Joanna's Episodes:

Season 1:

Season 2:

Season 3:

Season 4:

Season 5:

52. A Coat of White Primer

Ruth dreads George's return from the hospital in light of his recent diagnosis; Nate and Brenda prep for a big day, but an emergency makes them reconsider; David and Keith bring up alternative parenting options for discussion; Rico navigates new waters via internet dating; and Claire enjoys domestic bliss, but crosses a line with her camera, inciting an attack from Ruth.

53. Dancing For Me

Nate hangs with some high school friends but finds that as adults, they share little more than teenage memories; Ruth gets relief from George's daughter Maggie; Brenda is reluctant to accept Margaret's help and struggles in her new internship; David and Keith's latest baby dream starts to resemble a nightmare; Claire bemoans being pigeonholed by her art; Billy defends his career but secretly wonders what happened to his old self; and Rico, mortified that he couldn't take a dating hint, seeks sympathy from Vanessa.

56.   Eat a Peach

First Aired:  July 4, 2005
Writer: Rick Cleveland
Director:  Daniel Minahan
Guest star:

Keith and David attend an adoption picnic, where David makes a connection with a skinny, African-American kid named Anthony. Mary, the woman hired as a surrogate mother, calls with news that she was successfully inseminated. David and Keith are elated but their plans soon change when Mary reveals that she was mistaken. Keith and David decide to foster parent Anthony and his older brother - named Durrell - instead.  Nate and Brenda argue about how much information they should tell Maya about her biological mother, Lisa. Nate wants to spare Maya the painful truth but Brenda wants the little girl to have a "coherent narrative." They decide the best strategy is to tell Maya what happened, but leave out the more sordid details of the story - including Lisa's relationship with Hoyt and the mystery surrounding her death.  Ruth confides in her friends from the knitting group that she has lost patience with George and can no longer stand the sound of his voice. Over dinner, Ruth's friends convince her that she's not responsible for taking care of a sick person for the rest of her life. They encourage Ruth to set George up with an apartment and a new job and then let him go. Inspired by the idea, Ruth suggests to George that they move out of the house and "make a fresh start."  Federico is irate when he learns that Julio bullied another boy at school. He meets with the school principal and cites his recent separation from Vanessa as an explanation for Julio's bad behavior. Vanessa is furious when the principal pulls her aside the next day and knows details about her personal life - including her problems with depression and her recent relationship with Kenny Sims.  Billy is desperate for closure with Claire. He assures Claire that he's back on his medications, but she still doesn't want to get back together. When Margaret and Billy gang up on Claire at a restaurant and insist that she reconsider, she feels ambushed and slips out the back without saying goodbye.

58.  The Silence

First Aired:  July 4, 2005
Writer:  Bruce Eric Kaplan
Director:  Joshua Marston
Guest star:

While Keith is working long hours with Roger, David is overwhelmed with parenting responsibilities. Durrell is embarrassed about an upcoming school play and refuses to let Keith and David attend. Despite the boy's wishes, David and Keith go and David relives the glory days when he performed in school musicals.  Claire meets a lawyer at work named Ted, who takes interest in her art. She joins her office friends for drinks after work, hoping to see him again. At the bar, Claire and Ted talk briefly, but she reveals very little about herself. Later, at the office, Claire opens up to Ted a bit more and admits that she's creatively blocked.  Federico is frustrated by the lack of passion in his marriage. Despite his best efforts to be amorous, Vanessa is mostly uninterested in sex. When she finally does agree sleep with him, she's eager to get it over with.  Now that she's no longer taking care of George, Ruth tries to fill her life with other diversions. At a friend's party, she feels hopelessly out of place and can't find anyone her age to talk to. When George asks for a quickie divorce and admits he's fallen in love again, Ruth is in shock. His imminent marriage plans prompt Ruth to warn George's fiancee about his mental illness.  Blood test results have Brenda and Nate concerned about their unborn child. After speaking with Maggie about the emotional strain of caring for a child with special needs, Nate worries they can't handle the responsibility. Brenda's doctor recommends an amniocentesis to test for problems and Nate insists that she take the test. Brenda refuses, though, convinced that Nate's real problem is an inability to be present for their marriage. She decides to go forward with the pregnancy despite possible complications.

61.  All Alone

First Aired:  July 4, 2005
Writer:  Kate Robin
Director:  Adam Davidson
Guest star:

In the hours following Nate's death from a brain hemorrhage, David copes with his pain by planning his brother's funeral. He explains to Brenda and Ruth that Nate wanted a green funeral with no embalming or casket, just burial in a plot of land that's protected by a nature preserve.  Keith prepares Anthony and Durrell for Nate's memorial service but is interrupted by a frantic phone call from Roger. A tweaked-out actor named Trevor is trashing Roger's house and Keith needs to get Trevor out of town immediately. At the airport, Trevor reveals that he's seen footage of Keith and Roger having sex; the tryst between the two men was videotaped without Keith's knowledge. Furious at being betrayed, Keith calls Roger and quits his job.  With Ruth too bereft to take care of herself, Bettina comes to the house to help. When Ruth learns that there will be no preservation or viewing of Nate's body, she becomes even more distraught. She takes the last opportunity to see her son's body by helping David in the prep room as he washes the blood off Nate's scalp.  Maggie comes by Brenda's house with some food and Brenda accuses her of being responsible for Nate's death, asking, "What is this? Some Quaker thing? You f#$@ someone's husband to death and then bring them a quiche?" Brenda also struggles with how to tell Maya about Nate's death. Her mother Margaret is - unsurprisingly - of little comfort. Brenda soon succumbs to her grief and overwhelming anger with her dead husband. She drops Maya off at the funeral home, asking Ruth to baby-sit for a while.  Desperate to escape her misery, Claire asks Ted to take her for a drive and they hit the road with no particular destination in mind. Although she's only known him a short time, Claire feels comfortable crying in front of Ted and wonders aloud why she's only able to recall painful memories of her brother. When she's ready, Ted takes her back home and she arrives just in time for Nate's memorial service to begin.  At the memorial service, David is haunted by images of Jake, the hitchhiker who attacked him. While eulogizing his brother, he suffers a panic attack and has to leave the Slumber Room at once. Federico speaks lovingly of his friend and business partner, and then George surprises everyone with his wisdom and comforting words. Afterwards, Ruth invites George to join the family at Nate's burial in a wooded nature preserve.  At the burial, David suffers another panic attack and seeks shelter in his car. Without his help, Federico, George, and Keith struggle to carry Nate's body out of the hearse. After Ruth helps David overcome his fears, he joins the family by Nate's open grave and Aunt Sarah reads aloud a poem from the Mystic Odes of Rumi.

First Aired:  July 4, 2005
Writer:  Alan Ball
Director:  Alan Ball
Guest star:

Brenda gives birth to a premature baby girl named Willa who's immediately whisked off to neonatal intensive care, where she must rely on a ventilator, incubator, and feeding tube to survive. With Margaret out of town, Ruth is the only one by Brenda's side at the hospital. She's grateful for Ruth's support, but still haunted by cruel fantasies about Nate, in which he tells her that Willa will never survive.  Margaret collects Maya and brings her home to live with Brenda, sending Ruth spiraling into a deep depression. With her granddaughter gone, Ruth is finally hit with the full force of grieving Nate's death. George tries to comfort her but Ruth is too upset to appreciate his efforts. She's given a small amount of relief when she telephones Maggie and learns that Nate and Maggie were happy the last night he was alive.  When Ted encourages Claire to try photography again, she takes some intimate but tasteful pictures of him in bed. Later, she gets a surprise call from a stock photo production house in New York City and learns that Olivier recommended her as a photographer's assistant. Claire offers to stay in Los Angeles and help Ruth cope with her depression but Ruth insists that Claire move to New York. She unfreezes her daughter's trust fund, saying, "Take it and find whatever life has in store for you." As she's packing up for her cross-country drive, Claire learns that the stock photo company consolidated its operations and her job no longer exists. She considers calling off the trip but realizes that Nate would want her to start a new life in New York anyway.  Federico has the funeral home appraised and learns that it's worth $2 million. He tries to convince David to sell Fisher & Diaz, but David refuses. Instead, David and Keith pool their savings and buy Federico out of his 25% ownership of the business. Federico and Vanessa excitedly plan their future. They find a small funeral home for sale, where Federico can finally realize his dream of running his own funeral home.  At Keith's urging, David agrees to leave home until he can get his anxiety attacks under control. He seeks refuge at the funeral home with his mother and has a nightmare in which Nathaniel unleashes the menacing figure in the hooded sweatshirt. David is under attack, and forced to fight back with primal fury. Just when he's about to kill the hooded figure, David realizes that all along the hooded figure has been his other self. He wakes up, grateful to be alive. Later, David and Keith redecorate the funeral home and move in with the boys. At a goodbye dinner for Claire, David recalls a favorite story about his brother and everyone toasts Nate's memory.