If you've watched last night's series-ending episode of Six Feet Under, you'll already know that the story line did not end with Claire Fisher driving to New York in pursuit of an art career. But even if you did watch the last ten minutes of "Everyone's Waiting" to see how each character is to die, I'll bet you missed some details that were not available until today. Read on for the scoop.
These extra details are available through a read of each main character's future obit, as posted this morning on the Six Feet Under section of the HBO site.
I've read these obituaries carefully. Here are ten things that even a careful viewing of last night's episode didn't tell you about the future of the Fishers and those who've loved them:
1. Ruth and George's marriage was not dissolved as of "Everyone's Waiting," but her 2025 obit reports George as her "companion." This sounds like they do get divorced, but are drawn back together through time.
2. Ruth goes into the pet care business in Topanga Canyon, (near her sister Sarah's house) and operates the pet home for 20 years. Given that is a considerable drive from the Fisher home, it is easy to assume she moves out of her home at Fisher & Diaz shortly after the present time.
3. Maya and Willa- Nate's daughters by Lisa and Brenda respectively - are raised by Brenda. Because Brenda's 2051 obit does not mention any grandchildren, it's likely that neither Maya and Willa have any children.
4. Brenda goes on to a distinguished academic and research career in gifted children issues.
5. Brenda remarries, and has one more child, Forrest.
6. Brenda's troubled brother Billy - often thought of as a candidate for suicide - apparently makes it through life mostly intact. Brenda's 2051 obit lists Billy as a survivor.
7. One of Keith and David's children becomes a parent himself by the time of Keith's violent death. By the time of David's death, there are three grandchildren.
8. David eventually
9. Federico and Vanessa open their own mortuary "this year," and they stay married until Federico's death.
10. Claire goes on to a distinguished photography and related academic career. She marries Ted, whose passing has preceded her death at age 101. Her obit does not mention children, so we can assume she and Ted never had any.
Want one more?
OK.
One thing that leaped out at me was that the scenery depicted in each death scene was not as futuristic as might be assumed. The hospital bed and medical equipment of 2025, or even 2085 (when Claire dies) looked quite like they do today. Not that medical science will not have evolved by leaps and bounds between then and now - but death will always be with us.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-22-2005 @ 3:31PM
drake said...
More tidbits:
It's Durrell that's the son that becomes a parent. He also becomes a funeral director (helps presiding over Ruth's funeral.) You also see him learning the business early in the montage - no fireman for him.
Anthony is gay and has his partner at Keith's funeral (same funeral where you see Durrell with his pregnant wife.)
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8-22-2005 @ 3:32PM
Hoon Park said...
You got some of these wrong:
"5. Brenda remarries, but does not have any more children. Although the timeline of her marriage is unclear, no other children could mean she married her second husband later in life."
Brenda's obituary clearly lists a third child: "Forrest Nathanson", which probably confirms that she is pregnant during Keith and David's wedding.
"8. David eventually remarries, and is survived by his second husband."
The obituary lists Raoul Martinez as his partner, not husband... so technically, he doesn't remarry.
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8-22-2005 @ 5:07PM
Man said...
Did you see at Claires wedding that one of David sons had a wife and kid and the other was gay.
In the obits Brenda is buried in a park just like Nate.
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8-22-2005 @ 8:23PM
Judy said...
It was cute seeing the crow on Claire's T-Shirt as she bade farewell. The constant symbol of death on the one who would live to be 101!
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8-23-2005 @ 1:54PM
nakameguro said...
i thought they made it pretty clear (in the episode, prior to the deat montage) that ruth moved in with sarah and started the doggy-day care biz.
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8-23-2005 @ 3:49PM
AllElseFailed said...
A few other points:
At the wedding of David and Keith, a slightly older Mya is shown holding a doll: the monkey that Ruth recovered from the crack between the refrigerator and the wall, and *not* the Okapi that Brenda's mom tried to sell her on. (A photograph of Mya with the doll, taken at the wedding is in Claire's apartment in Manhattan).
Willa *does* seem to have children. At Claire's wedding (circa 203?) there's a hugely pregnant girl with dark hair at the end of the front row, sitting between a man who looks like her husband and a child who looks like he could be their first.
Claire's apartment, at the end, contains a glowing blue panel that seems to show the layout of a small one-bedroom apartment, presumably hers. The nurse is reading a flimsy white book that looks printed to order. Claire had no children (and probably even managed to outlive Mya, Willa, Anthony, Durrell, and perhaps even their children), or her death might have looked more like Ruth's. But she's still wearing her wedding ring when she dies. The nurse at the foot of the bed has two slickly wrapped square packages. Are they sheet changes? Therapy? Or are they body bags? Medicine in 2083, unlike medicine in 2025, really does appear to be different from today's.
One question, though- where was Claire's wedding held? Was that a quaker service?
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8-23-2005 @ 4:28PM
Ken said...
One of the reasons the furnishings don't seem futuristic is that we are seeing them in Claire's imagination, not in the actual future. At least that's how I saw it.
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8-24-2005 @ 6:01AM
mj said...
what was Maggie doing at a doctor's office when Ruth reached her on her cell phone to ask if Nate was happy the night he collasped? Had she resumed her career as a pharmaceutical rep. or was she visiting a obgyn to see if she's carrying Nate's baby?
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8-24-2005 @ 3:15PM
Kelly said...
My guess is Maggie was doing pharmaceutical rep. thing. She was dressed very nicely.
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8-24-2005 @ 4:15PM
Elisabeth said...
Great post! Here are a few more nitpicks:
Ruth has moved out of Fisher & Sons during the finale. She tells Claire that she's moving into Sarah's house in Topanga Canyon, and her reaction to the "100% gay" remodeling suggests she's been out of the house for some time by the end of the episode.
Billy is talking at Brenda when she dies, so it's pretty obvious he's a survivor. In the Alan Ball Fresh Air interview, he said he thought Brenda remarried twice, but I don't think there's any way to get that out of the episode or her obituary. Her second marriage must have been a quick rebound thing, as her son has the same surname as the man she was
married to at her death.
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8-24-2005 @ 5:36PM
Tim Shore said...
I think that just because Brenda's obituary didn't list any grandchildren, doesn't mean she didn't have any. Some of the obituaries had more information than others. I think it just might mean that the writers hadn't hashed out the futures of Maya, Willa and Forrest.
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8-24-2005 @ 5:37PM
Tim Shore said...
One more thing: Its' possible that Claire was past her childbearing years when she married Ted. If the clips were shown in order, that would mean although Ted and Claire met up again at Ruth's funeral. It was over four years later, after Keith's murder, that they wed. Claire would have been at least 46, and I doubt she was the type to want a menopausal motherhood.
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8-25-2005 @ 3:12PM
Tish said...
It isn't indicated if only one of DAvid and Keith's sons had children. It could have been both, since we do see Durell (I think, he looks older) with a pregnant wife and other child, but Anthony could have adopted a child just as KEith and David did.
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8-25-2005 @ 4:23PM
Tracy said...
I believe that Claire was already dead and her life was flashing in front of her. Remember what Nate said to her you can't take a picture its already gone.
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8-30-2005 @ 6:19PM
lilirishgrl said...
I had no idea that in the final episode I would be watching how they all die. I should have figured, but after 5 years of watching them, the final episode was shocking and very sad. Not sure I would have watched it that night if I knew. I just was not ready to see that. Still sad.
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