Episode Report Card Aaron: A | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Dead End
By Aaron | Season 2 | Episode 13 | Aired on 06.01.2002
Anyway, a giant baby-shaped anvil suddenly crashes through the crematory roof, and we cut directly to the next scene, where Nate agrees to go with Ruth to visit his daughter. They quickly arrive at Lisa's house, and Nate is surprised to learn that his mother even has a key to the place. Once inside, he spies a tiny little knitted bootie on the floor, and the tinkly piano music of sorrow kicks in on the soundtrack as he bends over to pick it up. Just then, Lisa comes home, and she walks straight over to Ruth and starts babbling about her day at work without even noticing Nate at all (this despite the fact that he's standing three feet away in an open room). When he does reveal his presence, Lisa is delighted to see him, and she gently places Baby Maya in his arms, saying, "This is your daddy. This is where you get your little mouth from." Um, little? Please. Nothing on that baby is little, least of all its facial features. At least we definitely know it's Nate's kid, though. That is, until Lisa starts translating Maya's name into a variety of different languages, which makes me wonder if somebody in our "Great Black Bobbin of the Sex" thread might be the daddy. Nate is too entranced by his daughter to care about any of this, but he does at least look up when Ruth starts snapping pictures. "Mom, please," he says. "You'll thank me when you're old," she replies, and she's probably right about that. Ruth also stops to answer the phone at this point, and while she chats merrily with Lisa's sister, Lisa herself lobs a few anvils at Nate about how great a mother Mommie Drearest really is. The scene ends when Ruth presents Lisa with a blanket that she made for Nate when he was a baby, and now I'm all sad and nostalgic for my own lost blankie. Sniff. Damn you, Six Feet Under! I mean, really. Killing and cremating me wasn't enough?
In the car on the way home, Ruth prattles on and on about how Lisa reminds her of herself, and how when she was younger, "getting married was really the only way you could have sex at all." Oy. I didn't need to know that. Nate looks more and more uncomfortable as she goes on, and it's not just because he's yelling at her that he's not going to marry Lisa. "I think you should find some place and pull over for a minute," he says. "Why? Are you all right, dear?" she asks. "No," he answers. "I'm not."
Cut to an empty parking lot, where they're both still sitting in the car. Nate explains about his upcoming surgery, and Ruth is absolutely crushed when she finds out that both David and Claire already knew about it. When Nate explains that Claire only knows because she saw him have a seizure, Frances Conroy does a phenomenal job of conveying Ruth's mixed emotions. He apologizes once again, but she's too sad to speak.