i see a shocking amount of “nothing happened” or “did i miss something? this wasn’t even that peak? no top 10 female character!” reviews for this episode, on this app and others. i have to say that i think this is just one of those episodes that either hits or it doesn’t. [SPOILERS] it’s lisa’s funeral and the characters coping with her death. her family speaks and nate struggle with what to do with her remains. if you connect and relate to this show as much as i do, it will one hundred percent hit; i’d say the concept of it should already get you feeling things. this episode leans into what makes this show what it is, so if you love what this show is and you relate to these characters, this should be emotionally exhausting. i don’t want to write off anyone’s opinions and i’ve heard reasonable critiques but i will say that this might have just not worked for you. i genuinely think every critique is canceled out by my love for this show and how the episode exploits it, and i think most critiques come from people’s lack of connection to this show. “somehow a lot happened, but somehow not… if something is carried by the ending, that doesn’t make the whole episode great.” reads one review. i’m not trying to come off as a dickhead but the only scenario where you feel like nothing happened outside of the ending is if you just don’t connect with this show. yes, it’s just dialogue and people being sad, i understand. but claire sinking into the couch after she tells russle about the abortion, david telling keith how truly bad he wants them to work, nate telling david how he had been waiting for something to end their relationship… if you weren’t extremely engaged and emotional by all of this, i have to be pretentious and just say you might not get it. i hope what i’m saying makes any amount of sense and isn’t coming off as extremely rude, this is just what i think, because i honestly don’t see how someone can leave this episode and be underwhelmed. i really do think most of the enjoyment of this episode comes from ones personal connection to the show, even if that means to you have it top 50 or top 30 or whatever. the final scene is just. wow. i know everyone praises it and edits it and everything but it’s kind of for a reason. “when my wife died i lied about her remains for the purpose of burying her in nature, where she wanted to end up. to put her in the grave i dug myself, i had to open up the body bag and manually remove her destroyed corpse. i drove out while the sun was setting, and i stayed there until the morning, crying in the dirt.” this entire scenario is so incredibly poetic and tragic on paper, it sounds like something your grandfather would tell you during a late night conversation or something. the execution of it is perfect as well. peter krause delivers absolutely his best performance of the show so far, him removing her corpse, sobbing with the camera sinking low into the ground, genuinely freaked me out. such a stressful and claustrophobic scene, i deadass felt my breathing get faster watching that for the first time. him being in the grave, which obviously represents death, obviously shows him completely surrounded and confronted his wife’s passing. our perspective remaining as inside the grave, which he looks at and sobs, can be to highlight how it feels like he’s burying a real person (the audience). the decision to keep the pov there is also excellent for the reason that we have to imagine what nate is seeing. i feel like a shot of her bloated and naked body in the grave nate dug might have been too much. every decision is perfect. even the sound for the entire scene was amazing, it really feels like they captured all of the surrounding nature and that made things much more immersive for me. the way the scene ends is also fucking beautiful. realizing it’s the morning, he looks behind him, understanding the world has moved on from yesterday, and that he needs to as well for no one to be suspicious. he stands up, and almost looking for an excuse to stay, he grabs the shovel, and lingers around the grave, making sure everything is even. of course, it is, he’s been next to this grave for hours. this desperation builds up in him, and with no excuse but to leave, he starts screaming. he doesn’t want to go. the camera pans out on a drone shot, and we realize that we’re the only people who know where her body is buried. we’re the only ones who know what happened the night of her funeral. RANDOM: the ending burial location mimics where the unnamed person in the intro is buried. this may be a complete coincidence, maybe this director really likes imagery of trees but it could also act as symbolism. the opening body has significance because it’s actually the first “death” we see in the show, giving it an importance. this could be trying to say that lisa will be the defining death of nate’s life, as it’s the defining “death” of the show. i’m somewhat grasping for ideas here but the imagery of a body buried under a lone tree on a hill is very specific, and considering where most of the bodies prepared are buried (the cemetery constantly visited by the fishers) is previously shown in the intro but isn’t the final shot is kind of weird. i don’t want to say any other ideas but i don’t think it can be a coincidence. maybe he just really likes this sort of imagery though idk. i’d say this is the best of the show so far but it’s very very close with 2x13, which is also very close with 3x13. also in my top 20 episodes ever hmm i wonder where it ranks maybe go check my top 20 fav episodes list hmm