Six Feet Under: The Silence

November 27, 2019 8:10 PM - Season 5, Episode 7

A man reluctantly attends a play directed by his wife's friend's son, but while he expects to be bored to death, he dies of a heart attack mid-performance instead. George tells Ruth that he's engaged to someone else, and Ruth pays a visit to George's fiancée. Brenda and Nate are told their baby may have Down Syndrome or spina bifida, and conflict over whether to have further testing done. David and Keith go to Durrell's school play. Claire finds her office job gets more interesting after she meets a new co-worker, Ted. Rico and Vanessa are back together but, to Rico's chagrin, Vanessa is merely going through the motions of married life.

The obituary for this episode:

Peter Thomas Burns (1948 - 2005)

Peter Thomas Burns - Our beloved Peter died suddenly on February 11, 2005 and our family struggles with incomprehensible grief and loss. Peter left behind his devoted wife Madeline and loving daughter Annabeth. Friends are encouraged to express their feelings, offer prayers and support in the silence at a Meeting for Worship at Fisher and Diaz at 2 p.m. 2302 W. 25th Street in Los Angeles. The Meeting will be followed by a light lunch; pot luck welcomed.

"And he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breadth of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand."

posted by orange swan (1 comment total)

I don't know why Ruth didn't understand a bit better what kind of party her friend was throwing, and dress for it. We have seen her dress up in nice classic pieces for church and events like Claire's art shows, so we know she could have dressed more appropriately for that party and not looked so out of place. And Ruth, next time someone tells you not to bring any food to their party, don't bring any food to the party.

Fucking George tries to marry another woman without telling her about his mental health issues. I can't say I blame Ruth at all for tracking the woman down and filling her in, even if she did it for the wrong reasons, at least in part.

Fun coincidence: The woman who played George's intended was Cynthia Stevenson, who was also in Home for the Holidays, which I rewatched the same night before rewatching this episode.

Brenda and Nate need to learn to handle conflict the way David and Keith did.

By the way, I love David and Keith's relationship. It's so much fun to watch them handle their disagreements now, because they do so on a bedrock of love and respect and trust. I think David was quite right to insist on their going to Durrell's school play. It was the appropriate thing for them to do, and Durrell did want them there, he was just ambivalent about it due to the security/attachment/trust issues he has because he's a foster kid. Their being there for him was one of the building blocks in the process of him learning to trust them and feel at home with them.

Hello Ted!

I am so bored with the whole Rico and Vanessa storyline. The writers really ought to have come up with a better arc for them. This one never made any sense given who they are, and has also been mostly fucking tedious.
posted by orange swan at 4:37 PM on November 29, 2019