Driving Mr. Mossback

In its original American broadcast, "Driving Mr. Mossback" was seen by an estimated 4.43 million household viewers with a household rating of 2.7. This means that it was seen by 2.7% of the nation's estimated households, and was watched by 2.89 million households.^[2] This was a 23% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 5.68 million household viewers with a household rating of 3.5.^[3]

"Driving Mr. Mossback" received positive reviews from critics. John Teti of The A.V. Club wrote, "You don't press David like this. He's an undertaker; he knows where the emotional bodies are buried, so to speak. And when he's pushed like he is here, that David Fisher snarl appears, and he unearths the pain, exposing it to the open air. He says: “Mom, I'm happy for you if this Plan thing has helped you draft your own blueprint, patch up some of the cracks in the foundation, but just between you and me, you're starting to sound like a crazy person. I think it's time you kept that shit to yourself and minded your own fucking business.” In other words: You're a fraud, and everybody knows it. Ruth looks completely drained, so much so that even though David was right to be angry, it's hard not to have sympathy for her. Man, there are some killer monologues in this episode."^[4]

Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a "B+" grade, and wrote, "A case study in the fine art of scene-stealing, this episode is a showcase for Taylor and Joanna Cassidy, both of whom create enjoyably annoying characters who stop just short of parody."^[5] Mark Zimmer of Digitally Obsessed gave the episode a 3 out of 5 rating, writing "It does have its funny moments, mostly in the character of Lisa, and Taylor's interactions with David, but the humor of the previous episodes is attenuated. Director Michael Cuesta livens things up visually, with off-kilter angles and non-obvious framing, and this episode is more visually interesting than the first three."^[6]

TV Tome gave the episode a 7 out of 10 rating and wrote "A solid episode from supervising producer Rick Cleveland, though not a superb one. On the plus side there's a cool song playing through the episode's closing credits and the producers have finally decided to add Prevoiusly On and, weirdly enough Next On credits to the show. About time."^[7] Billie Doux of Doux Reviews gave the episode a 3 out of 4 stars and wrote "The standard good SFU episode."^[8] Television Without Pity gave the episode a "B" grade.^[9]

In 2016, Ross Bonaime of Paste ranked it 12th out of all 63 Six Feet Under episodes and wrote, "In the first great episode of Season Two, “Driving Mr. Mossback” reminds us of just how excellent Six Feet Under can be, especially in its more shocking moments. Nate returns to his old home of Seattle, bringing Claire along. While there, we meet his old co-op friend/occasional sex buddy Lisa — who will end up playing a huge role in the next few seasons — and we see the effects of AVM on Nate for the first time. Brenda fantasizes about a man she met at a bar, and Nate may or may not have cheated on her with Lisa while in Seattle. In spite of all that we don't see in “Driving Mr. Mossback,” it's clear that the gap between them is growing and that neither of them is getting what they want out of this relationship anymore. At least for the time being."^[10]

• "Driving Mr. Mossback" at HBO
• "Driving Mr. Mossback" at IMDb