MESSAGE FROM JOHN TETI

FYI: Matthew St. Patrick is guesting on the FX series Sons of Anarchy. He was on this week's episode, and appears to be on next week's as well. Nice to see him getting some work.

And you sure do deserve those kind remarks,John. You're doing a really stellar job. As much as I appreciated SFU already, your insights have caused me to appreciate the nuances of the show even more. If only every reviewer had your talents, it'd be a much better world.

There's a lot of slyness in Six Feet Under, and in this episode under review, I really like how Sarge, when he shows up at David's, is wearing a shirt with what can be taken as criss-crossed phallic symbols, or in other words phalluses at cross purposes.

I was surprised when Claire admitted to Edie and others she had never had an orgasm in her life, I think an episode or so ago, but coincidently earlier today, my wife and I, rewatching the series one episode a day, were on Ep 12 of the first season, where Ruth admits to her flower shop co-worker that when Hiram, her…

According to David later on in the series, Nate's hair even had an ant crawling in it at one point.

I have to be honest— I was never a big Kathy Bates fan until her appearance on SFU, where I thought she was incredible. Been a fan ever since. (And she also directed some of the SFU episodes.)

I'd hang out with David. He's actually the character I identify the most with, even though I'm not gay. I appreciate the way he tries to hold things together.

Great scene. And a reminder of how often writers jokingly portray writers in their fiction as being rather pathetic.

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen this episode (my wife and I are
going to rewatch the entire series a couple of weeks from now), but I still
remember, in that opening scene, once it’s revealed how long the wife has put
off seeking medical advice about her tumors, the doctor’s stern glance at the husband. The look…

My wife and I have viewed the series probably 6 or so times now, and will start again in about a month, and I know (as I'm sure most of us here do) exactly what you mean about those last 15 minutes. We saw the series when it first aired, so at first weren't sure what was happening once Claire started driving, But…

God, that's absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for posting it!

SPOILER - The one image that makes me suck in breath the most, and tear up the wettest, is in the series finale, Keith catching the football and looking over at David with a big grin on his face.

BTW, love the extra screen shots you're using in this write-up to illustrate different points. It'd be great to continue this going forward, John.

The thing I love about Keith is that despite the many times he’s unreasonable over the course of the series, he’s there when David needs him, as he is in this episode (SPOILER: and in fact of all the couples on SFU, David and Keith turn out to be the most
stable.) END OF SPOILER. Their relationship reminds me of…

That is a great show. I watched it when it first came on, but regret to say I don't remember now her last thought.

In one of your earlier comments further up on the board you said that “Personally I thought the show was well-written but it isn't something I'm tempted to re-watch a lot.” Which is what made me think you don’t admire
the show as much as I do. Usually, if someone thoroughly enjoys something, they want to…

Well, it does come out of the blue, and I think an event like this in real life would also come out of the blue. I do politely disagree that this is not what SFU is about or trying to say, because of course it is what SFU did say in this episode. If you mean that it was not the same tone as other SFU episodes, I…

It certainly is a divisive episode. I don't feel it went too far,or that it didn't make sense, but I can understand how you might feel otherwise.

To your point, I remember how SFU was generally described as
“a show about a dysfunctional family”, but I never saw it that way. I think the idea of identifying the Fishers
as "dysfunctional” was a kind of defense mechanism people would use to suggest
that their own family wasn’t like the Fishers.
But I think almost…