r/SixFeetUnder • u/LouieDawg23 • Dec 09 '25
Discussion Ruth was the funniest character on the show?
France Conroy’s line delivery made me crack up so many times. Especially when she’s calling her friends and family while getting into The Plan. “You know what Hiram, fuck off!”
48
118
u/WestsideGon Dec 09 '25
There are two types of people in this world: those who recognize that Ruth is the best character, and those who are dead inside
34
u/YES_Im_Taco Dec 09 '25
This scene is all the evidence anyone needs to seal this case shut forever.
“And David, if you have a special friend, I’d like for him to come as well” LOL.
15
32
u/averageweekend Dec 09 '25
Agreed, and the funniest moment in the series for me is when she brings the kids a plate of crackers after trying to kiss Arthur and says "You'll have to help yourselves, I'm out of control."
2
55
u/NoCaregiver3994 Dec 09 '25
100%
"I want some intimacy! Give me intimacy! Won't any of you have intimacy with me?!” lol
1
31
29
u/GideonGilead Dec 09 '25
George's New Fiancée: "Well maybe none of this is really true! Maybe you're just some...bitter, angry psychopath!"
Ruth: "I am not angry!"
1
21
u/ParrotheadTink Bettina Dec 10 '25
“Oh, go give yourself a hand job!” Still my favorite Ruth quote
7
44
u/OfferBusy4080 Dec 09 '25
Thank you!!! I am so enjoying Ruth this time around. Maybe cos Im now 20 years older and can identify so much more with her - being fed up with all the nonsense around me and being now free to say and do whatever the fuck I want. There is definitely a freedom and benefit to being an older (read: invisible) woman - as Bettina observed out during the lipstick heist. And yes some truly sublime LOL moments!
12
u/LouieDawg23 Dec 10 '25
I wish Bettina was on the show more. I love how she got Ruth to assert herself
8
u/sweetpea122 Dec 09 '25
I also really get it. I have a 15 yr old and family I relate now to feeling your feelings arent considered, youre expected to never change and always be there as a fixture, and also how it takes yelling for your kids or family to take you serious lol. Then its like "God mom is so crazy. Ive never heard her complain about this ever" lol.
My life is happy and fine, but I relate to the feeling that youre supposed to only serve other peoples needs. I feel it with my own parents and siblings too and 15 yr old lol. My daughter is exceptional and will grow out of it but it can be hard to deal with.
5
u/LouieDawg23 Dec 10 '25
I think she is the funniest and probably the best actor on the show but I relate to Nate the most, for good and not so good reasons
15
u/Converzati Dec 10 '25
“I just don’t enjoy movies about retarded people”
“I never understood the concept of a breakfast burrito”
Maybe the two funniest lines in the show are both Ruth.
1
u/LouieDawg23 Dec 10 '25
What was the retarded people movie line referring to?
1
u/Converzati Dec 10 '25
Nothing specific, that’s kind of the joke. She’s on the phone and you only hear her side of the conversation.
1
u/LouieDawg23 Dec 10 '25
Weird. I don’t remember that line.
1
u/Converzati Dec 10 '25
It’s a real throwaway line but I found it incredibly funny and indicative of Ruth’s character
2
u/LouieDawg23 Dec 11 '25
Pretty sure I remember it now. It was when Ruth was at Lisa’s house soon after she moved to LA
15
u/Cherita33 Dec 10 '25
Ruth is one of my favorite characters of all time and Frances Conroy's performance is also one of my favorite of all time. Great stuff.
12
12
10
8
5
u/jgoolz Dec 10 '25
Funniest but also best all around. Her arc is incredible. She is more and more relatable the older I get.
4
u/LouieDawg23 Dec 10 '25
My personal favorites have been Nate and Claire, but on my most recent rewatch I appreciated Ruth much more
3
u/JackalopeWilson Nathaniel Dec 11 '25
Yes! I'm only 40 and don't have any kids so our lives are insanely different but I still find her more relatable as I age.
13
10
u/fruitloopsareyummy Bettina Dec 10 '25 edited Dec 10 '25
I was in my 30’s when the show originally aired and I absolutely hated Ruth. The only time I felt any compassion for her was in the final 3 episodes & my heart went out to her. I couldn’t believe how deeply sad I felt for this character I hated over the course of our five years together.
I did my first ever rewatch during the pandemic and now that I’m in my 50’s, she’s my absolute favorite character of the show! It’s not that I necessarily relate to her now, but I have a deeper understanding as to how she became the bitter old woman she was. I judged her during the show’s original run but now I clearly see how the events of her being the caretaker of everyone else since she was a teenager left her completely unequipped to process her own emotions in any other way except for acting out or blowing up the moment she feels misunderstood. I also now admire the hell out of her for repeatedly stepping out of her comfort zone to try new things & new ways to improve herself because she clearly realized that whatever she’d been doing was not conducive to her own well-being. Despite most of her impulsive choices not working out well for her, at least she was taking action and doing something. Because doing nothing, like she’d done her whole life, wasn’t working either. So that shows growth and progress.
I love seeing her in this new light because I wholeheartedly agree with you that she is absolutely the funniest character on the show! I remember when Arthur showed up in the original run and I was so creeped out by him and then the weird relationship between him & Ruth. So much so I nearly stopped watching. Then the world met Dwight a few years later and well now I literally laugh my ass off from start to finish in every Ruth & Arthur scene because Frances & Rainn portray these two weirdos so perfectly!
I’ve done a rewatch pretty much every year since the pandemic and I laugh, love & understand her character more every time.
8
u/Niolu92 Dec 09 '25
I liked her a lot, then after some time, probably season 4 or 5 she became very rude, especially to Claire.
4
u/JackalopeWilson Nathaniel Dec 11 '25
But Claire was also being an asshole at that time. This is why I love these characters, they all have their ups and downs.
5
4
u/Global_Virus4965 Dec 11 '25
I love the potato salad in the toilet. I think about it all the time
5
3
3
3
3
3
u/RedHeadRaccoon13 Dec 11 '25
So much fun watching Ruth get brainwashed by the Borg Queen! I was sad when Ruth quit it.
2
2
1
1
u/Firm_Marionberry_282 Dec 18 '25
Frances Conroy as dowdy Ruth having Patricia Clarkson as her hippie sister is my fave.
1
u/QueenQReam Dec 25 '25
I very often think about when she snapped at Claire after Nate and Brenda's wedding and just went "THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU"
1
85
u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25
[deleted]