy-to-be, but this doesn't sit well with Brenda, who immediately retreats into her old self-consious habit of wondering what everyone is thinking of her.
Billy just looks stricken by the news. Nobody seems to have discerned that he has discontinued his meds, even as he exhibits the tell-tale symptoms if hyperreflexia and roller coaster mood swings. I wonder why Brenda had not said anything at this point. I can only assume she decided to stay out of Billy's medical life.
A stray bird flies into Nate and Brenda's kitchen, and everyone tries to steer the creature outside in safety, but somehow the bird ends up right back into the house.
The bird, along with everything else happening around him, is too much for Billy. There's too much tactile and auditory stimuli at that party, and Billy can't cope. He's so "up" that it's impossible for him to relax. Claire finally becomes pissed off enough to ask the big question, and Billy's answer, while heartbreakingly honest, seals his fate with Claire. He begs her to leave the party with him, but she refuses. As if he's already aware of the impending doom of his relationship, Billy goes outside to talk with George, even asking George if ETC is effective treatment.
Keith and Brenda have a nice scene with Maya, but Nate and Brenda don't have anything of the kind. In each new episode it seems more and more apparent that Nate has fallen out of love with Brenda, and that Brenda is watching the chasm between herself and her husband open wider and wider.
Nate is a mystery. He seems to suffer from this fear of happiness...permanence...committment...normalcy. I had always believed him to be the one who wanted it truly, while Brenda was the committment-phobe, but it's the opposite. As he killed the snake in S3, Nate kills the poor lost bird in an outburst of rage and violence. Geez, if I were Maggie, I'd steer clear of this closet psycho.
Claire, angry at Billy for leaving the party, sleeps with Todd the Pig. God knows what attracted her to that guy, so I think she did it out of anger. I just really fancy myself a psychoanalyst, don't I? But really, why else would she sleep with some creep like that? The only other reason is that she was high.
George demands to know why Ruth won't "forgive" him. This is still another marriage that is pretty much over.
The same goes for Claire and Billy. She returns home to find him too eager to overlook her encounter with Todd, and so desperately crazed that Claire flees the scene. I am unsure whether or not Billy would have forced himself on Claire. The guy was pretty crazy and probably beyond reason. In spite of all that, I STILL feel sorry for him. He's just such a sad character.
This episode was another one that was very complex and had a lot of new developments in the storylines. It gets an A.
