08/22/2005
[Spoiler Alert] Six Feet Under Finale
After the jump are some brief thoughts on the Six Feet Under finale. For those of you who don't want to read spoilers, don't click the jump. If you're reading this on a syndication feed, I'm sorry I can't do anything about the lack of a jump. Read no further.
I don't have a lot to say about last night's finale except that it contained some of the most brilliant 75 minutes of television I think I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever sobbed — sobbed! — so much out of both sadness and joy while viewing a program on TV. To see major issues in these characters' lives resolved one after another was satisfying and cathartic.
My one complaint is that the aging make-up in the show's final moments was completely distracting.
But what a risk.
A friend of mine wrote me this morning and asked, "Do you think the coda was 'real' or was it entirely in Claire's mind? As I think about it more, I think the makeup effects make more sense if they are how she's imagining - and accepting - their deaths with her own twisted sense of humor."
An interesting take on it. Please leave your thoughts on the show in the comments.
Also, that gorgeous song in the final scenes was "Breathe Me" by Sia. It's available on iTunes in the Six Feet Under: Everything Ends album.
ADDENDUM:
Many of you have been emailing me asking if I have a screencap of Ted's apartment. Here you go ;-)
Posted 11:31 AM EST by Andy in Film & TV | Permalink
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Dr. Zaius! Is that you? Oh, wait, it's Brenda. Sorry.
I ended up tuning in for the last fifteen minutes purely because I was awake and I was there. I don't regret it, even if I probably flooded a tidal basin with my tears.
Posted by: Justin Cognito | Aug 22, 2005 11:41:00 AM
Andy -- The "Claire's imagination" hypothesis makes sense, given the editing in the final scenes. Regardless, I think the makeup definitely lends support to the notion that these were possible, versus actual, ends to the lives of the characters. While I didn't quite "get" the whole Nate portion of the final episode -- his taunting of Brenda, then his reconciliation with the baby -- the show as a whole was a wonderful conclusion to an amazing series. And the final, dream-like scenes brought an appropriate emotional climax (to me!) that made it all the more satisfying ... James
Posted by: James Nebraska | Aug 22, 2005 11:42:29 AM
I think it was real, not Claire's imagination. Obits can be found here. http://www.hbo.com/sixfeetunder/obituary/episode63.shtml
Not only did the show leave me a heaving, sobbing mess, I had to take half an ambien to get to sleep I was so traumatized. Then I dreamt about it all night (which I knew I would).
Posted by: Jefferson | Aug 22, 2005 11:53:04 AM
sia's whole album is great. she's done a great job as one of the voices of zero 7, and her album has been out for 2 years overseas--don't know if its available here yet, but its worth the import price.
Posted by: jeremy | Aug 22, 2005 11:57:46 AM
I think the sequence was real and not imagined, especially since the Six Feet Under Website has the characters obituaries listed which seem to correspond with last night's sequence.
I don't know if anyone noticed that one of David and Keith's son's, either Durrell or Anthony turn out to be gay. If you look in the beginning of the sequence where Claire gets married you will see the grown version of one of them holding hands with his boyfriend.
Posted by: Octagon | Aug 22, 2005 11:58:46 AM
4 years of magic is over. in my opinion it was the best TV show ever.
Still feeling misty thinking that there will be no more 6' under sundays.
Posted by: Piotr | Aug 22, 2005 11:59:25 AM
I, too, sobbed. I, too, had to take half an Ambien but drempt about it all night anyway. I, too noticed that Anthony (the younger brother--the older brother Durrell was there with a wife and child) grew up to be gay and was holding hands with his lover at Ruth's funeral. And I would like all of us to take a contract out on Virginia Heffernan, the supposed TV critic for the NY Times for her patronizing, idiotic review.
(I don't think the deaths were supposed to be in Claire's mind...I felt that Alan Ball was taking us through to the end of each life).
Posted by: Al | Aug 22, 2005 12:05:20 PM
I thought Nate's taunting of Brenda regarding Willa was a brilliant way to dramatize Brenda's internal conflict and anxiety regarding the baby's health and chances for a normal future.
The future sequence at the end was a masterful piece of television. I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever really felt real closure with the loss of characters from a favorite show.
Posted by: Eric | Aug 22, 2005 12:10:38 PM
One of the show's hallmarks is its use of dream sequences and "ghosts" to illustrate the inner minds of the main characters. nate's taunting of Brenda, for example, isn't Nate at all - it's Brenda's own self-loathing and insecurity speaking.
Despite the obits on the HBO home page, to me the "coda" only makes sense as a projection of what's going through Claire's mind as she opens a new chapter of her life. You can imagine her - now that she accepts death - imaging almost humorous endings for everyone she loves. How else to explain that every woman in the show dies with the same witchy hair that Ruth inexplicably keeps even after she finally ditches those 50's frocks she's clung to for five seasons?
Posted by: alan | Aug 22, 2005 12:17:05 PM
I cried for 20 minutes -- hadn't cried that much in a long time -- held my pug and boyfriend close to me, and thought deeper than I had in two year about life, death, and brevity of our lives. Agreed -- one of the finest pieces of television I have ever seen ...
Posted by: Jeremy B | Aug 22, 2005 12:17:18 PM
I thought it was brilliant as well. So happy to see that Brenda ends up raising both Mya and what appears to be a healthy Willa (not to mention landing a hottie husband seen at Keith and David's ceremony). I would have liked to see Brenda's mother included in the ending sequence for no other reason than her charecter always added levity to the show and because Joanna Cassidy is a fantastic actress.
Posted by: JimG | Aug 22, 2005 12:29:25 PM
Re Nate's taunting Brenda ... Yes, the explanation of this reflecting Brenda's internal conflicts makes sense. Maybe I was confused because Nate--when he was alive--had been hostile to Brenda about the health of the unborn child...unless I'm misremembering. Regardless, it was a terrific finale!
Posted by: James Nebraska | Aug 22, 2005 12:43:36 PM
I agree about Brenda's mother, who delivered one of the funniest lines last night poking fun at the way Ruth dresses.
I'm thinking the montage at the end was meant to be 'real' in the sense that it wasn't all in Claire's head, mostly due to the obits mentioned above on the website. but like all of Ball's fantasy touches, there's a dreamlike quality to imagining their deaths that transcends the merely physical and becomes more of an artistic device to tease out our fears, hopes and expectations. I joked a few weeks ago to some friends that they should kill off all of the characters in the show at the end, and i was kidding at the time, so i was amused to find that they did just that and that it actually worked!
The pre-show retrospective material was a little over-the-top, but no other show deserves to bask in it's own glowing praise more than this one. Truly a landmark in the history of television. Ball teased us, provoked us, and confronted us with the ultimate taboo - death - with a sense of humor and humanity that is almost impossible to find in the mainstream cultural media landscape right now. not to mention creating the most 3-dimensional and inspirational gay couple ever put on film.
bravo. and rest in peace.
Posted by: Aatom | Aug 22, 2005 12:47:54 PM
I had a WHOLE lot of questions after last night, here.
Posted by: The Malcontent | Aug 22, 2005 12:48:34 PM
I cried. I love it. It was real.
Posted by: hoyaboy | Aug 22, 2005 12:57:30 PM
SFU started off as a great show, went downhill, came back a little but was still too overwrought, ended...I don't know. I didn't care to see the finale. I stopped watching along the way and didn't miss it. I realized I was happier not watching it. Such a gloomy, depressing show. I hope HBO replaces it with a comedy.
Posted by: BJ | Aug 22, 2005 1:00:00 PM
Andy, thank you for this post. I was completely blown away by last nights episode. I cried during Clair's drive to New York; the imagery over "Breate Me" is just amazing. Not to mention as young twentysomething I too struggle with taking risks and fearing what I really want out of life. I then called my mom, crying, and told her how much I love her and thanked her for giving ME life.
It's so scary out there, and life is so short.
I was torn apart by the last scene; Claire being left alone with just her pictures. It was beautiful and humbling.
Posted by: Michael | Aug 22, 2005 1:02:32 PM
The aged make-up on the characters reminded me of the awful aging jobs done with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in the film, "GIANT."
Posted by: Mark | Aug 22, 2005 1:06:42 PM
I am cold and dead inside - just ask any of my exes - but I was sobbing less than half way into this. What a perfect end to one of the best series ever. I also debated whether the coda (thanks for the word, I couldn't think of what to call it) was meant to be reality or Claire's projecting. Interesting theory on the makeup, especially since every aspect of the show's art direction is always flawless. Regardless, it gave me the closure I needed and I have the puffy eyes to proove it.
And let's hear it for Ted's ass!
Posted by: JTG | Aug 22, 2005 1:08:21 PM
The deaths seemed real to me, but I think some of them came across too comical - they really shouldn't have started off with Keith dying that way, everyone I was watching with was laughing.
Posted by: Michael | Aug 22, 2005 1:16:15 PM
Laughing? Wow...I didn't see any humor in that scene.
Posted by: Jon | Aug 22, 2005 1:30:20 PM
Oh my gosh, there were definitely moments of black humor in the last scene - the fakeness of Keith's shooting death being one, but let's give it up for Brenda being "bored to death" by Billy's ramblings about emotional closure. Now THAT is funny.
Posted by: Kurt | Aug 22, 2005 2:07:54 PM
Those were the funniest 15 minutes of TV I saw all year!!! It ranks up there with the best scenes in Showgirls! The Night of the Living Dead bad make-up job, the killing off of all those angst-ridden, pathetically self-obsessed whiners, the pseudo reconcilliations, the sappy Lillith Fair soundtrack, the good gay parenting snapshot, the I'm going to NYC to be find myself as an artist cliche, AUGGGGGGGH...Where is Tony Soprano when we need him...Loved to have seen him just blow off the heads of all the members of the sappy Fisher clan. R.I.P. all of yous! Bring on ROME, HBO!!!
Posted by: Ray | Aug 22, 2005 2:22:16 PM
Those were the funniest 15 minutes of TV I saw all year!!! It ranks up there with the best scenes in Showgirls! The Night of the Living Dead bad make-up job, the killing off of all those angst-ridden, pathetically self-obsessed whiners, the pseudo reconcilliations, the sappy Lillith Fair soundtrack, the good gay parenting snapshot, the I'm going to NYC to be find myself as an artist cliche, AUGGGGGGGH...Where is Tony Soprano when we need him...Loved to have seen him just blow off the heads of all the members of the sappy Fisher clan. R.I.P. all of yous! Bring on ROME, HBO!!!
Posted by: Ray | Aug 22, 2005 2:23:56 PM
Brenda bored to Death by Billy was brilliant. loved that bit of humor thrown in. like a final gift from the writers to the fans.
still haven't recovered from last night. what an amazing job they did closing it out.
Posted by: cb/CityRag | Aug 22, 2005 2:39:56 PM