THIS WEEK'S EPITAPHS:

• Lisa Kimmel Fisher: finally at peace. For now.
• Claire is hot for teacher, too cool for school, and in danger of stepping on the recapper's last nerve.
• For the original Fishers, every day above ground is a good one.

The opening credits — They say "Directed by Alan Ball." Hooray!

Kenneth Macdonald Henderson (1954-2004) — A pregnant woman, a selfish guy, a bland businessman, and a woman with a broken foot and a snarky attitude are stuck in an elevator. It sounds like a joke, doesn't it? But there's nothing funny about this. They all work together to pry the doors open (except for the selfish guy). The elevator is stuck just below a floor, so the businessman crawls up and manages to get out. Then he lies down on the floor and reaches back into the elevator to help the others out — and promptly gets ripped in half as the elevator car lurches into motion and takes his torso with it. I told you: not funny. But that shot of his severed legs lying there twitching — well, that's classic Six Feet Under. Directed by Alan Ball.

George and Ruth's bed — Our favorite kooky seniors are sleeping comfortably, when suddenly there's a flash of light and an explosion that shatters a big window. The afterglow is very white and very nuclear winter-y. First the torso in the elevator, and now this?

George goes to investigate: everything's a pile of rubble and there are sirens in the air. And there's a woman in a dress, calling to him from an exploded room. George says, "What did you do?" The woman starts to walk toward him, and the next thing we see is Ruth telling George to wake up, because he was whimpering and paddling his feet in his sleep.

Most people dream about sex or flying or serial killers: George dreams about nuclear bombs and creepy women. The weird thing is how much sense that makes.

George lies and tells Ruth that he doesn't remember what he was dreaming about.

Another bed — Rico stares at the ceiling and feels sorry for himself.

Claire's place — Claire's getting high again while she calls people to tell them about her show. She even calls Edie:

Claire: "Oh, hi, Edie; it's Claire. Um, listen: tomorrow's my show, and I know you probably won't be there, but I wish you would be there. Never mind."

She seems kinda rueful about the whole Edie thing. Maybe that's just me.

Anita barges in with a garbage bag full of stuff and announces that she's broken up with Russell. I simply can't imagine why anybody would do that. And then she offers more proof that she's got a brain, as she relates her reaction to Russell's whining about his "idea" for Claire's art:

Anita: "I was like, 'Whosever idea it was — and I don't fucking care — Claire ran with it.' I was like, 'Adapt, dude.'"

But then Anita loses a few (thousand) IQ points by offering Claire some cocaine. Claire, much to our surprise, refuses, because she has to go to the gallery to meet some "celebrity woman."

Brenda and Nate's house — Brenda and Maya hang out while Nate freaks out. He's still panicking about Barb trying to take Maya away. Nate says all kinds of crazy mean things and then realizes that he's still living with the hottest woman on the planet and should stop whining. Except if he did that, he wouldn't be Nate.

David's bed — David doesn't want to get out of bed. He's replaying the moment — which we see only through his flashback — when he identified Jake (his abductor) in the police lineup. He says he wants to move on, and wishes he could tell Jake what an evil thing he did. Keith thinks that's exactly what David should do: visit Jake in jail and say what he needs to say. That Keith: always taking life by the horns. Um, ick.

The Fisher kitchen — George's daughter Maggie will be stopping in town on her way to a conference. Ruth is excited. I just hope Maggie didn't inherit George's nose.

The bereavery — The businessman's ex-wife doesn't know why she should have to deal with the torso-ripping — she and Ken were divorced years ago. She gets cranky about the whole thing:

Ken's ex-wife: "Now there must be someone else who can deal with this. 'Cause I can't believe it. How can you get killed by an elevator?"
Nate: "Well, there were three other people trapped inside, and he tried to get them out and the elevator tore him in half."

The woman promptly throws up on the bereavery carpet. Nate goes downstairs and tells David the news: "I hit a new low. I made the bereaved vomit." David's not impressed, since he's dealing with Ken's torso on one slab and his legs on another. It's certainly rather vomit-inducing, especially when they reveal that they're not going to sew Ken together, because you won't be able to tell the difference once he's in the casket.

Nate finally gives David the book about cadavers that the cool little Addams family girl (Nate and Lisa's niece, Michaela) passed along. There's a picture inside the book, of Lisa. Nate just stares at it.

A phone call — Mr. Pasquese, of the ear-biting incident, has a business proposition for Keith. He reminds Keith that certain papers related to the lawsuit have not yet been signed. Yeah, it was impossible to see that coming.

The gallery — The "celebrity woman" who's interested in Claire's paintings is Nicole Richie. The gallery owner blathers on about what Claire's work means, and then Claire starts to try to blather too, but Nicole out-blathers everyone.

A restaurant — George's daughter Maggie is kinda okay. At one point, when George goes off to the loo, Maggie asks Ruth how George has been, and seems to expect to get an earful. Ruth is clueless, so Maggie gives Ruth her card and tells Ruth to call her if (and she means when) things go wrong.

Brenda and Nate's place — Nate and Brenda bicker about how needy he is and how supportive she is. Nate shows Brenda the picture of Lisa. Oh, that explains it.

David and Keith's place — David ponders Keith's suggestion. Keith intends to go along if David does decide to visit Jake, because David isn't always so good about communicating his mental state. Hey, Keith: despite that little bit of weirdness with Celeste, you're just about the only one who didn't go crazy this season. And that in itself makes you sort of weird.

Vanessa's house — Rico is parked outside. He gazes through the living room window, watching Vanessa and his sons go about their lives — not like a protective, concerned father, but like a pathetic, psycho stalker.

Claire's place — Anita tells Claire to go to sleep. But Claire is too busy getting high and chatting with Billy, whose instant messenger ID is MrChen106. Claire's is CFisher220. It's as exciting as it sounds.

Another bed — As he wakes up, Nate has some strange flashy images of Lisa on the beach where she disappeared. He realizes something and runs out to ramble to Brenda, who was having a nice quiet morning in her nice quiet kitchen. Nate thinks that the picture Michaela gave him means that somebody was with Lisa on that beach — because the shirt Lisa's wearing in the picture is the one she bought a week before she died. It's a bit convoluted, but since when are Nate's beliefs informed by logic?

Nate says he has to go visit the Kimmels to find out what really happened to Lisa. Brenda says this whole thing is never going to end — not realizing that we're about halfway through the episode. Nate says he'll take Maya to his mom's, which of course is the wrong thing to say, so he apologizes and acknowledges that there's no reason he can't leave Maya with Brenda. Can you please leave me with Brenda too, so I don't have to watch whatever's going to happen next in your search for the so-called truth?

George's addled brain — The woman George saw in his dream is talking to him. Or rather, he's talking to himself. Ruth sees him and stops in her tracks. Poor Ruth: I told you to unload this guy!

George's figment says something about the way he was brought up, so I suppose she's supposed to be his mother or something. That worked in Psycho, but not since.

The viewing — Ken's ex-wife decides that divorce doesn't change the fact that Ken was part of her family. Rico agrees that "when people get in your heart, they stay for good," but he also thought that Sophia the ho was more beautiful than Vanessa, so what the hell does he know?

The end of the line — Ruth leaves a message for Maggie: "I'm worried about your father."

Claire's show — Anita convinces Claire that a little coke will help her make it through the evening. Far be it from me to condemn recreational drug use, but it seems Claire's losing her pretty little mind lately.

Vanessa's house — Rico finally admits that he's an asshole, and Vanessa appreciates the apology. But it's too late: she knows now that she's better off without him, and she doesn't love him the way she used to. Yay, Vanessa! Wait: does this mean you won't be on the show next season? Maybe you could date Brenda or something, just to stay in the Six Feet Under universe.

But Vanessa really isn't as cold-hearted as I am: she tells Rico she's not trying to hurt him, but makes it very clear that she wants a divorce. I'm not trying to hurt you either, Rico, but I want you to leave the show and Vanessa to stay on. Okay? Go ahead and cry.

Jail — David visits Jake. At first Jake doesn't seem to recognize him, which is appalling. But then Jake picks up right where he left off, talking his crazy talk and making David squirm. David looks sort of like a cartoon or something, or like one of the agents in The Matrix, as he sits there telling Jake that he's happy to hear that detox is painful. He tells Jake that he hates him and that "now I walk around feeling like everyone's going to humiliate me and murder me." Is this helping, David? 'Cause it's not helping me. Jake's kind of too pathetic to hate, at the moment. And I just didn't really want to see his face again, even if it is kind of important that he seem pitiable rather than soulless. Never mind: let's hope that's the end of that little storyline.

Claire's show — Claire on coke is not a good thing. She's selfish and pretentious and nothing at all like the Claire I thought I loved. Brenda, on the other hand, looks great despite her odd shirt and Olympic-medal-sized earrings, and Maya is adorable as always. Ruth and Brenda chat a little about comfortable, everyday topics, like the fact that Nate and Brenda got back together so soon after Lisa died, and the fact that George has started talking to himself out of nowhere. If Claire could hear all of this, she'd wonder what that coke was cut with.

Claire talks to Billy, which is already more than I want to know. Billy wants to know why her photographs don't have names.

Claire: "I feel like when you give something a name, people take your word for it — which is okay for some things, but not these."

Despite that brief moment of lucidity, she quickly goes back to her cocaine haze and admits that she has no idea what her work is about. Oh, wait: that's actually rather clear-headed too. But I still don't know what to do about the fact that she's actually speaking to Billy.

Pasquese's palace — The rude sushi-eating twerp (who's sporting a new earring) wants Keith to be his bodyguard. As he rambles on, a hunky guy gets naked and jumps into the pool, so Keith begins to consider the offer.

Claire's show — Olivier thought Russell would be the first one to have a show. He claims Claire is already corrupted because she feels like she's "finally done something right." Olivier, would you please go somewhere far, far away from the rest of us, and take Billy and Russell with you? And never come back?

Elsewhere, Brenda's mom meets Maya. Run, Maya, run!

Brenda's mom also wants Claire to do a piece for her and Olivier. Run, Claire, run!

She does — well, she walks off — and Jimmy finds her. But Claire doesn't want to talk to him, because tonight is all about the coke and the Claire.

Later, Russell finds Claire and screams at her about the work and the abortion and whatever else he can think of. Billy interrupts and tussles with Russell in a rather hilarious way. Russell skulks off, and Claire asks Billy to take her home. Oh, god, no!

The Kimmels' place — Nate asks Michaela about the picture. She says he should go talk to her dad, Hoyt (Barb's husband and Lisa's brother-in-law). So Nate confronts him, and pushes him, and Hoyt eventually tells the truth, which is that he and Lisa had a thing. And Lisa didn't want to continue to thing, so Hoyt started freaking out about the possibility of Lisa coming clean to Barb, and there are hints that maybe he killed Lisa, or then again maybe not. It's all rather creepy. But not as creepy as what happens next: Hoyt sees that Barb is in the shadows, hearing his confession. So Hoyt takes a gun out of the desk drawer, puts it in his mouth, and blows his brains out right in front of Nate and Barb. If I weren't so traumatized, I'd wonder how they filmed that.

Okay, wait a minute: where the hell did all of that come from? Hoyt was such a non-character before this: why is he suddenly the key to everything? Oh, never mind. Nate's right when he says that Lisa wouldn't have left Maya like that, so I'm glad she didn't kill herself, if that is in fact what we've just learned. Maybe we've learned nothing. Maybe the only way Alan Ball knows how to end things is to have someone get shot in the head. (For more info, see American Beauty.)

Whineyville — Rico is all alone.

Disgustingville — Billy and Claire kiss.

Looneyville — Ruth wakes up alone; she finds George in the bomb shelter. He says he lives there now. You've always lived there, George.

Brendaville — Nate comes in, looking shattered. Brenda's face crumples in reply. Nate holds Brenda and Maya and everyone's emotional (especially me) and then Nate finally does the right thing:

Nate: "Let's get married and have a baby. Will you?"
Brenda: "Yes."

David wakes up — Or so we can hope. Nathaniel Fisher is at the window, smoking a cigarette. He tells David he was brave to confront Jake. David doesn't really think so; so the late Mr. Fisher tries to get David to realize that he's a good guy, and also that he's missing the point:

Papa Fisher: "You hang onto your pain like it means something, like it's worth something. Well, let me tell you: it's not worth shit. Let it go. Infinite possibilities and all he can do is whine."
David: "Well, what am I supposed to do?"
Papa Fisher: "What do you think? You can do anything, you lucky bastard: you're alive! What's a little pain compared to that?"
David: "It can't be so simple."
Papa Fisher: "What if it is?"

And the rain falls, and the music floats, and I still love this damn show. Every day above ground is a good one.