Six Feet Under: Maggie

I'm going to do a couple of posts about some specific elements of Six Feet Under that I find interesting, and this one is about the character of Maggie. Maggie is someone who's full of contradictions and mystery, and even after spending a season with her, we have a better idea of what Nate sees her as than who she really is. So, what does our limited time with her tell us about Maggie and who she is?

The primary trauma in Maggie's life was George abandoning her and Brian when they were children. Clearly, they were close, as evidenced by their song in 'Untitled,' but in 'Static,' we get an idea of what has really lingered from her childhood. Maggie was abandoned by George and that scarred her deeper than she'd like to admit.

Maggie turned out ok though, got married and had a son. Here is where her life once again goes bad, her son died and she is once again deeply scarred. This is the kind of traumatic event that can destroy a life and what it seems to lead to is Maggie distancing herself from her emotions and immersing herself in a job that keeps her travelling all over. With no real home, she's never forced to reflect on her life, instead she runs from her problems, and has an essentially meaningless relationship with a doctor in Phoenix that dissolves by the time she makes it to L.A.

The start of season five sees George getting worse and Maggie drawn to a permanent residence for the first time in a while. George's mental illness has pushed Ruth to the edge and that means that Maggie has to stay in L.A. to ensure that George is ok. It's what she has to do and once again responsibility is forced on her. She's forced to care for the man who abandoned her, all the while keeping up a happy exterior to keep her dad feeling okay. He's so proud of her, she feels unwilling to let him see her flaws.



As the season continues, Maggie is drawn closer and closer to Nate. In Nate she sees a kindred spirit, someone who has also suffered misfortune at every turn. With Nate at a crisis point in his life, getting drawn more and more into a life he doesn't really want, he sees an out in Maggie, someone who shares his desire to move past the problems of the past and find some peace.

What is it that drawns Maggie to this damaged soul? It's primarily her loneliness in L.A. She knows no one there, except for George, and that means she's very alone. You can see this in the extremely sad scene in 'The Rainbow of Her Reasons,' where Maggie is sitting in her car alone, calling Nate because he's the only person she can relate to. The two of them are drawn closer together and though she knows it's a dangerous path, her loneliness draws her closer and closer to Nate.

To Nate, Maggie peace, someone who has life figured out. She can counsel him on the prospect of having a disabled child, though he alters his advice when he conveys it to Brenda. Part of the attraction for Nate is that Maggie has no other responsibilities, she can be solely devoted to him, demanding nothing but companionship. This is a stark contrast to Brenda, who is increasingly demanding of Nate.

So, her loneliness draws them to the fateful night where her car breaks down and Nate agress to give her a ride to the service. I wouldn't be shocked if the car breakdown was just an excuse to draw Nate closer to her. I think Maggie felt guilty about what she was doing, but also wanted more from Nate. He's the only person she has. When he kisses her, she initially resists it, but quickly that resistance fades and she sleeps with him. She doesn't really know Brenda, she has almost always seen Nate without her and without Maya. That's part of what allows Maggie to go through with what she does.

And when Nate collapses, she winds up at the hospital and is forced to acknowledge what she's done to everyone, most notably Brenda. There's the brilliant exchange where Maggie says they were talking and Brenda replies "About what, his daughter and pregnant wife?" Maggie, who has always presented herself as a moral person, it is her strong morality that draws Nate to her, is now forced to sit there, the guilt of the adultry mixing with guilt about apparently killing him.

However, while she is sorry, I think she does have strong feelings for Nate. This is one of the few people who can understand what she's been through, and her final scene with Nate, I think she imagines a future with him, the life of peace he's been seeking. They've found each other in the same place, just with the unfortunate fact that Nate is married to Brenda. Maggie never apologizes for what she's done because she knows that it's what Nate wanted at that moment. Would it have worked long term? I don't know, but at that time, Maggie acted on what she wanted.

With Nate dead, Maggie finds herself completely alone, and goes to Brenda seeking some absolution for what she did. She wants Brenda to say that it's ok, and forgive her, but instead receives only harsh words and the promise that Nate didn't really love her. Brenda refuses to grant Maggie clemency and instead brings to light the fact that Maggie has broken up a home, the same thing she could never forgive George for. She has become that which she hated most.



That's why in 'Static' she rails at George. When she criticizes him she is actually criticizing herself for becoming George. And the scene also reveals that the peaceful character we've seen over the season is a facade that has broken down in light of the horrific events. She won't lie to George anymore, smooth over the past, instead she confronts him with the impact of his actions, much like she just had to face the impact of what she had done to Brenda.

When last we see Maggie, she has again moved on, back to the solitary drifter life she lived before the brief stopover in L.A. Her final scene raises the question of whether she is pregnant with Nate's child. She is a pharmacutical rep so there's certainly logical reason for being in a doctor's office, however, the way she's called indicates that she's a patient. It's left ambiguous, but I would say it's quite possible she is pregnant, which would mean that Nate has given her what she lost years before, and another chance at being a mother.

Watching the drama with Maggie unfold was harrowing because it seems that Nate has finally found the perfect person, except that it means betraying his wife. She becomes a sanctuary for Nate, someone who he can share his problems with, and he becomes her only companion. They both make a bad choice, because even if they should be together, that wasn't the way to do it, and seeing the two of them together juxtaposed with Brenda alone in the Quaker church is heartbreaking. These are two people who strive to be good people, yet continually stumble. I really liked Nate and Maggie together, and part of me wanted them to get together, but seeing it actually happened, I hated Nate in that moment, and that's the problem. Maggie wants something she knows she shouldn't have, and the fact that she never steps back and looks at what she's doing is what dooms her.

Would Nate and Maggie have made it? Probably not, as Brenda said, Nate was always looking to the next thing, and Maggie's darker side would eventually well up, destroying the peace. But as Maggie tells Ruth, in that moment, Nate was happy, they both were happy. They were at peace.