My favorite show for the past few years has been HBO’s Six Feet Under and last night was the season premier. It started out great, but not even Alan Ball has the nuts to kill off his lead character, at least not yet. The first half went great as Nate viewed alternate versions of his life, including him dying, becoming a vegetable, and marrying Lisa. Marrying Brenda was the only option his super-positioned self seemed to like. He also saw realities where his father didn’t die in episode 1. I love how they explored the mysterious areas of quantum physics without actually beating you over the head with it. Not mentioning Shroedinger’s cat by name was cool.
I’m not sure if the woman talking about how astrology changes on other planets was a Hitchiker’s Guide reference, but if you read the entire Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series you’ll know aliens blew up the Earth, but an alternate reality Earth was later found, which was later blown up by other aliens PO’d by the same astrology problem the woman at the barbecue was talking about.
Sadly, once Nate opens his coffin and finds out he’s alive the show takes a huge downturn. After seeing vegetable Nate pronounce 90% of his words as “tuk,” Nate as a redneck, and a room full of bald, clock smashing, universe keeper guys (they totally remind me of someone out of Stephen King’s Insomnia) I didn’t exactly find David, Claire, Rico, and Ruth’s problems all that fascinating. That’s right, no Brenda in sight. Booooo!