"I'm looking for clothes so expensive only an idiot would buy them"
ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 21st April 2001
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 2, Episode 8
WRITTEN BY: Scott Buck
Christmas is a special time for the Fisher family, not just because it's a holiday, but because it marks the anniversary of major events at the start of the show, such as the death of Nathaniel Sr and the first meeting of Nate and Brenda.
The stiff-of-the-week is a biker named Jesse, who hits a truck dressed as Santa Claus, no doubt traumatising the onlooking children. It's a darkly funny scene up there with Six Feet Under's best openings. The Bikers were pretty awesome in this episode, creating many comic moments as the eccentric group take over the house for an extravagant Christmas day funeral in order to send their buddy out in style.
It was good to see Nathaniel Sr reappear in flashbacks, as every character remembers their last interaction with him. None of the scenes are particularly spectacular on their own, but that's the point that the episode was trying to make - we never know when our last moments with people will be, and so we take them for granted. David brushed off the chance to have a real conversation with his dad. Claire opted out of accompanying him to the airport, but in doing so avoided the car crash that killed him. Little moments like this that seem insignificant have such a dramatic effect on the rest of our lives.
Brenda's crazy brother Billy also returns for an awkward Christmas reunion where he finds out about Nate and Brenda's engagement. Nikolai becomes an unwanted guest in the Fisher household following his injury. It was nice to see so many people at the Christmas dinner - it's the biggest the family has been in a long time.
Ending this episode with Nate going for a ride on the dead biker's motorcycle was great, and could not have made a better song choice than "Don't Fear The Reaper".
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