Episode Report Card M. Giant: A | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Dead and Buried
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 12 | Aired on 08.20.2005
Brenda stands in the hallway outside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, nervously watching Willa in her incubator. The NICU that M. Small spent the first eighteen days of his life in was much nicer than this; we could go in and hang out with him indefinitely. The couch even folded out. It was like a hotel room with an incubator instead of a bed, and a shitload of medical equipment instead of a TV. Oh, and a really tiny baby. If you ever give birth prematurely, do it in St. Paul. "Too bad you don't believe in anything," says a voice behind her, and she turns to see Late Nate, Jr. approaching, saying, "or you could pray." He takes up position next to her at the window. "This is exactly what I was afraid of," he says. "Fuck." Like taking care of her is going to be his problem. He's dead; all he has to do is show up and bitch. Then Brenda is standing alone at the window again as the camera looks past her down the hall to a bright, white light.
Anthony and Durrell sit watching what I'm told is The Fairly Oddparents (at this point my familiarity with children's television is still limited to Baby Einstein) as the dads come into the room, David carrying a bag slung over his shoulder. He says he's leaving for a few days, and Anthony asks why. Durrell thinks he's got it figured out: "'Cause y'all are splitting up, and you're gonna leave us with him," he says, pointing dismissively at Keith. David assures them that he's not leaving, which is kind of an odd thing to say when holding a suitcase. Durrell says as much, and David makes up a lie about a funeral directors' conference in Portland. He promises he's coming back. "I heard that before," Durrell says. Rather than pointing out that he never heard it from David, David gets up and leaves without another word.
Ruth and Maya are sitting at the Fisher kitchen table, doing some sort of flower arrangement thing, when Ma Chenowith marches right in, bitching about Ruth leaving her back door open. "Ruth, it isn't the fifties anymore, no matter how you dress." Having thus charmed everyone, Ma asks Maya if she's ready to go. "No!" Maya barks. Ruth wonders where Maya's going, and Ma explains that Maya's going back home. Ruth is surprised to hear that it's happening so soon, and Ma Chenowith says that Brenda's coming home from the hospital tonight while the baby stays in for a couple of weeks. Ruth utters a sad "oh." Ma Chenowith looks annoyed. I hope it's Brenda she's annoyed with for not giving Ruth any advance notice of this, but somehow I doubt it. Ruth says she'll go pack Maya's things. "That would be helpful, Ruth," Ma snots. Ruth leaves the room.
Dinner at the Diazes'. Rico and Vanessa are discussing their plans for when he gets bought out of the business, at which point he expects half a million dollars for his share, enough to put a down payment on the funeral home they were stalking during the last episode. He asks he if she thinks it'll work. She says she enjoyed helping at the funeral: "It's sort of like being a nurse but without all the blood and bedpans and pills, and I got to wear better clothes." So she won't be helping with the bodies, I take it. She says he just needs to get the Fishers to buy Rico out. "Or sell," Rico says, "preferably to someone who just wants the house and the land and wants to shut the business down." Vanessa looks uncertain, until Rico points out that Brenda, who got Nate's share, doesn't want to be in the funeral business and David's "going kind of nuts. Plus, who needs the competition anyway?" Vanessa smiles at him proudly. That's my little cutthroat, she thinks.