Episode Report Card Sars: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Lady Stays Vanished
By Sars | Season 3 | Episode 11 | Aired on 05.10.2003
Zen Palace. Nate, David, and Keith use a map to try to triangulate Lisa's location when she last spoke to Nate -- blah dee blah the 101, blah dee blah "she loves Big Sur." Keith asks if Nate called the credit card company, because that would help to track her movements or determine if the card got stolen. Nate is digging out his phone to do just that when it rings anyway, but it's Brenda. She's calling to apologize, and Nate completely can't cope, and says as much: "I've got a lot more important shit to deal with." He hangs up. On the other end, Brenda's like, "Well, that went well. Not."
Nate then makes another call, presumably to the credit card company, and stomps into the other room to wait on hold. Keith and David share an awkward silence, and Keith says he's going to get going; David says without meeting Keith's eye that he's going to stay there, and says he'll call Keith tomorrow. "Or sooner, if you hear anything," Keith says, sort of hopefully. They share a brief, uncomfortable hug. Keith studies David's face briefly and heads out, and David does that cringing "eesh…blecchh…ugh" thing with his shoulders again, but looks after Keith wistfully.
In the living room, Nate sits by the window and smokes; David sits on the couch. On the TV is a scene from The Lady Vanishes. Go rent it if you've never seen it. Michael Redgrave is yummy. Anyway, David's thinking aloud -- apparently, Lisa stopped for gas in Santa Barbara the day before (if you care, Santa Barbara is about a hundred miles from L.A., give or take), but she hasn't used the credit card since then, and you'd think she would have, unless she had a lot of cash on her. Nate doesn't think she did, and after a moment he says he can't talk about it anymore and asks what's going on with David and Keith. David looks busted: "Nothing much." Nate sensed some tension, and David reluctantly says that he guesses so…he doesn't know…and finally he fills Nate in on what happened in San Diego. "Now I don't know where we are," he says, as The Piccolo Of I Feel Bad Talking About My Problems When Your Wife Is Missing, But Since You Asked hoots in the background. He and Keith love each other, or he thinks they do, but lately he just feels "numb" when he's with Keith, and "better when [they're] not" together, and even though they want the same things…well, maybe they don't want the same things. Maybe they just pretend to want the same things. David trails off for a minute before concluding, "Maybe we're just not meant to be together." He looks over at Nate, who's staring into the middle distance and not really listening even though that anvil has his name all over it. Cut to an eerie shot from outside the window where the smoke from Nate's cigarette crosses the frame all ghostly-like from left to right. David looks at him, concerned, but doesn't say anything, just goes back to watching the movie. Fade to white.
Fade back in on a morning scene. Nate is dully watching a TV show about…Siberia, I think. Enter Lisa with a chirpy "hey, sweetie!" She slings her bags down and coos at Maya as Nate heaves himself off the bed and asks, "Where the fuck have you been?" "Nate," Lisa begins, but Nate freaks out on her about how worried he's been, how worried they've all been, the missing-persons report, why the fuck didn't she call, didn't she get his hundred fucking messages? Lisa apologizes in a soothing tone and says she must have turned it off after he called, which isn't really an explanation, so much, but it's obviously a dream, so why get into it. Lisa hugs him, and Nate starts to cry, and he grabs onto Lisa and tells her never to fucking do that again, and over his shoulder, she looks worried…and maybe a little bit annoyed.