"Six Feet Under" Out, Out, Brief Candle (2002)

Director:

Kathy Bates

Writers:

Alan Ball (creator)
Laurence Andries (written by)

TV Series:

"Six Feet Under" (2001)

Original Air Date:

10 March 2002 (Season 2, Episode 2)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A football player collapses of dehydration during a practice session, but doesn't die...but his fellow...

Plot Keywords:

Wall | Football Player | Dehydration | Dinner | Birthday

Cast

  (Episode Cast overview, first billed only)

Peter Krause	...	Nate Fisher
Michael C. Hall	...	David Fisher
Frances Conroy	...	Ruth Fisher
Lauren Ambrose	...	Claire Fisher
Freddy Rodríguez	...	Federico 'Rico' Diaz
Mathew St. Patrick	...	Keith Charles
Rachel Griffiths	...	Brenda Chenowith
Eric Balfour	...	Gabriel Dimas
Justina Machado	...	Vanessa Diaz
Julie White	...	Mitzi Dalton Huntley
Alice Krige	...	Alma
Page Kennedy	...	Josh Langmead
Tuc Watkins	...	Trevor
Timm Sharp	...	Andy
Judith Hoag	...	Dawn

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min | 56 min (DVD version)

Certification:

Argentina:16

Trivia:

Trevor's wife refers to her appearance on "Politically Incorrect" (1994) and adds that the "emaciated chick" from "The Practice" (1997) was also on the show with her. This is presumably a reference to the show's star, Lara Flynn Boyle, who is well known for her often very skinny figure.

Goofs:

Continuity: The death at the top of the show gives the dates of the deceased as 1981-2001, yet when David is telling Nate about the intake he says the deceased was "21 years [old], perfect health."

Quotes:

Mitzi Dalton Huntley: [David hands her a cup of coffee] Y'all didn't put rat poison on in here, did ya?
Nate Fisher: Drink it and find out.

Movie Connections:

References "Politically Incorrect" (1994)

Soundtrack:

You Shoulda Treated Me Right

Disclosing Innermost Feelings

When the football player Sam Langmead dies of dehydration after a strong training, the Fishers are hired for the funeral services. Brenda invites her former sweetheart Trevor, his wife Dawn and their son Will for a dinner with Nate. Rico asks for a US$ 11,000.00 loan to David and Nate to buy a house for his family, but David decides to buy an Appleby casket wall instead. The executive of Kroehner Mitzi Dalton Huntley makes another offer to buy the Fisher's business. Claire finds that Gabe stole a controlled substance for embalming corpse to make stronger marijuana and robbed a convenience store. Nate is haunted by the spirit of Sam and decides to tell his brother about his condition AVM and that he may have a stroke or an aneurysm any moment.

"Out, Out, Brief Candle" is a depressing episode of "Six Feet Under", with the problematic Claire recalling her traumatic childhood; Claire finding the dark side of Gabe; and Nate disclosing his disease to David. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Vida Breve" ("Short Life")