Never been touched...

...by a series finale the way I was touched by this one! Kudos to Alan Ball for writing something that hasn't been seen on TV in a long, long time, a series finale worth watching! Over the last five seasons, "Six Feet Under" has not so much revolutionized the family drama as it has simply shown us what was capable of achieving in a one hour drama, DRAMA!!! But the last episode, specifically, the last five minutes of the last episode did something that no other series finale has done...

Change my life.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Um, Tony, it's a FREAKIN' TV show!!!". Yes, yes I know but it's a show that introduced us to characters who are like real people; characters that are flawed to varying degrees and do things that are not only not right but in many cases very very wrong! But, we (as fans), don't condemn them for their flaws but accept them for being so real...so human.



WARNING! MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST EPISODE, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!!!



In the end, Alan Ball wraps everything up nicely; the family, still mourning Nate's death manages to move on. Brenda finds out that there's nothing wrong w/her & Nate's baby, she also decides to keep and raise Maya. David finally faces his specter (demon, figment of his imagination, etc.), gets himself together and becomes a stronger person and owner of Fisher & Sons. He and Keith decide to buy out Rico, move into the Fisher homestead and raise their two adopted sons. Ruth gets on w/her life, moves in w/her sister and starts a doggie daycare. After being bought out, Rico starts his on morturary. And Claire moves to New York to start a new life. Sounds like your typical series finale, right?

Wrong.

Alan Ball takes it one step further; the name of this episode is, "Everything Ends", and Mr. Ball decides to do exactly that by showing us (w/the help of a beautiful, haunting song called "Breath Me" by Sia Furler) how each of the aforementioned characters dies!

I've watched TV for nearly thirty years, I'm only 31, and I've never seen anything like this. Can you imagine seeing the cast of "Friends" die @ the end of their series finale, one by one? How about the cast of "Frasier"? "Everybody Loves Raymond"? No? Me neither. But I did see the characters of one of my favorite shows succumb to Death's sweet embrace, one by one, over an 80 year period...And I get a lump in my throat every time I think about it or hear that song (to date, I've been playing that song day and night for the last 2 weeks).

After the first time I saw it, I actually thought about how fragile we all really are and how death could be just around the corner! I found myself thinking about family members I haven't talked to in eons and wondering if they were okay. I actually wondered what would happen if I dropped dead right on the spot! Are my affairs in order? What type of service do I want? Where do I want to be buried? I haven't felt this delicate about death since my step-father died. For awhile, I wondered why a mere television show affected me so deeply; the answers came to me within a few days.

1--The characters were likeable, yet flawed; in a word, human. Claire was totally wrong for putting the foot of a cadaver in her boyfriend's locker when he upset her. No, Nate shouldn't have had sex w/a complete stranger in the janitor's closet @ the airport. No, Ruth shouldn't have taken a Vicodin right after she restrained her sister who was trying to kick her Vicodin habit. Etc, etc, etc. But, they have legit motivations for doing what they do and since they're fully developed characters they deal w/problems the best way that they know how.

2--Most of the characters succumbed to the three D's. Disease, Decay and Death. Of all of the main characters, only Keith died an untimely death. The rest of the characters lived into their 70's, 80's and even their 00's. I felt that there was a subtext or two in all this. We as Americans live in a country that doesn't view the elderly in the best sense. You're either supposed to die young or never grow old. That was not the case for these characters. Ruth died @ 79 in a hospital bed. Even though Keith was shot to death while working security, he was 61 years old! Rico and David were both 75 (Rico of an apparent heart attack, David, after seeing an apparition of a younger version of Keith, falls dead). Brenda was listening to her brother Billy and dealing w/a case of what seemed to be Parkinson disease when she too, fell dead. Claire dies in bed, @ the age of 102! TV characters aren't supposed to die this way; their supposed to go out like James Dean or "Thelma & Louise", young, sharp, in their prime!

Not in this instance. All I know is, I'm much more aware of my mortality and I'm officially a stone's throw away from becoming a hypocondriac! And all because of the last four minutes of the last show of a television series.

Alan Ball, you are a freakin' genius!!!


http://www.hbo.com/sixfeetunder/