Episode Report Card Aaron: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Speaker For The Dead
By Aaron | Season 2 | Episode 3 | Aired on 03.16.2002
Across town, Claire pulls over to the side of a road somewhere in her Lean Green Corpse Machine. Gabe appears out of nowhere, jumping into the car and insisting that she start driving immediately. He's playing the bad-ass this whole time, insisting that she doesn't care where he's been and repeatedly spitting out the car window. I'm not sure about the significance of the spitting, by the way, as it was either a very strange acting choice by Eric Balfour, or an incredibly obtuse reference to the downfall of Robert Downey Jr.'s character in Less Than Zero. You be the judge. As they drive, we finally get a good look at Gabe, who appears sweaty and disheveled. He just wants to go somewhere they can be alone and talk, but Claire is furious to discover that he's actually high at that moment. As they argue, they pull up to a traffic light, where Claire persists in telling him to turn himself in. He describes that as "a genius fucking plan," but then some moron pulls up beside them and rolls down his window to ask why she's got a corpse in the front seat. Gabe immediately pulls a gun out of his waistband, reaches across Claire, and opens fire, just like we all saw in the previews. What we don't see, however, is whether the bullet hit anyone. Gabe smashes down the accelerator and forces Claire to drive away.
A few blocks down the road, a crying Claire pulls over so they can go back to check on the guy. Gabe refuses, and just keeps begging her to help him. "Let's just keep going," he says, cradling her face. "We'll just keep going and I'll figure out what to do." Claire, however, having seen how Badlands ends, decides to decline. Although I'm certainly hopeful that Gabe ends up getting the chair at some point. Anyway, there's much screaming and emoting, and some pretty impressive acting going on as Claire grabs the gun away and forces Gabe out of the car. As he leaves, we get an insert shot of his hand grabbing a cell phone, so it looks like he's still not yet gone for good. Damn. He runs off into some woods, and Claire zips the gun into her backpack. Then she turns around and drives back to the intersection, where the moron is mercifully not present. Also not present, however, are the four thousand LAPD police officers who now have an APB out on a lime-green hearse. Something tells me she won't get very far.
Formaldehyde Fortress. The Late Nate is pontificating once again, this time to David, who thinks his dad is rotting in hell. Late Nate doesn't believe in going to church to impress God, or anyone else, for that matter. "The only God I know is a mean-spirited comedian in ugly pants whose every joke has the same damn punchline," he says. Then he also adds that David will be joining him in hell someday, citing the Bible for proof. ["If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." -- Leviticus 20:13] David says that he doesn't believe in that anymore, but Dad just looks smug. "I also don't believe you're in hell," he adds, before admitting that he occasionally does miss his dead ghost dad.
Aaron: All right, that's it. I'm calling my lawyer.