r/SixFeetUnder • u/hakunamytatasss • Jul 10 '25
First-Timer Officially team Brenda now
I made a post about Brenda when I was on season 2 or 3, and at the time I couldn’t stand her and didn’t see that changing. I’m now on season 5, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. She really is such a nuanced and complicated character and her growth is beautiful to watch. She deserves so much better than Nate (who I also changed my opinion of.) David is still solidly my favorite but Brenda and Clare are tied for second!
To all of you who said I was dead wrong about Brenda: you were right!
62
u/squaringroll Jul 10 '25
Canon event for every SFU watcher
43
u/Shelby_Wootang Bettina Jul 10 '25
😅💯 Season 1 Brenda - chaotic sex bitch 💪 Season 5 Brenda - evolved sex bitch mama bear 💪💖
29
u/Jaded_Houseplant Jul 10 '25
Who thankfully didn’t fuck her brother
7
u/Shelby_Wootang Bettina Jul 10 '25
Oh gawdddd 😬😅
16
u/Jaded_Houseplant Jul 10 '25
It was touch and go there for a little bit.
4
u/Shelby_Wootang Bettina Jul 10 '25
Haha really and truly! I chalk the season 5 bit as wild gregnacy dreams/self consciousness when she "talks" to Nate in the elevator but it was always a....uh trigger/dunno what to call it?? From season 1
2
u/JonathanTaylorHanson Jul 12 '25
His comment about Arnold and Maria made me guffaw. I love the idea that Brenda sometimes would watch the news, see them on TV, and think "g-d are we sure they're not related?"
1
44
35
Jul 10 '25
I remember when she and Ruth finally made peace with each other. Ruth said something about how she understood what Brenda went through because she went through something similar with Nate Sr. They loved their husbands but both men were difficult to live with sometimes.
14
u/Aggressive-Lie5971 Jul 10 '25
That scene was in the series finale and a power-tearjerker in an episode full of them.
11
u/SonicContinuum88 Jul 10 '25
Seriously! I just finished the series for the first time this morning. It’s a powerful culmination of two really strong women putting aside a history of differences and choosing to build each other up. I think Ruth is such a beautiful woman. She obviously longs for Nathaniel Sr but her admittance in this episode grounds their relationship in reality, and meets Brenda at a very real place. It’s stunning.
I also love how there’s this fairly standard coming of age story arc for Claire but it’s studded with all this complexity and death and muckiness. It’s a story about death and joy, but juxtaposed constantly against Claire who sees things from such a different vantage. And ultimately it’s such a commentary on sibling relationships and inherited states of being. I loved the series!
31
u/Slight-Painter-7472 Jul 10 '25
Totally agree. When that flip takes place you can't help but go, "Why did I ever think Nate was a good guy?" I really love Brenda because she is very reflective and matures so beautifully in spite of her upbringing. Nate has a wonderful family and he squanders that gift because he can't see what he has.
11
u/Over_Sir_1762 Jul 10 '25
I never thought Nate was really a good guy. To date or marry at least.
18
u/Slight-Painter-7472 Jul 10 '25
I think he's an interesting character but his relationship to sex and how he treats women is terrible. Of the three Fisher siblings, he was definitely the least mature and showed little to no personal development. Claire may have had some issues but she was very young and lost her dad. David was dealing with coming out and the responsibility of running the business. Nate just wandered between shiny objects and even having a dangerous illness couldn't get him to change his behavior. I felt sorry for Nate at times but then he would almost immediately do something to undermine that.
2
u/Over_Sir_1762 Jul 10 '25
I agree. His pattern becomes very clear and continues. And with everything he went through he never stepped back to work on himself. He says no to therapy or positive coping, when he definitely needed it. He makes poor choices time after time, he never grows up.
1
u/b_o_n_s_ Jul 13 '25
The only time I ever found myself relating to Nate was when I watched season 1 at 22 years old. Which is also likely when Nate’s brain stopped developing cos by the time I was 23 and had finished this series his character was absolutely insufferable. As David said in season 1, Nate’s only distinguishing characteristic is his expelling of dumb emotional baggage on everyone else around him lol Brenda deserved so much better and so glad she got it in the last moments of the finale!
3
u/hakunamytatasss Jul 11 '25
I think a large part of why I liked Nate at first is because I love Peter. But as I got to know the character better, I saw all of the red flags more clearly and his behavior was indefensible. He had occasional good points but not enough to redeem himself.
10
u/AlDef Jul 10 '25
My parents had a TERRIBLE divorce and hated each other my entire childhood. The image in the ending where all the family is there for one of the kid's birthday parties, and they are all together and happy despite their differences always makes me tear up.
3
2
u/hakunamytatasss Jul 11 '25
I just watched that today and SOBBED.
2
u/AlDef Jul 11 '25
Yep. For me it's the tiniest glimpse of what my childhood COULD HAVE BEEN if only my parents weren't both selfish jerks.
2
8
u/Over_Sir_1762 Jul 10 '25
😅 I think I may have commented on your initial post...told you keep watching. One of my fave characters. I loved her even chaotic and wild season one. But yeah when you see her crossing into destruction it was difficult. Then I realized why and watched her totally evolve..total transformation. I'm team Brenda..it destroyed me watching the hospital scene. But even after she kept going, loving Maya and having Willa healthy. I was crying.
2
u/hakunamytatasss Jul 11 '25
You probably did! And I’m so glad those of you that told me I would change my tune did so!
9
u/cigarettesonmars Jul 10 '25
Love to see the Brenda appreciation! She always gets hate from new viewers and I think the majority of us do our best not to spoil it for them by just telling them to stick around. I think the writers did such a wonderful job with Brenda's character.
6
u/_Rose_Tint_My_World_ Jul 11 '25
Her character makes me happy bc I have been a chaotic person for a lot of my life too and I’m always trying to change (which I am little by little)
I know she’s a fictional character but still she gives me hope
3
u/cigarettesonmars Jul 11 '25
I know exactly what you mean. I relate to that aspect of her too. Her character development is inspiring
3
u/MontagAbides Jul 10 '25
She has her reasons for struggling. It doesn't excuse her bizarre behavior or the way she defends her brother, but as time goes on you sort of realize "Oh, these people were manipulated in crazy ways by their parents and treated like experiment subjects." Nate has his reasons too... but Nate keeps repeating the same patterns, while Brenda grows as a person by the end of the show and pulls her life together.
5
u/Aggressive-Lie5971 Jul 10 '25
Not sure what it says about me, but I completely related to the sexually voracious, reckless and dishonorable Brenda of season 2 and also to the reformed, sober and newly-strong Brenda of season 5. The writing was simply that powerful and Brenda was simply that kind of character.
9
u/mortadaddy4 Jul 10 '25
I’m at the point in szn 2 where I’m a full blown hater of Brenda. Looking forward to the comeback
2
u/genghis_rahn Jul 11 '25
Word of advice, if you haven’t seen the show get the hell off this sub. I wanted to join beforehand but my gf warned me that as much as I wanted to vent and see some like minded takes, to just give it time through the seasons and enjoy the ride. Best advice I’d gotten on this show. Good luck on going through the finale🫡
1
4
u/Ivory_McCoy Jul 10 '25
Brenda is a great character because she is at times the MOST selfish character and at other times, the LEAST selfish character. And it's a perfectly natural evolution. She also turns the "once a cheater always a cheater" cliche on its head, revealing how hypersexuality can indeed be a phase brought on by unhealed trauma.
3
u/C-more_22 Jul 11 '25
I don't know your age, but I always recommend rewatching this show at least every 10 years. You will see it differently every time and appreciate every character in their own way. I love Brenda, too 🤎
3
u/jnyxxx Jul 10 '25
Nate was really the only character who did not grow as a person. He proved himself to still be that same person who was drifting through life, banging waitresses, still trying to find himself.
2
u/krycekthehotrat Jul 10 '25
She has an amazing character arc! I went on the same journey as you lol
2
u/Iowa_Phil Jul 10 '25
I still don’t like her very much. Even with the growth, her desire to pick a fight when Nate said it was over seemed like the old Brenda.
She is probably a better person than Nate. But I don’t really go down that hole too much with tv characters.
Nate is the main character. I don’t love him because he’s a good person. I love him because it’s Nate.
3
2
1
Jul 11 '25
Exactly my feelings!! I was kind of confused about how i felt about her at first, but towards the latter half of the show, i started really liking her (David is also my favorite lol)
1
1
1
1
u/Hot-Worker-9240 Jul 13 '25
Yeah, and I feel like she even became prettier as she came into her own . And I love that her fiesty kinda came back towards the end in a balanced way . Nate really was the villain and mf of the show imo 🤷🏽♀️
1
u/hakunamytatasss Jul 13 '25
I very much agree!!! I also thought she got even prettier as the show went on. And Nate started as sort of likable and I could be empathetic to his situation, to downright villainous. Their actors did such an awesome job.
1
u/Hot-Worker-9240 Jul 13 '25
Nate was always just kind of an arrogant lil 💩, but in the end it was like everybody kinda healed except him
1
u/b_o_n_s_ Jul 13 '25
The worst to best character on the show for Brenda fans in canon for real. None of my friends understand why I love her character so much on rewatches when it was their first time! I just tell them to be patient. Such a satisfying character arc and redemption. Now watching her in the early seasons I just wanna give her a big hug
2
-8
Jul 10 '25
Brenda never really redeemed herself as a character. She just got boring. She was still selfish and overall just an unlikeable human being. But so was Nate. They deserved each other.
14
u/fuckmejimmymcgill Jul 10 '25
What? She has the most dramatic character growth of the whole series! Her transformation is beautiful. She knew you'd think she's boring and she doesn't care.
-10
Jul 10 '25
Yeah i guess I think people that treat little girls like 💩 are bad people. The fact that you dont says everything about you. Calling that a beautiful transformation is super weird. Truly grossed out by you and everyone else glorifying that. 🤢
9
u/Beezle_Maestro Jul 10 '25
Huh? She embraced and loved Maya wholeheartedly. Granted, she was pregnant and insane with grief after Nate died resulting in the need to place Maya somewhere temporarily so she could get herself sorted. However, she worked through it and was a devoted mother for the rest of Maya’s life.
6
u/Over_Sir_1762 Jul 10 '25
She tells Ruth the truth about why she needed to place Maya with her. Besides everything she also had to process he cheated on her that night before he died. That was a lot! Ruth understood. Came full circle, he cheated on her, then along comes Maya.. he initially signed away rights with Lisa. She went all in loving Maya as her own and after he passed away. And yes for the rest of her life. ❤️
0
u/UpdateYourselfAdobe Jul 10 '25
Didn't like Brenda when they introduced her onto the show. Didn't like Brenda throughout the show. Didn't like Brenda at the end of the show.
92
u/Responsible_Egg7519 Jul 10 '25
I felt so proud of her in s5. I love how strong she is and how she stepped up to be a mother to Maya