Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | 2 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT That's a wrap for Nate
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 10 | Aired on 08.06.2005
Which leaves kind of an awkward gap in the proceedings. If only there were a priest in the house. In the silence, George steps up to the podium and introduces himself as Nate's stepfather. "The loss of a young person is always a terrible blow. But in this case, it's even more cruel because Nate was an idealist. And he struggled all through his life to be a good man. He wasn't perfect." Thunderous applause. Oh, wait, that was only in my head. George continues, "But then who among us is? And he never gave up on himself, or the people he loved." Except when he did. How does George know all this? Sounds like someone's been having some tearful late nights with his Quaker daughter. In the front row, Ruth takes her surviving children's hands.
Afterwards, people bustle through the kitchen as Bettina dispatches Claire to the front room with "this scary fruitcake." Ruth comes out to the living room sofa, where David's laid out with his jacket off. She puts a damp cloth on his forehead, and sits down to be with him. He apologizes for what he said earlier. "I'm sorry," she answers. "You lost him too." Ruth says she and David are the most alike, which makes it hard. Why does she keep making up with people that way? I wonder if it works on bill collectors: "We're so alike, you and I. We both want my money."
Brenda comes out onto the lawn, where Maya's hanging out with Brenda's boss Jackie. I don't know where Maya was during the funeral, because Jackie was in the chapel with everyone else. Jackie tells her that Maya's doing "okay. Many questions." What, not just the one question many times? That's progress, I suppose. Brenda squats down, and appears to smell something. "Did you go?" she demands. Maya denies it. Brenda picks her up and feels around back. "Why didn't you tell somebody you had to go?" she yells. "Do I need to get you a diaper?" She tells Jackie this hasn't happened in months. "Sometimes they regress when they're upset," Jackie says, as she holds Maya in a comforting hug and refrains from telling Brenda, "And you're not helping." Brenda curses -- perhaps to remind Maya of her happy memories of Daddy -- and says they're going to the cemetery in two minutes. Jackie says she'll clean Maya up, and tells Brenda to go on ahead. I hope Jackie saves some poo to put into Brenda's employee file.
George gathers a tray of party detritus and meets Ruth, on her way from the kitchen with a fresh food tray of her own. She says they're leaving for the cemetery, which will be a family-only scene. George says he understands. Except he doesn't, because Ruth invites him along. He gratefully accepts. They continue on their respective ways, but she stops and adds that she's not inviting his new fiancée Cynthia Stevenson, if she's there. "She's not here," George says. "I have no idea where she is. Ever. Anymore." Does that mean the engagement's off? It's hard to tell with George sometimes. Ruth fails to not invite Maggie while she's at it, which Brenda is certain to appreciate.