Episode Report Card Aaron: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT To Your Scattered Bodies Go
By Aaron | Season 3 | Episode 1 | Aired on 03.01.2003
Sorry. I'm fine now. Let's try that again, shall we? "Are your ready for the bok choi?" asks David, as he adds a handful to the contents of a wok. He also adds pepper, which causes Keith to freak out a bit. David steps back to consider this reaction, and then remembers what Arye told him during counseling. "Okay, I feel shamed," he announces. Heh. "My perception was that you were irritated with me…and that you were also angry." "Why would I be angry?" wonders Keith. Oh, I don't know. Maybe because everyone calls you Angry Keith? David suggests a few other potential reasons, including the possibility that Keith might want "total control over what actually happens inside the wok." Surprisingly proving to the more mature member of this little debating circle, Keith calmly announces that it was not his intention to shame David. "I love you," he adds. "Are the carrots ready?" "Yes," answers David. "But if you really loved me, you'd stir the eggs." Keith confesses that he grew up in a family that often expressed their anger loudly, and that when he does the same thing with David, it just means that he's "comfortable" with him. Which is sweet, in a way, but it's also probably something that every abusive spouse in the world has said at least once. The scene ends on a strange note, as Keith asks about the dry cleaning, only to be told by David that "it's in the closet." Hmm. Foreshadowing, or just padding time in a forty-seven minute episode? You be the judge.
Back at the crematory, Claire has decided to hang out and listen to JP and his band. They're truly awful, but to their credit, at least they're not playing that "Brimful of Asha" song. I don't think I could have handled that.
Formaldehyde Fortress. Ruth is feeding Maya, and accompanying the meal with a litany about her children's various feelings on the subject of peanut butter. If you care, Nate and David love the stuff. Claire hates it. Never one to be at the center of things in the first place, Ruth is so far out of the loop this week that she actually has to spend her biggest scene in the episode delivering expositional back-story to an infant who can't even talk yet. Apparently, The Late Nate's Late Mother never really cared for Ruth all that much, and was convinced that she got pregnant with The Live Nate solely to trap Nathaniel Sr. into marrying her. Nate Jr. comes home just in time to overhear this little tidbit from the next room, and he waits patiently for her to finish talking before he announces himself. Her nostalgic reverie thus disturbed, Ruth announces that she's thoughtfully prepared a chicken breast, just for Nate. There's no déjà vu this time, however, as Nate simply goes on packing up Maya's things for the trip home. Mom offers to take the baby for a night so that he and Lisa can go out and have some fun, but Nate says that Maya hasn't slept outside "the family bed" yet, so that's not an option at this point. Then there's about three more hours of conversation about said "family bed," but speaking as someone who firmly believes that Dr. Spock is a Vulcan and nothing more, I don't really feel qualified to comment on it.