The series is set in Los Angeles, and depicts the lives of the Fisher family, who run a funeral home, along with their friends and lovers.
Nate (Peter Krause) and Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) attend a marriage counseling session by Rabbi Ari (Molly Parker), hoping to put aside their problems.
David (Michael C. Hall) and Nate are informed that Catherine Collins (Harriet Sansom Harris), one of their previous clients, is planning to sue them for emotional damage after seeing her husband's body.
[a] To complicate matters, they find that Kroehner is backing her up, with Mitzi (Julie White) once again making an offer to buy Fisher & Sons.
After witnessing Nikolai (Ed O'Ross) threatened by another Russian loan shark, Ruth (Frances Conroy) finally decides to intervene.
"[4] Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a "C+" grade, and wrote, "It's good to see the Nate-and-Brenda plot progress, but the pair of weak subplots (Keith stands up to his dad!
Brenda's visions of herself as a girl at her parents' sex party is quite haunting, and the removal of a certain foreign object from the deceased woman's mouth is gruesome and disturbing.
Still, points for an incredibly disgusting way to kill a character as the elderly person dies from choking on a sausage and I will refrain from the amount of smutty jokes that I am tempted to make as a result.
[9] In 2016, Ross Bonaime of Paste ranked it 33rd out of all 63 Six Feet Under episodes and wrote, "In “The Liar and the Whore,” we really get to see how our characters find emotional support in others.
It all works to highlight the fact that, perhaps the reason Brenda can't find what she needs, is because her support is more fleeting, and her distrust of others makes it difficult for her to be comforted.