Not to sound like those “Sopranos” jump-the-sharkers who I used to lampoon every week, but I objected wholeheartedly to Sunday's episode of “Six Feet Under.” I thought it felt like an episode from last year’s “West Wing”- a noticeable drop-off from what came before, in which none of the characters seemed true to themselves in the slightest.
(Spoilers!)
Though it was the second episode of the season, this week’s installment was the de facto season premiere, as the previous episode had mostly served to tie up last year’s loose ends. And judging by last night, I don’t like where things are going at all.
One question: Why separate Nate from the funeral home? What can he do, rather than keep nailing single moms for the entire season? Another: I can see Rico having an affair, but becoming a stripper’s sugar daddy? Please. And finally, how was Brenda able to hear Justin Theroux masturbating when his apartment was several hundred feet away?
And worst of all, how on Earth could someone as cynical as Claire manage to be inspired by the sort of laughable performance art such as that practiced by Mena Suvari*? I know they’re hinting towards some sort of lesbian angle (like last year, with Ruth and Kathy Bates, before it was dropped all of a sudden and never picked up again); how I feel about that I’m still not sure.
But what I know I don’t like is yet another Hollywood-satire subplot. Yes, I know Alan Ball, from his years writing for “Cybill” and scripting for “American Beauty,” has things he wants to say about the movie business. I get that. But “Six Feet Under” isn’t the right show for it- the whole Catherine O’Hara arc last year was funny, but that was enough- it’s not a show about Hollywood, so why keep dragging that in when it has nothing to do with the characters?
Don’t get me wrong- I’m not about to rant about canceling my HBO if things don’t improve. I’ve been discussing this with my ardently SFU-defending cousin Jessi, an art school alum herself, after each episode, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be using the phrase “jump the shark” in reaction to even three or four more bad ones. But I can’t help but call Sunday’s effort a disappointment. And that was even before it concluded with the arrival in the mail of a box of feces.
*”American Beauty” was five years ago, and things haven’t gone well for any of the principals: Kevin Spacey’s made several flops in a row, Annette Bening’s been in nothing outside of that weird “Sopranos” cameo, Suvari and Wes Bentley have fallen off the face of the Earth, as did Thora Birch unless you count “Ghost World.” The only exceptions, oddly enough, are Chris Cooper and Allison Janney.
Posted by Stephen Silver at June 22, 2004 11:25 PM