six feet deep in it

being as stupid an em'ly as i am, i only just figured something out.

six feet under's season finale, 'untitled', had an explosive ending. if you haven't seen it, stop reading. right now.

i mean it!

okay, so let's review the relevant section of the summary of episode 50, bomb shelter, the penultimate episode, from hbo.com:

nate and brenda receive a visit from nate's former in-laws, barb and hoyt. over dinner, barb reveals that at lisa's recent memorial service, the funeral director noticed that the ashes hadn't been properly pulverized and suspected that they were not lisa's remains. when barb presses nate to look into the matter, he admits the truth about burying lisa. the revelation upsets barb, who is already suspicious of nate reuniting with brenda so quickly after lisa's death. before leaving, barb threatens to find a way to take maya away from nate.

okay. so here's the section of episode 51, 'untitled', the season finale:

nate finds a polaroid of lisa in a book that barb's daughter, michaela, had given to him shortly after lisa's death. the picture disturbs him, especially when he notices lisa's outfit is relatively new and concludes that the photograph must have been taken the day she died. nate drives to santa cruz to confront michaela who directs him to her father. when nate questions hoyt about the photograph, he backpedals at first, and then admits that he and lisa had an on-going affair. barb overhears hoyt's confession and when hoyt realizes she is there, he kills himself, leaving nate with many unanswered questions.

now, "many unanswered questions" is a frelling understatement. see, what just occurred to me is what barb's frantic and apparently insane overreaction in the previous episode actually means. now, i'm not the sharpest tack in the box, so it took me some time. but my brains apparently were a-churnin' on this little burr - i don't normally think about tv shows when i'm not watching them, this was one of those subconscious things that happen - and i woke up today and thought,

sweet giant anteater of santa anita! barb already knew hoyt was fucking lisa - and she thinks the baby is hoyt's, not nate's!

so i'm an idiot. sue me.