Do you think Nate grew at all?
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smooth_op_85 — 10 years ago(October 10, 2015 05:42 PM)
I've always seen Nate like my ex boyfriend, the moment that something doesn't work the way he wants it to, he runs off.
He is an extrovert, assertive and isn't afraid to speak his mind but constantly acts as if it's his Mother's fault that he's back at home, he could've left at any time he wanted and sold his share to Rico who wanted it so badly. He gets back with Brenda after Lisa dieswhich I think is left open to kind of give him an easy out to Brenda.
He is the kind of character that you hope learns something, but when it really comes down to it, they are always behind the 8 ball because they just like being able to be in the same position -
!!!deleted!!! (23568926) — 10 years ago(January 21, 2016 11:55 PM)
If Nate Fisher's struck down by God for philandering, how's Mick Jagger still living? I don't think such a black&white moral universe applies to 'Six Feet Under.'
Frankly, it blows my mind how Nate's so loathed. By the time he's married to Brenda, he's been through too much to pretend to be happyat least, not for long. Pretending to be happy, I've noticed, is a skill many people have mastered. If Nate hasn't learned it, that's too bad for his skill but says a lot for his human integrity. To leave your pregnant wife for your stepsister takes enormous courageEVERYONE'S going to st on that, and no one seems to care for love, just duty. Well, duty, as Oscar Wilde put it, is "doing what other people want because they want it." He saw happiness in Maggie and he had the balls to reach for it. If heaven really did strike him down, at least he went down with his middle finger up. -
cherubalways — 9 years ago(October 12, 2016 02:59 AM)
i'm not really sure. and, i like that alan ball made it that way. i waited for nate's "epiphany" and it never happened. many people in this life never change, or change very little, but that's why i like that nate was left the way he was. it rang true for me. he told megan "i have so much to tell you" or something like that from his hospital bed as she was leaving. i actually like the uncertainty. was megan his soul mate? would he ultimately dump her if he'd lived? i love it!
If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage. -
LetsDriveSomewhere — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 08:57 AM)
I hate to do this, but I'd basically be writing the same exact thing over again:
Nate's Journey from Empath to Narcissist
http://www.imdb.com/board/10248654/board/flat/262945106
You think I'd speak for you?
I don't even know your language. -
LetsDriveSomewhere — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 10:06 AM)
Nate tried to change and tried to convince himself that he could be happy playing the part of the dutiful and amicable husband and father, he tried that with both Brenda and Lisa, and he failed miserably both times, in almost identical ways.
I feel Nate did not try to change at all, neither with Brenda nor Lisa. There was a revolving door aspect with both of those relationships that must be considered. Nate used Lisa all throughout their years of "friendship." He knew she was in love with him and he never had any intention to commit to her despite the fact that he was sleeping with her. Of course, their sexual encounters weren't ongoing. He would only escape with her occasionally whenever he was feeling down. He would pursue other relationships with more exciting, perhaps more beautiful, women, and when that wouldn't work, he would return to good ole Lisa. Even when he returned to California for the holiday, we have no idea what his relationship was back in Seattle with Lisa. Of course, she knew they were only "friends," but she also always held on to the hope that they'd be more and Nate knew that much. He didn't anticipate that his father would die or that his mother would ask him to stay or that he would meet a new, exciting and intoxicating woman (Brenda).
Now, let's move on to his relationship with Brenda. He was definitely drawn toward her, practically addicted. She also made him feel that he wasn't a failure for returning to the family business he swore he'd never participate in. When their relationship became challenging and he felt he couldn't confide in Brenda with his medical issues, he returned to Lisa for comfort. Then he was off again, unknowingly leaving her pregnant. It was only when Nate discovered Brenda was essentially living a double life that the two of them destroyed each other, broke up, and Nate married Lisa. I mean, he might as well, right? She was
only
carrying his child!
Of course he destroyed his marriage with Lisa. It was never genuine. I agree that he attempted to play the part of father and husband, but more due to how it made him "look" (to some unknown viewer, maybe God?) or more due to how Nate thought him doing these things made other people feel about his participation. It was not actually about him being "happy" is what I'm getting at. I don't know that he was capable of achieving happiness or contentment as much as he was motivated by giving off the appearance of being a "good guy." But he never could actually pull that off because he was not actually
that guy.
He was certainly never present to be a real husband in Lisa's real marriage, and it was a though he could not understand why his mere participation was not enough for her. I might not be remembering correctly, but I recall one dream sequence Nate had where Lisa visited him after her death and he told her he thought she was his once in a lifetime chance that he messed up. Her response to him was, "Nate, I'm not a chance, I'm a person."
How can
she
be a chance? A chance at what? She was his friend, lover, wife, partner, and somehow he completely missed that. He just thought she was a missed opportunity, but an opportunity for what? It was as though Nate was using Lisa to prove something, but to prove what? And to whom?
Do you see the distance Nate experiences between his real self and his fantasy self? It's all right and amusing enough whenever he's spouting grandiose rhetorical b.s. with his brother, but it's not enough to cut it in an intimate relationship with a spouse.
Nate only returned to Brenda as a result of Lisa's devastating death. Do you see the revolving door? He is just spinning and falling and spinning and falling into one situation after another. These are not active choices. These are not intentional attempts at relationships. These are behavioral patterns.
It is absolutely true that he would have ruined any serious relationship he had with Maggie as well.
You think I'd speak for you?
I don't even know your language. -
sawfan1414 — 9 years ago(November 21, 2016 07:12 AM)
Actually, no, not really.
In the first episode, he was portrayed as a cocky, charasmatic, selfish yet fun loving narcissist, and he remained that way to varying degrees throughought. I recall Alan Ball saying somewhere in an interview that he made a conscientious decision for Nate to be the grounded everyman character where everything around him evolves, while he stays stagnate.