Episode Report Card Aaron: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Death be not proud
By Aaron | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Aired on 06.23.2001
Cut to the crying room, where Mrs. Bolin is, well, crying. Nate and his mutton-chop wanna-be sideburns try to console her. He mentions that his father died on Christmas Eve, and that no matter what happens, Dad will always be a part of him. Just not a part of the regular cast. Back at the funeral, Paco is telling David that he has to apologize to Keith, "otherwise [he's] just a born bitch." Paco's got the hands-clasped-in-front thing down pat, just like David. "You speak that way at your own funeral?" asks David, and Paco tells him that he'll speak any way he damn well pleases. "I've been to a ton of funerals," he continues. "You've seen one, you've seen them all. Even mine." "No gunfire, no fights?" asks David. "Nah. No Sharks, no Jets. Just like any other funeral. You let down?" David admits that he is.
In the foyer, Ruth "Ex Machina" Fisher comes downstairs and tells Nate that the police have filed the house fire under "cause unknown." Which means Claire isn't in trouble anymore. I wonder why they keep making big deals out of plot points one week, and then dropping the storyline like a burning building the next. I mean, didn't they have some extra time to write these scripts? David Chase gets a whole year, you know. Nate still thinks Claire might have been the arsonist. He also tries to apologize to Mom for the Bing thing, but Claire walks in before he can finish. She snarks at them, then stalks off upstairs in search of an Altoid. Mmm, Altoids. They're curiously strong. And now it's time for the Non-Ironic, Yet Still Incredibly Annoying Fade To White. Or, if you're reading this five years from now after watching in syndication, it's time for a commercial. If they still have commercials in five years, that is. Viva la TiVo, baby!
Fade up on Keith at church, with David sitting alone a few rows back. The (female) minister gives a not-at-all (yeah, right) sub-textually relevant sermon about Adam and Eve and the serpent. It's worth noting that there's a gay-pride flag on the altar, and while many in the forums have speculated that Keith and David attend the Metropolitan Community Church, the sign out front simply reads, "St. Stephen's." Not being Christian, I have no idea whether that's important or not. I will, however, say that the casting director has done an excellent job of picking extras who look like they could be gay without being too obvious about it. Anyway, as they exit after the service, David asks Keith if he's ever planning to apologize for "revealing [his] dormant psycho side, and scaring the crap out of [David]." Keith won't say he's sorry, though, and David shouts after him, "Do you really think I hate myself?" Keith stops and lays it all out: "I know where you are. I was there. And I'll wait for you, because I love you. But I'm not moving backwards for anybody." And yeah, while I do think he went a little too far in beating on Cletus The Slack-Jawed Homophobe back there, he's definitely got a good point here. David asks him to just be patient, and also calmer. Keith details all the various insults and bigotry he deals with every day as a gay cop, and then adds, "We got stepped on yesterday, and I did something about it, because I'm tired of it. When you get tired of it, you let me know."