Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | 2 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT I'm Ready For My Hinky-Ass Close-Up!
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 5 | Aired on 07.03.2005
And here's Claire, flopped on the living room sofa and watching The People's Court with a flaming doobie in her hand. Probably not the best way to "avoid" Ruth, let alone "not provoke" her. Nate comes in and remarks, "Getting high in the morning, huh?" Claire directs her Gollum-like gaze up at him and complains that Ruth wants her to get a job. "Can you believe that?" Nate points out that jobs are really pretty commonplace. "Why can't anyone in this family just let me fucking be?" Claire whines. I assume Nate is only speaking for himself when he sits down next to her and says, "I just flashed on Maya at your age, sitting in front of the TV and feeling sorry for herself, not caring about anything or anybody. It just broke my heart." And then he takes a hit of her weed, just to show that he's down, and leaves her be.
Vanessa drops off Julio at school, and the principal descends on her, asking for a word in his office. "Sure," she says nervously, and follows him down the hall.
At Faux-mar Sharif's viewing, his sisters kvetch about the cost of everything. "God bless him. He was a son of a bitch, bit God bless him." I notice they didn't spring for a rack of dancing robot pants, even though "Rock It" is playing loudly throughout this scene. Up at the front of the chapel, Nate stands over the open casket of Faux-mar Sharif, flanked by Faux-mar's brothers. We can't see if Faux-mar is wearing the bottoms of his trousers rolled. He asks if a decision has been reached as to how to put their brother to rest, and we see that one hasn't. They're still holding out for scattering Faux-mar's ashes off the Santa Monica Pier where he liked to go fishing, but the sisters are still insisting on burial. "Come on, let's go get some ham balls before they're all ate up," says one brother, and they leave Nate standing there alone looking down at his client. "No offense, pal, but your family is a bunch of fucked-up control freaks," Nate offers. Faux-mar, with a teddy bear, a photograph, and a pack of Winstons resting on his shoulder, opens his eyes and retorts, "Whose isn't?" ("I am Lazarus, come from the dead, / Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all") Nate asks Faux-mar what he wants. "It's your funeral." Faux-mar says nobody asked him anything for twenty years. (I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; / Am an attendant lord, one that will do / To swell a progress, start a scene or two) He says, "This is what I want: I want Maya to have a mommy." The ridiculousness of that line shatters even Nate's suspension of disbelief, and he looks down at the dead-again Faux-mar, who hit the trifecta of wise Corpses of the Week: he got his only lines after his death, they were All About Nate, and they made no damn sense. (Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; / At times, indeed, almost ridiculous -- / Almost, at times, the Fool.)
George reads the paper at the kitchen table. Ruth joins him and says she wants them to move out of the house to make a fresh start. And piss away a ridiculous amount of money while they're at it, one assumes. George thinks that sounds great. Just then Claire comes in and tentatively heads for the fridge. "What on earth do you think you're doing?" Ruth demands. Claire says she's just getting some food. Ruth: "Get out of here. I'm trying to have a private conversation with my husband." Claire stands there, until Ruth drives her from the kitchen by yelling, "Get out! Go get a job! Leave now!" Claire stomps out the back door. Obviously the Fisher women haven't been getting along already, but I think part of that display is because Ruth is feeling guilty about what she's trying to pull with George and she doesn't want any witnesses. ["Or because Claire's sense of entitlement is up her ass. Oh, wait; that's my display." -- Sars] George looks pretty unhappy with the way she just treated her daughter, but, being the anti-Brenda, he doesn't comment. Ruth says she made an appointment to look at an apartment near Park LaBrea. "That's within walking distance of the museums," George says in amazement. "And the Farmer's Market," adds Ruth. George asks, "Do you really want a new beginning? Because nothing would make me happier." Ruth just smiles at him as he takes her hand.