Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Putting the "Wreck" in "Reconciliation"
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 6 | Aired on 07.09.2005
George gets a little housewarming visit from Maggie just as he's getting the tea on. At least I think it's Maggie; she's wearing a white shirt instead of a blue one, but she's being played by the same actor and George seems to recognize her. A little later, she comes out of the bathroom asking where Ruth keeps her nail lotion. Oh, I don't know, maybe at HOME? George says he doesn't know. Maggie remarks that the only stuff in the bathroom is his. "Maybe she took it with her," George pretends to guess, even though he saw her leave empty-handed. "To go where?" Maggie asks. And, looking around at all the unpacked boxes, "When did you move in?" George: "Two days ago. Stop being so nosy." Maggie says he relies on Ruth to take care of him. "We're fine," George insists. "The only reason I'm alone is that Ruth's sister was involved in some sort of fatal accident. Apparently she's being blamed for it. And Ruth, caretaker that she is, is by her side. Apparently she's quite distraught."
Wow, the Ironic Segue Fairy sure has a lot of friends, and they're all laughing. And one of them is Ruth, sitting with her hair flowing free and looking a lot like her sister. Man, getting Patricia Clarkson was some good casting. Brenda's only the second-youngest person in the room; she's holding Maya on her lap. The women are all sitting around the table and talking about what aging feminists always talk about on TV, which is the obsolescence of men. No argument here. Sarah says she's been wanting to have an all-woman weekend on her property. Ruth happily calls for an all-woman year and an all-woman forever, to loud cheers. Sarah says she's got twenty acres she's not even using (in Southern California? Are all of those acres vertical?) and they can buy yurts off the internet. Bet-two-na says they can all midwife Brenda's baby into a horse trough. Maya, sitting in Brenda's lap, laughs and shakes her head at her stepmom, all, "These bitches crazy." Bettina says she can feed them all: "We'll only eat what I can grow or kill," Bettina says. Ruth says they can start this weekend. "But we must enforce the no men part." Enter Nate, to raucous howls. "I'm just here to pick up my kid," he says in a mock-conciliatory tone. Bettina loves it: "We use the men for child care, like they've done to us for a gazillion years!" As Maya reaches desperately for her dad to get her the hell out of there, Brenda whispers to him, "I'm moving to an all-girl commune. But don't worry; I'll sneak you in when they're asleep." She asks if Nate minds if she stays, and Nate says it's no problem and leaves with his daughter. Everyone says bye, and the kid's barely out of the room when Bettina leans forward and says, "Okay, who's got weed?" How long has she been holding that in? "I think I know where I've got some," says -- you'll never guess -- Ruth. She gets up and leaves the table while Sarah and Bettina grin at each other in amazement.
Bedtime at David and Keith's. Presumably the kids are already in bed. I say this because David and Keith spend this entire scene emphatically whispering things that under other circumstances they would be yelling at each other. David's sitting up awake in bed when Keith comes in and growls, "I'm done." David tensely says, "With your flossing, or…?" "With the kids," Keith snaps. David says the kids aren't a pair of slippers that Keith can return if they don't fit. But Keith says that's the whole point of foster care, to see what works. "And this? Is definitely not working." David says they're just getting started, but Keith says two weeks is "more than enough time to know. We should stop before they bond to us." David says he's already bonded. Keith says David is turning into his mother, running around and saying everything's going to be okay. David comes back by accusing Keith of turning into his father; "you solve everything with a beating." Keith says he didn't touch them, and David says he was close. "Exactly," says Keith. "That's why when the social worker comes tomorrow, I'll be explaining to her that this is a bad match. We should pack their things in the morning." Keith starts to get into bed, and David, furious, gets out of it. "How can you just abandon them when their little lives have already been filled with so much trauma?" And he grabs his pillow to leave the room. Keith says, "Good, so now you abandon me? That solves everything." David gives Keith a dirty look, but doesn't slow down. Maybe these two should have had a discussion in advance about how they were actually going to parent, instead of spending all their time talking about prongs.