Doom and gloom, and why I'll miss it

Six Feet Under was never the most cheerful television series. Considering it was a show about death, set in a funeral home, that's perhaps not entirely surprising. But even the black humour that laced the episodes seemed to get blacker and less humourous as the series went by. "Doom and gloom!" was how my wife and I started refering to it.

Nevertheless, it was still compelling television - refreshingly original, well-written and well-acted. So I felt a real sense of loss as I watched the credits roll on the final episode of the final season last night.

While the series was conceived as a way to bring Americans face-to-face with the reality of death, it did lose something of its impact as the show wore on. There was always the "death of the week" that started each episode, but often these were funny rather than tragic (such as the woman who was killed when a frozen block of waste from an airliner fell on her). The deaths soon became unremarkable, an integral part of the show, morbid entertainment rather than something to reflect upon.

Until, that is, the final minutes of last night's episode. Intercutting the scene of Claire driving towards an unknown future in New York with flash-forwards to the deaths of each of the main characters was powerful and moving. As I watched the scythe rise and fall, I was overwhelmed by a sense of futility. Everything that had happened in the previous five seasons, all the characters' hopes for the future, suddenly seemed meaningless.

It was there, in that moment, that Six Feet Under finally seemed to have captured the essence of death. We all know that one day our life will end. But few of us can get our heads around what that really means. It's just an abstract concept. Last night, in its dying breath, Six Feet Under made that abstract concept disturbingly real.

The final episode of Six Feet Under will be repeated on HBO at 11pm Bermuda time this evening and at midnight on Wednesday.

Comments

[SmokingGun on 22.08.05 at 18:27]

Too funny: I was sitting watching the frozen block episode over at a friend's house and immediatley said it was something that had fallen out of a plane. My friend's were shocked when I turned out to be correct and asked how I knew. I just happened to know that that alot of things fall off planes and figured that's what happened.

Too sad: Sad thing is that I'm heading over to their house again tonight. His sister just lost her triplets last night and the family is getting together to prepare for their funeral.

[Cancundreaming on 22.08.05 at 18:47]

I'm fully with you one this one Limey. I'm not into TV, i hate seinfeld and i barely can stand most reality TV, although i have to say i do indulge Big Brother now and again.

But I’ve never felt such a connection to a show as i did SFU. Not because of the entertainment value, fuck the entertainment value. It was because when i looked at the show, i saw characters who were seriously fucked up, i saw people who were fucked up like me, i think like we all are in some ways and different degrees. It was great to see people who weren't like Chandler, Ross, Monica and CO*. It felt like something real, something that one could relate too, as there is nothing quite as sad and believing you’re the furthest on the pendulum

I thought that last episode was brilliant and their synopsis episodes of their five seasons that preceded the last episode. What i thought was really brilliant was the hard hitting reality that you're born and then you die, and what you do in between is up to you, you can please society, your church, your family, or you can be beholden to your fears or you can just try and make yourself happy and do what you think is best. A universal message if ever heard one. To portray it through Claire’s eyes, the youngest and the one who I always thought was the most lost was absolutely genius at work.

Back to the entertainment side, one of my favorite scenes from the last five year was when the religious women thought the naked floating blow up dolls was a sign of the rapture, she then proceeded to run out into the street and was hit by traffic; Brilliant and Funny on some many different levels.

[ace on 22.08.05 at 18:53]

Arrrggggghhh.

The younger brother in that show made me want to break things around my house. It wasn't the acting...it was his character.

And the older gay brother...he was just a woman with a penis.

Anytime the show came on my wife was happy...I'd leave the room and turn on my computer.

[Slowhand on 22.08.05 at 21:20]

I've not really gotten into that show, but there is another that I like..... Deadwood.... I love the language (and i don't mean the foul stuff)

[Prospect on 23.08.05 at 08:38]

This show is absolutely amazing! I am not really one to cry during movies etc but I confess this one had me bawling buckets for the last half an hour. Great endings, superb acting, excellent writing. I've loved this show for years it will be missed. Alan Ball is a genius!

[on 25.08.05 at 10:31]

Try catching the Shield