Everything is foreshadowed and everything ties together thematically in some way.
Humour makes the sadness even sadder.
Audience expectations are constantly thwarted, making every scene an ironic one on some level. Juxtaposition is also heavily used, leading back to the main juxtaposition: life and death. Third time round, this actually feels overdone. We constantly see some horrific death followed by a mundane reality, such as what the characters are having for dinner, or what’s gone wrong with the plumbing.
Audience sympathies really do shift according to character and season. Brenda is an unsympathetic character for the first two seasons and then very much written to be sympathetic, partly by surrounding her with characters even worse than herself (e.g. Margaret Chenoworth) and by nice characters who like her (e.g. Justin).
Nate becomes increasingly unsympathetic. It’s like the writers can’t have both Nate and Brenda sympathetic at the same time.
The children don’t age as they would in real life. Rico’s son is the worst in this regard, as filming time doesn’t mirror narrative time passing. (Played by the actor’s real life son, he’s actually a pretty terrible actor. I wish they’d have found another kid, as all the other child actors are GREAT.)
The actor who played Brenda’s sex worker friend died, in real life, several years after shooting due to an undiagnosed heart problem.
This is the article Alan Poul recommends during the audio commentary of the That’s My Dog episode, and it’s about what viewers should be expected to take from television which pushes the boundaries of genre. Many felt the episode in which David is hijacked by Jake to be unreasonably violent.
Three times was great, and I think I’m finally done. Thanks, SFU!
