Episode Report Card Aaron: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT It's My Body And I'll Cry If I Want To
By Aaron | Season 3 | Episode 12 | Aired on 05.17.2003
Which features Nate jogging down the middle of the street and having a vision where Lisa encounters the evil DGDJ as she walks along the beach. The guy tempts her with the old "I lost my puppy" scam, and then we snap back to reality, where Nate stumbles to a halt with a highly disturbed look on his face. Kathy Bates keeps the camera moving away from him at full speed, and the scene ends with Nate and his personal demons receding into the distance. Nice shot.
And I guess Nate wasn't counting on getting a ride home from the camera truck, because we next see him walking up the front steps of the Formaldehyde Fortress. Brenda is there waiting for him when he arrives, dressed in a tasteful blouse and calf-length denim skirt. She's all, "I'm your friend, let me help." He's all, "Fuck you, fuck the world, fuck the fact that we kissed, fuck my bad haircut, fuck my constant bad mood, and fuck the fucking Pacific Coast fucking Highway and all my fucking missing persons fucking flyers, you motherfuckers." Although to be fair, he did use fewer "fucks" than that. But not many fewer. "Why the fuck would you want to help me?" he wonders. "Because I care about you," she answers. "And I can't just turn that off." "Sure you can," he snarls. "You've done it before." Ooh, burn. Claire comes out onto the porch with Maya in her arms, and Nate rudely grabs his kid away and storms inside. This leaves Claire and Brenda alone, and Claire rather matter-of-factly asks, "Do you think you could give me a ride? I have to go get an abortion." Heh. Rachel Griffiths nails Brenda's subtle expression of shock and compassion, and she quickly agrees to help. Not to be outdone, Lauren Ambrose delivers a virtuoso eye-roll which says, "I'm really scared, but I'm totally pretending that I'm not." Aww. She's even cute when she's terminating a pregnancy.
Inside, David and Ruth are chatting in the kitchen. Ruth brings up David's participation in the Gay Men's Chorus, in case we've forgotten about it since we last saw him sing back towards the beginning of the season. I'm actually kind of miffed about that, by the way, because I've been dying to use "I Sing The Body Electric" as a show page title this year, and I never got the chance. Oh, well. David segues into some psychobabble about how singing is a nice break from the rest of his problems, and then Ruth blurts out that she thinks Lisa is dead. David agrees, and they both lament the fact that life can be cruel and unkind, especially to "sweet" and "caring" people like Lisa. Neither one of them mentions the fact that in addition to sweet and caring, Lisa was also "psychotic" and "controlling." That's probably for the best. After a brief moment of silence, Ruth tentatively floats her whole marriage idea, but doesn't quite get the response from David that she was hoping for. After pointing out the obvious fact that she hasn't known George for very long, David adds, "It's your decision. I just don't want to see you get hurt." Which is sweet, but Ruth reacts the same way David did when Rico tried to give him advice about his own relationship. In other words, she doesn't really take it in the spirit in which it was intended. David leaves for a chorus rehearsal, and Ruth finds herself alone in the kitchen.