That's My Dog (18 Jul. 2004)

Although their earlier visit did not go very well, Ruth suggests they invite George's estranged son Kyle for dinner. She's also thinking of inviting a friend of hers and introduce them. ... See full summary »

Director:

Alan Poul

Writers:

Alan Ball (creator), Scott Buck

Stars:

Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Krause	...	Nate Fisher
Michael C. Hall	...	David Fisher
Frances Conroy	...	Ruth Fisher
Lauren Ambrose	...	Claire Fisher
Freddy Rodríguez	...	Federico 'Rico' Diaz
Mathew St. Patrick	...	Keith Charles
James Cromwell	...	George Sibley
Rachel Griffiths	...	Brenda Chenowith
Joanna Cassidy	...	Margaret Chenowith
Ben Foster	...	Russell Corwin
Michael Weston	...	Jake
Idalis DeLeon	...	Sophia (as Idalis de Leon)
Sprague Grayden	...	Anita Miller
Brooke Smith	...	Carolyn Pope
Elise Robertson	...	Anne Marie Thornton

Storyline

Although their earlier visit did not go very well, Ruth suggests they invite George's estranged son Kyle for dinner. She's also thinking of inviting a friend of hers and introduce them. Nate goes to a grief management class but has trouble relating to the other participants. At the funeral home, Rico and Dave console Anne Thornton's husband who blames himself for his wife's death. Claire doesn't react well to criticism of her self-portraiture photos. David picks up an apparently stranded motorist but it all turns nightmarish for him.

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Plot Keywords:

corpse | support group | regret | hot tub | hitchhiker | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 July 2004 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 56 min (DVD)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Keith talks about a "Japanese horror flick they want Celeste to do the remake for". The reference is to The Grudge, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar. Michelle Trachtenberg, who plays Celeste, also played Gellar's (as title role) little sister Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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Goofs

At approximately 20:00, while Brenda is eating and talking with her mom, the large cowl collar on her mom's sweater changes position each time the shot goes back to her.

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Quotes

Brenda: So how's it going with Olivier?
Margaret: He's a very passionate man. He's lot of fun if you don't take him too seriously. And he's completely supportive of my decision to have vaginal rejuvenating surgery.
Brenda: [disgusted] Awww, mom!
Margaret: Darling, I've had a couple of children. You expecially took your toll. I mean, c'mon, no one wants to fuck a glass of water, if you know what I'm saying.
Brenda: [puts away the glass of water she's drinking]

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Connections

Featured in Six Feet Under: The Dare (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Evum"
by Plej

User Reviews

The episode so horrible and misguided it nearly kills the series

It is rare in episodic television that a single show can be so dreadful that it upsets the integrity of a whole series. This is the case with the despicable "That's My Dog," a tasteless, out-of-control descent into cheap, anything-for-a-shock sleazoid TV hell. It is hard to take the character of David seriously after the bloody nonsense that he's forced to go through here. And this ultra-violent, druggie psycho with a gun episode thinks it's so "revolutionary" that it even dispenses with the successful "Six Feet Under" paradigm: the complex multi-story, multi-character editing. Nearly everything we know about David is smashed in this episode... especially his identity as a super-vigilant funeral director who would never allow anything despicable to happen to a body in his care! The whole show played like some third rate slasher film. How did the producers who created this magnificent series allow this lurid episode to happen? What kind of hold did writer Scott Buck have over these normally elegant artists? Were they so desperate to shake things up that they unwittingly risked the ruination of the series? This episode is an outrage.