"The Plan" is the third episode of the second season of the HBO series Six Feet Under. The episode was written by Kate Robin and was directed by Rose Troche. It first aired on March 17, 2002. The episode features a parody of the program used by est and The Forum.
Plot summary
The episode begins with the death of Michael John Piper, whose wife is a psychic. As he dies, Mrs. Piper states that she can see a light emanating from above his head. Nate begins to experience muscular twitching and loss of verbal skills, which after some internet research David determines to be a condition known as AVM. Later, as Mrs. Piper is selecting a casket for the funeral assisted by David, she informs him that she is being advised by her late husband.
In a scene in the kitchen, Ruth comes downstairs and informs Nate, David and Claire that she will be attending a self-improvement seminar called "The Plan". Her friend Robbie had urged her to attend the course. Claire is worried that "The Plan" is some kind of cult, and Nate remarks that it must be "one of those self-actualization things from the '70s where they yell at you for twelve hours and don't let you go to the bathroom". Upon arrival at the seminar, the leader begins to use jargon and metaphor which compares a "blueprint" for home renovation to self-improvement of one's life. She singles out Ruth and berates her for "tiptoeing around her own house like she's afraid of waking someone up".
Claire attends a counseling session at school, and David brings Nate to the Independent Funeral Directors lunch, where Nate proceeds to rant about the evils of corporations as related to their industry. Claire later returns to the counselor's office, where a police detective questions her about her boyfriend Gabe's involvement in a convenience store robbery, and Claire is angry with her counselor for breaking their trust. Brenda and Nate have a conversation about college-life while she is selecting courses for her adult education, and the conversation leads to Brenda's current lack of interest in sex. Brenda later decides to leave the genetics class she had enrolled in, after getting in a public argument with the instructor.
Ruth comes home late at night from her seminar, and finds Claire waiting for her on the couch. Ruth mentions that she will be attending more seminars of "The Plan" because she has already paid for the coursework and does not want to appear rude. Ruth begins to use jargon from the course in her conversation with Claire, and then Ruth complains that she cannot yet go to sleep for she must first do "homework" from the course. This homework includes writing a letter to her dead mother forgiving her for "all the terrible things she did to me", and writing a letter to herself, describing how she will "renovate" her life. As Nate prepares for the funeral, his father Nathaniel visits him, and they discuss philosophical opinions regarding death and the afterlife. A poem by Walt Whitman is read aloud at the funeral. After the funeral Claire requests assistance from Nate, but David interrupts them with follow-up news from their Independent Funeral Directors meeting. Keith and his mother have a heated discussion about the care of Taylor, and the neglected responsibilities of his sister Carla. Brenda flirts with a patron at a bar, and he gives her his business card moments before Nate arrives to meet her.