Last night’s episode of “Six Feet Under” reminded me of one of those “90210” episodes (there were two or three, at least) where Donna was held hostage by some thug. Heavy-handed, unbelievable, and inconsistent with the tone of the series, last night’s 35-minute kidnapping-of-David sequence was liked by some people, but it just plain didn’t do it for me.
Like “The Sopranos”’ much-maligned dream-sequence episode, only minus the bonus appearances by long-dead favorite characters, the “Six Feet” kidnapping scenario interrupted what had been one of the season’s more interesting episodes, carried it in precisely the wrong direction (that of a second-rate thriller), and just got more and more outlandish as the show went on.
The ATM robbery? The borrowed-from-Bruckheimer breaking-away-from-rope part? The “Training Day” homage in which David was forced, at gunpoint, to smoke crack? Is that even the drug of choice for Beavis-like idiots such as the villain? And are we now in for a David-drug-addiction subplot that’s about as believable as “24”’s quickly abandoned heroin plot?
I know they must have been looking for a reason to have David mope around hopelessly for the remainder of the season (like Nate is), but it’s hard to think of a more heavy-handed, unconvincing way to do it.
It’s too bad though; prior to that, it was shaping up to be one of the year’s better episodes- if only for this exchange, after Brenda’s mom has shared her plan to undergo vaginal rejuvenation surgery:
Brenda’s Mom: Oh, come on Brenda! No one wants to fuck a glass of water!
Brenda: (Gently sets down her glass of water)