MovieChat Forums > Six Feet Under (2001) Discussion > Claire was HORRIBLE to Billy!

Claire was HORRIBLE to Billy!

posted 7 years ago by jasonmovieguy (182)
2 replies | jump to latest

I decided to add this insight with an additional thread because I feel it needs to be addressed.

I loved Claire until Season 4. Then she became completely unlikable, stoned and a brat from hell. Mainly her treatment of Billy (Brenda's brother) and to an extent, Russell too. The dude makes a mistake with Olivier and she writes him off as a nobody.

As much as people praise Season 5 (mainly for the final episodes), I think it's the worst season overall. The writing was predictable and the storylines dragged (David and Keith especially; it seemed the adopting kids scenario was a cute touch, but David constantly getting upset for the sake of drama was tiresome. Also those kids they adopted were awful! Homophobic and not endearing). The writing of Rico and Vanessa once again was also lame, cliche and high school. Such bland characters. I cringed every time they had scenes together. Utterly pointless.

Back to Claire- she was horrible. The worst factor was her incredibly cruel nature towards Billy. She not only dumps him out of the blue, but she CHEATS on him with some sleaze at Nate's birthday party for no reason. That was not the Claire I knew or what seemed in her nature. It was like new writers were brought in and they completely made her unsympathetic. Then when Billy pleads and begs to find out how she could leave him (regardless of him forgetting to take his meds, she knew this about him)- she acts so snobby and chilly towards him I wanted to smack her through the screen. He gave her a lot, including camera equipment and spark to help sell her work during her show in the final episode of season 4. And in return, she just throws him out like she never cared for him ever. And we're supposed to feel sorry for her with the other guys who treat her the same way she treated him?

On top of this, her drunken tantrums in her temp office were disgusting, her dating Ted just for the sake of political gibberish the writers wanted to throw in, and her HORRIFIC acting in the final episode ("Im going miss you SO much- cry cry) are enough to have me think she's the worst one on the show. Which sucks because she started off much more innovative, fresh and funny.

If anyone has any light to shed on why her character crashed and burned at the end, please enlighten me. I love when Margaret forced her into that dinner with Billy. The bitch deserved to get a smack on the head for treating Billy with such ugly hostility.

[–] tab1969 (92) 7 years ago

Billy was the worst and deserved everything he got.

[–] malika585 (10) 6 years ago

Breaking up with Billy was the smartest thing Claire did. He had real problems and his mother kept trying to push him on to other women. Brenda had been his crutch and then Claire would have been roped into it too. Billy genuinely needed help but given that Claire was significantly younger and still trying to figure out who she was as a person she did not want to be his nursemaid. At least she was clear and did not string him along.

It was a sad situation for Billy but it was strongly suggested that being with Claire was Billy's way of being closer to Brenda so he was using her too. Billy and his mother were good at playing the sympathy card and being pathetic and clingy just like they did with Brenda who then gave up a large portion of her life for him. Thankfully Claire does not get sucked into their little plan.