Six Feet Under
Jun. 29th, 2006 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakOne of the things I bought in London was the fifth season of Six Feet Under, which I have now finished. All in all, I'm really happy with the show, minor nitpicks aside. (About the only thing in the finale that didn't work for me was David's Luke-on-Dagobah moment. What works for Uncle George does not work for SFU, 'cause it's too blatant and obvious. ) What strikes me particularly is this show, with its incredibly messed up characters, is really quite optimistic and generous. Everyone gets their second (and third) chances, though they don't always use them. A character like Billy, who in most other shows, given his introduction in the first season, would have ended up as a designated villain, can be presented as being there for his sister when she needs him, screwed up nature of their relationships aside. And oh, the glories of the dialogue, as Margaret's idea to cheer her daughter up: "Darling, don't you think I wanted to abort you and Billy both until your father convinced me otherwise?"
One of the most poignant scenes - David washing Nate's dead body, and then Ruth his hair. Nate could be a selfish prat at times, but I suspect the main reason why he wanted that green funeral, aside from the objection to the business he had pretty much from the pilot, was that he knew David would be the one to have to embalm him otherwise, because David wouldn't be able to let someone else do it, just as with Nathaniel Senior. Speaking of Nate's less than admirable qualities, leave it to SFU to make his actual death as ambiguous as his life was, with first that entirely selfish and entirely typical announcement to Brenda, and then the dream which starts in Nate's pov and ends in David's. All in all, I'd say the relationship with David probably qualifies as the most positive Nate ever managed.
There were a lot of circular things in those last episodes - Fisher & Diaz becoming Fisher & Sons again, Claire and Ted bonding the same way Nate and Brenda did in the pilot (and Billy pointing this out, thus showing us the writers are of course being deliberate), David in the finale having that moment where he says "to hell with this, okay, let's sell" and then changing his mind again, continuing the business.
The final sequence: getting all these flash forwards while Claire leaves to start her new life, seeing how everyone will eventually die, was so fitting an ending for the show and reminded me of Neil Gaiman's words in Sandman - or rather, he lets a character think that - in the first collection, Preludes and Nocturnes: every story ends with death, if you tell it long enough. Especially on this show. So yes, the Fishers and their friends will all eventually die, some happier than others. But for now, life continues. It was a beautiful way to end one of my favourite series .
One of the most poignant scenes - David washing Nate's dead body, and then Ruth his hair. Nate could be a selfish prat at times, but I suspect the main reason why he wanted that green funeral, aside from the objection to the business he had pretty much from the pilot, was that he knew David would be the one to have to embalm him otherwise, because David wouldn't be able to let someone else do it, just as with Nathaniel Senior. Speaking of Nate's less than admirable qualities, leave it to SFU to make his actual death as ambiguous as his life was, with first that entirely selfish and entirely typical announcement to Brenda, and then the dream which starts in Nate's pov and ends in David's. All in all, I'd say the relationship with David probably qualifies as the most positive Nate ever managed.
There were a lot of circular things in those last episodes - Fisher & Diaz becoming Fisher & Sons again, Claire and Ted bonding the same way Nate and Brenda did in the pilot (and Billy pointing this out, thus showing us the writers are of course being deliberate), David in the finale having that moment where he says "to hell with this, okay, let's sell" and then changing his mind again, continuing the business.
The final sequence: getting all these flash forwards while Claire leaves to start her new life, seeing how everyone will eventually die, was so fitting an ending for the show and reminded me of Neil Gaiman's words in Sandman - or rather, he lets a character think that - in the first collection, Preludes and Nocturnes: every story ends with death, if you tell it long enough. Especially on this show. So yes, the Fishers and their friends will all eventually die, some happier than others. But for now, life continues. It was a beautiful way to end one of my favourite series .
