Deft, where ith thy thting?

S01E05

I guess this week's director must be fresh out of film school, because while he hasn't quite picked up the subtleties of this show's locked-focus fetish yet, he does insist on all sorts of goofy angles and close-ups where they're not really warranted. This scene begins with an overhead shot of a priest's chest, crucifix dangling against a red silk-shirt. Eventually, it resolves itself into a meeting between David, Father Jack, and the head priest at the church. Father Jack explains that David grew up in the church, having been baptized and confirmed there, as well as president of the Youth Ministry. The head priest quizzes David on his motives, saying, "Being a deacon is more than just having access to the church mailing list and passing out your business cards after mass." David responds with all the right answers, claiming, "I won't deny that I run a business providing a service to people in times of need, but I would never exploit my relationship with the church for marketing purposes. Frankly I would consider that to be a very grave sin." This time, Father Jack says it for me: "No pun intended." There are some more questions, the subtext of which is clearly whether or not David is gay. After asking about his marital status, the head priest solemnly inquires, "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about yourself before I consider this?" David plays the "don't ask/don't tell" card by answering the priest's question with one of his own: "Is there anything specific you'd like to ask me?" The priest shakes his head at this and gets up to leave, saying he'll have a decision in a few days. Once he's gone, Father Jack eagerly informs David that he's already referred a parishioner to Fisher & Sons.

Formaldehyde Fortress. Ruth bursts into Claire's room, prompting yet another snotty comment about knocking from her daughter. "Pack some things," Mom orders. "We're spending the night with your cousin in San Bernadino." Claire is confused, as she has homework to finish, but Ruth is adamant, shouting that she'll write a note to get her out of school.

Back at the Parents' Place, Nate, Harvey, and Bo are seated on a raised patio beside the pool that totally wasn't there the last time we were here. Unless we're supposed to believe that this house has two or more swimming pools, I think it's safe to say that the director let himself get carried away by a cool location for this scene, and neglected to worry about pesky little details like continuity and common sense. It does make for a pretty cool shot, though. Anyway, Bo talks about how happy she is that Brenda has finally brought a man home for them to meet, but Nate still doesn't get it. "Well, to be perfectly honest," he blathers, "I'm not sure Brenda really meant for us to meet. I don't think she knew you were coming home that night." Oh, come on. No one is that stupid. And if they were, would someone like Brenda really be interested in them? Bo is forced to explain Brenda's manipulative nature, only she has to do it using small words and a pie chart. Finally, Nate seems to get that there's more going on here than he originally assumed, and he wonders if he can ask them a question. Harvey finally gets a line: "As long as it doesn't involve asking us for money." Nate inquires as to whether or not the name "Nathaniel" means anything to them, and Harvey and Bo share a little look before responding, "Of course." They lead him inside, and show him a series of children's books called Nathaniel and Isabel. Apparently, they were Brenda's favorite books as a kid. Bo breathlessly explains that the books are about "two orphans who have adventures. They ran away from an orphanage, there was a malevolent nurse who was always hunting them down, but they always managed to escape her. Typical infantile wish-fulfillment stuff." Wow, that could almost be my autobiography. Or hagiography, for the few Sopranos fans left watching at this point. She goes on to explain that Brenda used to sit beside her brother's crib and read him these stories for hours on end. "It's all in the book," she says, but Nate's blank look and "This book?" reply tell her that he has no idea what she's talking about. Incidentally, the closed-captioning has been alternating between calling Brenda's father "Vern" and "Bernie" for this whole scene, so I'm glad I went with Harvey. No matter what his name is, he's shocked that Brenda didn't tell Nate about her book. Considering that it took three weeks to get an explanation on the tattoo, I'm not really surprised when they don't tell us about the book now either.