I'm sorry, but I cannot be the only one that finds her to be absolutely unbearable in Seasons 4 & 5? Especially when it comes to her treatment of George? It becomes more than obvious where Nate gets his tendency to explosively and inappropriately overreact, whine incessantly about their own problems without regard to anyone else or their issues, and run at the first sign of having to face reality and the hardships that come with it.
shareI think she was so tired of raising and caring for others that George's illness broke her. George originally represented for her an equal at a time when she saw a possible retirement from being super mom. He would have been that person she actually deserved to be with: intelligent, capable, and supportive. And then he regressed, and she was faced with a lifetime of what she had thought was done: her being a 24-hour-a-day caregiver.
Until someone has mothered (or fathered) hard core and for more than one generation, I do not think that person can understand what is behind her rage at seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and then seeing it go black. That being said, I do agree that she lost it. Had she just been honest with herself and others, she might have been able to avoid being Mt. VeRuthious.
Note to self: communicate with peoplez.
The gene pool could use a little chlorine......
I actually sympathized more with Ruth in that situation. She'd spent her entire life caring for people. Including a sick mother she was forced to take care of when she was younger. George should've been upfront and honest with her about his mental state and familial issues when they got together. He kept a lot of important things from her, intentionally. By the time they married it was too late and she felt obligated to take care of him as his wife. But naturally she was also resentful for being put in that situation to begin with. She had every right to be pissed.
It's kind of funny. I watched this series for the first time as a teenager. Now that I'm re-watching it as an adult in my 20s, I have a whole new outlook on the show. Ruth has actually turned into one of my favorite characters.
Her talk with Brenda about not staying, and doing basically what she did during the finale was her most poignant moment for me. Really felt sympathy for her. And I get people found her character annoying at times, but that just IMHO shows you how great Frances performance was in the show. She was really great.
shareI am really shocked at how critical people are of all the characters on the show. The best part of this series was the emotional rawness and honesty. You could relate to some of them at different seasons. There hasn't been a better show to date. Frances carried the entire show. Ruth may not be your favorite, but the actress is tremendously talented.
George was perfect when she met him. I doubt anyone would say that they suffer from that type of mental illness. His history was his past and he was truthful when he told her he wanted to live in the present. He also told her off all his past marriages and Ruth should have asked him more questions. I hate to defend him so much, but George was a nice man for the most part and deeply loved Ruth.
I gotta say I can't think of a show where the same character(s) are so loved by so many people and also so loathed by so many people....almost like there's no middle ground, so to speak. People either love a character on SFU or they hate them.
Maybe the exception is Keith? I never found him annoying or selfish, etc...every other character at times got on my nerves. For example, I got so sick of Dexter's inability to get over his "carjacking" incident. Hate to sound mean but at times was like come on man! You gotta move on from this constant state of paranoia.
I thought Keith was extremely ill tempered, self-centered and often self-righteous. This was especially evident in the first few seasons. He was extremely hard on David the first few years they were together and the only reason their relationship worked was because of David's low self-esteem and neediness. He was interesting to watch, as with all the characters on the show, because he evolved, eventually becoming a more loving partner to David and good father to the boys.
As far as the carjacking incident -- I was really thrown by that episode the first time I watched it-when the show was running on, "Real time" in the early 2000's. The episode came from out of nowhere and the violence seemed gratuitous and there for shock value. I found it extremely upsetting. As for it's effect on David, I've never been carjacked, no one's ever threatened to kill me ( and numerous times at that) so I'll set aside judgment as to how long it takes for one to recover from such a horrifying incident. Knowing people who have suffered from trauma, it generally takes a lot longer to recover than was portrayed on the show.
"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it." Norman Maclean
I agree on both points. Keith may have loved David, but he didn't treat him as an equal partner. I respect that he thought what was said in therapy was private. But some of his issues discussed were about David, a very slippery slope. I didn't watch the carjacking this time. I remembered enough for it to be uncomfortable.
And what fresh Hell is this?, Malory from Archer(Dorothy Parker)
That episode was very disturbing. I can't imagine someone going through that and can sympathize at why he was a wreck.
shareUnless you've been a victim of violent crime, you can't possibly understand how difficult it is to "move on." It's a horrific experience. I thought his portrayal was accurate, save for the dramatic hallucinations, which were more a style element of the show.
shareSame here!
My favorite scenes are when she's away from her family, just hanging with her girls. There is a lightness to her, freedom and she's utterly beautiful in those scenes.
One of my favorite scenes is when she and the girls are mourning their friend and they each take turns passing around a bong and they all start singing.
Beautiful!
Ruth was such a complicated character. I absolutely loathed her, pitied her, found her hilarious, and liked her. That speaks volumes. She grew a ton over the series, and her scenes with Claire in the last episode made me cry. She looked so beautiful while saying goodbye to her daughter, and she was so tender instead of being so repressed and resentful.
I loved her the most in her scenes with Bettina - those two were awesome!
Her words at the end to Claire, "oh, no, YOU gave ME life" - cue more tears.
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