Season 3 of Six Feet Under is a real universe-expander: The outstanding additional cast members add bonus depth, humor, and love-interest energy to the series. But first things first: Nate (Peter Krause) survives. Well –– at first, he dies in the opening sequence, but he comes out of surgery alive, and seven months later (yes, there’s a slight time jump), nothing scary is even showing up on his MRI. Which is not to say Nate has an easy go of things this season. He’s now married to Lisa (Lili Taylor), baby Maya’s mother, but it’s clear from the very beginning that it’s a different kind of commitment than he had to Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) — less passion, more pragmatism. Besides, Brenda is AWOL until Episode 5 when she shows up at Nate’s home and says, “I need to talk to you.” 

Not helping matters is the fact that Lisa’s boss Carol Ward (Catherine O’Hara, in a wig Moira Rose would appreciate) can’t stand Nate or the fact that he repeatedly parks his car in her driveway. David (Michael C. Hall) and Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) hit some rocky times, especially when Keith’s family is involved, and break up by season’s end. Meanwhile, Claire (Lauren Ambrose) meets fellow art student Russell (Ben Foster), who she thought was gay but he insists he’s not. (File that conversation under “foreshadowing.”) Ruth (Frances Conroy) falls for the new live-in mortuary apprentice Arthur (Rainn Wilson, in a performance that makes Dwight Schrute seem super well-adjusted) until she meets George (James Cromwell) at a funeral. That is, after she spends some good bonding time with Bettina (Kathy Bates), as they team up to help Ruth’s sister Sarah (Patricia Clarkson) detox. Brenda moves into an apartment complex that has one thing going for it: her French horn–playing neighbor, Joe (Justin Theroux). Rico’s (Freddy Rodriguez) wife, Vanessa (Justina Machado), alternates between depression and pill abuse, which is the second most trying thing to their marriage after the fact that Vanessa’s sister, Angelica (Melissa Marsala), moves in. 

At least the funeral home is now called Fisher & Diaz. And then there are all the deaths: a rattlesnake; Billy (Jeremy Sisto) and Brenda’s dad, Dr. Bernard Chenoweth (Robert Foxworth); and, the gut punch of the season, Lisa. 

Wait, what happens to Lisa?!

You read that right. After a tumultuous season between Nate and Lisa, it seemed they had found a place of contentment by the end of Episode 9. But before that, things didn’t look promising. It was obvious to everyone, especially Lisa, that Nate didn’t love her the way she wanted to be loved, though he did adore their child. In one conversation with Nate, his deceased dad Nathaniel (Richard Jenkins) admits he married Ruth because she was pregnant, saying, “You married a woman you knocked up because you thought it was the right thing to do!” To which Nate responds, “I’m not you!” But hot camping sex notwithstanding, Nate can’t find the feelings for Lisa he wishes he could, especially when he sees Brenda and they kiss. 

An increasingly rattled Lisa uses a pseudonym to get a massage from Brenda, only to run into her later at Claire’s art show and tearfully fess up in the women’s room. (“That’s weird and dishonest and stalkerish,” Brenda responds.) In Episode 10, Lisa sets off on a solo trip, first heading up to her sister’s, but she never arrives. As it becomes increasingly clear that she won’t be coming back, the family steps up and a depressed Nate nearly gets himself killed. In the finale, the police alert Nate that Lisa’s remains have been found.

A mother-daughter reunion

Of all the family dynamics, perhaps the most tender this season is between Claire and Ruth. What started as distant and dismissive in Season 1 has moved into a different place. In a sweet moment of bringing her mother into her life in Episode 4, Claire asks Ruth to join her at a museum. And though the family is hanging on by a thread with Lisa missing, and Nate and David less than supportive of Ruth and George’s engagement, Claire steps up and gifts her mom antique blue earrings to wear to the wedding. (Things aren’t great enough that Claire can ask Ruth to take her for an abortion, though; that request goes to Brenda.)

Just call David the Music Man

David joins the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, which gives Michael C. Hall a chance to show off his vocal chops and David a chance to show off his flirtation notes. But that’s not the only meaningful music this season. Episode 3 is particularly musical, as David and Keith’s relationship goes hot and cold, fluctuating between Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” and Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” Bonus points for a beautiful rendition of “Nessun dorma” in Episode 4 after an opera lighting designer dies.

Arts and craftiness

Who plays Claire and Russell’s art teacher, Olivier Castro-Staal? That would be Peter Macdissi, who also happens to be series creator Alan Ball’s partner. (They teamed up to executive produce Banshee together in 2013.) Olivier is both infuriating and inspiring. He believes in Claire’s talent and tells her in Episode 4, “Promise me you’ll do great things in your life; nothing else.” Then again, he also sleeps with Margaret Chenowith (Joanna Cassidy) after an art show featuring Claire, Russell, and Billy’s work. We find out Olivier slept with Billy when Billy was his assistant, not long before Russell admits that he also slept with their teacher. Claire dumps Russell soon after. (Don’t miss Sex and the City/And Just Like That’s Evan Handler as Olivier’s small-spectacled and pretentious artist buddy.)

How does Six Feet Under Season 3 end?

At the end of Season 2, Nate had surgery to save his life, but at the end of Season 3, he does everything to end it. After a series of bad decisions ––  including sleeping with a funeral client (her father was a serial killer and died by lethal injection) and blowing up in Ruth’s face –– he heads to the bar when he finds out Lisa is officially dead. He drunkenly picks a fight with a big guy, begs him to deliver a fatal punch, and while weeping “I don’t want to die,” erratically drives his bloodied self to the one person who makes him feel life: Brenda. 

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