Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Oh Me, Oh Maya
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 11 | Aired on 08.28.2004
George "At The End Of The World As We Know It, I'll Feel Fine" Sibley has, to the surprise of Ruth "My Husband Doesn't Know Me From A Hole In The Ground" Sibley, picked up groceries. Well, actually, he's just picked up about twenty pounds of walnuts at the Farmer's Market. Freak. Ruth shows him a brochure they got from a retreat called "Loving Couples," on which she's circled the seminar entitled "Tantric Love." All I know is that if these two start doing anything remotely Tantric on my screen, it is I who will be retreating. Ruth seems nervous that George is about to shoot downher suggestion , but he says he's happy to join her for an upcoming weekend. But first, where does she keep her extra water? She should be prepared in the event of an "earthquake, or a terrorist attack, or a catastrophic drought" with plenty of water, flashlights, and batteries. Not walnuts, though. Those are just tasty. Ruth gently says, "George, lately it seems if it's not one thing with you, it's another." George: "Exactly." Not the answer Ruth was hoping to hear.
GAH! Yikes! There's a photograph of Nate filling the screen, and his face looks like a picture that someone tore apart and then glued back together. Another picture of David boasts the same effect, and what with him wearing his undertaker's suit and pointing at the coffin wall, he's six feet of pure nightmare fuel. We're in art class with Claire "Picture This, Asshole" Fisher, where Billy is gushing over these photos that Claire took. Gushing verbally, mind you; he still seems too stable to be doing the other thing. Claire basks in the praise, as well as that from Anita, the only person in any art school anywhere who doesn’t know who David Hockney is. Billy quotes Baudrillard, as you do, and asks Claire to explain how she did it. Basically, she takes a bunch of extreme close-ups of the subject's face, prints them actual size, photocopies them, and makes a paper-mâche mask which the subject puts on for his or her portrait. Russell looks offended by all of this for some reason. Billy compares the photos to sculpture, which amps up Russell's creepy stalker vibe a couple more notches. How many notches does that guy have, anyway? Encouraged by Billy, Claire yammers on in artist-speak about masks and layers until Russell cuts in with a comment about how his background in sculpture "allowed us to make that leap." Claire turns and regards him in disbelief as he takes credit for having "worked together" to create the original concept, in a holy union of sculptor and photographer. Claire is too pissed to speak. "I think they turned out great," Russell finishes. Nice of him to say so.