Six Feet Under: Someone Else's Eyes

July 23, 2019 9:17 PM - Season 2, Episode 9

A man-meets-lunchbox incident sends a new body to Fisher & Sons, where the prearranged burial stipulations cause conflict between the man's second wife and his daughters. Nikolai is still established on the Fishers' couch while Ruth minds his business. David and Keith move forward with their relationship. Nate runs into Lisa, and they have unwelcome news for each other. Brenda attends an author reading and finds further inspiration for her erotic novella. Billy tells Brenda he needs some space and arranges a photoshoot session with Claire.

The obituary from this episode:

Dwight Edgar Garrison (1945 - 2002)

Garrison, Dwight Edgar, Born December 11, 1945 in Brookline, Massachusetts. Passed away February 4, 2002 in Glendale, California.

Dwight attended University of Massachusetts at Amherst and earned his doctorate degree at Tufts University in 1970. That year, he moved to Southern California and began his distinguished career as a Professor of Psychology. For the last 22 years, Dwight taught at UCLA, earning tenure in 1994.

He is survived by his loving wife Roxanne Garrison, with whom he shared six wonderful years. He is also survived by his daughters Kara and Joanna. Viewing will be Friday, February 8th at 4 p.m. at Fisher & Sons Funeral Home. Interment at Cedar Grove in Beverly Hills. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Head Injury Association of America.

posted by orange swan (1 comment total)

Dwight Garrison really should have discussed his funeral arrangements with his second wife. I see Roxanne "wrote" the obituary. Man, that woman is petty and narcissistic. No wonder her stepdaughters don't like her.

Ruth is making the mistake that people often make in relationships: believing that her going all out for her partner and being over generous with him will make him love her more and make them closer, whereas Nikolai resents her interference and his own dependence. (Even though he should listen to her advice about his bookkeeping -- he's really very bad at business.) It's curious how the long-married make these rookie mistakes whenever they become single and start dating again. They assume they know all about relationships, but what they really know about is being married to one specific person. And dating has changed so much since Ruth got married at 19 in the 1960s. She has a lot to learn -- in some ways Claire is more savvy than her.

I can't blame Ruth at all for getting angry with Claire for griping about being asked to check on Nikolai. Claire could do with more responsibility. Have we heard a mention of her working part time at any point as teenagers her age usually do? Or even seen her helping around the house? Not that we've seen David or Nate do any significant housekeeping either. (We've seen David vacuum the chapel and Nate help his mother prepare a meal by chopping vegetables). Ruth seems to do all the housework for her three adult children.

I'm not sure Keith is doing the right thing by forcing Karla into rehab. What good will it do her to go when she's not committed to working on getting clean? Despite her obvious pain over who she is and the place that she's in, it's hard to have much sympathy for her. She's being so selfish and dishonest and destructive. Keith isn't in a particularly good place himself right now himself -- he's not sleeping and he's crotchety, and he's jerking David around in a way that isn't nice at all. I must say he has a gorgeous apartment though.

And Lisa's pregnant. She spouts a bunch of stuff at Nate about how he was crying and slept with her during his visit to Seattle because "he knew he was home" which as we know is NOT the case -- he'd just had his first seizure and was terrified of dying. Then she mentions something in reference to her pregnancy about how they've "been down that road before", which I assume means she has gotten pregnant with him before now and terminated the pregnancy, and which makes their previous relationship even darker. She's been living in a dream world regarding him, and Nate's been casually using her without regard for how unhealthy a situation it is for her emotionally.

And then asshole jerkoff Nate doesn't come clean to Brenda about his cheating on her or the fact that he's about to become a father. Though Brenda was meanwhile banging an author after his book reading. Those two may not be right for each other, but they do deserve each other.

Billy was actually totally right to tell Brenda that he needs some space from her, as their relationship has been unhealthy and co-dependent, and she reacted very badly. Lest we get our hopes up too much regarding Billy's psychological development and mental health, he then strips naked in front of an eighteen-year-old and tells her to photograph him without the least concern as to whether it'll be appropriate or comfortable for her. Though if Billy does nothing else good in his life, he inadvertently did one good thing in this episode: he introduces Claire to photography.
posted by orange swan at 7:00 PM on July 24, 2019