Fans of Six Feet Under were floored, when at the end "Ecotone" (the fourth to last episode of the series) Nate finally succumbed to his AVM and passed away. His death earned one of the few "end of episode epitaphs" featured on the show.
Fortunately for Nate and his family, everyone had a chance to say good-bye. Claire and David spent hours in the hospital room with him, as did Ruth. Even Brenda visited, despite knowing about the affair with Maggie - until Nate says no more; we're done.
As fans, we cried. We mourned. We couldn't imagine the final three episodes of one HBO's finest programs without it's main player. Of course, we knew he'd be back - dead. That was a given, but it's still not the same. Little did we know what was in store for us.
A whole lot more crying.
In my opinion, "Everyone's Waiting" is one of the most perfect hours of television ever conceived. Six Feet Under may not be the best series ever, but it has the best series finale ever. I can't think of any other show that wrapped up its story so perfectly. On a show about death, it only made sense that we should know how everyone dies.
As Claire finally drove off, heading East for a job she didn't even have anymore, the future flashed before her eyes - the youngest one of them. Set to the eerie, yet soothing, "Breathe Me" by Sia, we watched a montage of happy moments juxtaposed against the harsh reality of death. I can't tell you how many times I've watched this episode, but every single viewing, I still bawl like little baby. It's absolutely heart-wrenching. But with all the repeated watchings, and along with some help from the obits on HBO's website, there really is a lot to pick up on...
Ruth O'Connor Fisher [Sibley] (1946 - 2025, age 79) -- Presumably, Ruth died of natural causes. Her death was attended by her estranged second husband, Claire, and David. I say "estranged" regarding George, because he was. No explanation was given as to why he and Ruth connected again later in life, but I would imagine that following Nate's death, Claire's departure, and David's duties to his family, Ruth needed someone. It certainly wasn't going to be Hiram. I also assume that moving in with her sister Sarah and Bettina mellowed her out considerably. I always found it very telling that right before she died, first she saw Nathaniel Sr., then she saw Nate, then she passed. It wasn't her first husband that brought her comfort. It was her son.
Keith Dwayne Charles (1968 - 2029, age 61) -- After starting a family with David, Keith went on to do something that I'm sure David probably never approved of. When he was a police officer, David worried. When Keith was a bodyguard to the stars, David worried. And I'm sure David cringed when Keith founded his own security business. Four years after Ruth passed, Keith was gunned down while transporting what I assume was money. I always found it odd that he appeared to be working alone. That never seemed right to me. Almost like he was asking to be hurt or killed. It sort of fits though - Keith was always stubborn and full of self-pride and hubris. When he finally started his own business, stood up to his abrasive father, took pride in his homosexuality and family, you could make the argument that's what got him killed. He probably felt invincible after all he had accomplished.
David James Fisher (1969 - 2044, age 75) -- David finally retired five years after Keith passed. At the time of his death, he was with another man who was revealed to be his companion Raoul Martinez. However, at the moment his stroke hit and he passed, David glimpsed Keith playing football. So presumably, much like Ruth reuniting with George, it would appear that David was with Raoul for companionship and not love as Keith, his late husband, held his heart. One interesting thing I want to point out regarding Keith and David. In their obits, it's revealed that they do have grandchildren. However, it doesn't elaborate on whether or not they are adopted or conceived. I pose this question, because there is a quick moment, during Claire's marriage to Ted where we see one of Keith and David's adopted sons (not sure if it's Durrell or Anthony) and he's holding hands with another man. It's quite the stylistic choice and poses the obvious, controversial question: is he gay because that's how he was raised? See what I mean when I said I've watched these scenes a lot?
Hector Federico Diaz (1974 - 2049, age 75) -- There unfortunately isn't much to say about Rico, other than he lived the life he wanted - and Vanessa prodded him into taking. Following Nate's death, he opened his own mortuary and according to his obit, he ran it for 35 years before retiring. The one thing that strikes me about Rico was where he died. He frequently got into fights with Nate and David regarding time off and needing vacation, but he was often worked to the bone (no pun intended), at least until he became a part owner. Once he finally was able to enjoy his time off, it was too late.
Brenda Chenowith (1969 - 2051, age 82) -- Where do you even begin with Brenda? You could easily make the argument that she was nuts, possibly bi-polar. Just look at her family and upbringing. However, whether or not any of that is true, she did get her life together. It just took her husband dying for it to happen. After Nate passed, she got numerous degrees, a PhD, wrote a ton of books, and managed to get married again and raise three children - one of which wasn't even her own. I always admired the fact that she chose to raise Maya and kept current with the rest of the Fishers, especially Ruth. She could have easily cut ties with that part of her life, but she didn't. As most of her life was dependent on worrying about her deranged brother Billy, it only seemed appropriate that she finally passed in his presence while he chewed her ear off about what I'm sure was complete nonsense.
Claire Simone Fisher (1983 - 2085, age 101) -- The youngest lived to be the oldest. Claire went on to become a world-renowned photographer and even taught at NYU. Her obit says she had numerous memorable magazine covers. Taking her mother's advice to be a strong woman, she never took her husband Ted's last name, presumably because she married him later in life and didn't want to change it in light of her successful career. Stylistically, two things stand out for me as we watch Claire pass. One is that the future doesn't look all that futuristic. The second? Claire's eyes. She must have had cataracts or something similar because they're glossed over, white, and devoid of life. How sad to think that the one thing she needed to truly achieve her art was taken from her. She couldn't see any of the pictures she had shot in her final years.
Just like that, Six Feet Under was over. Now's your chance to sound off. TV Squad only sort of covered this show when it originally aired (well before my tenure here), but I'm curious to know what every thinks. Am I off in saying this is the best series finale ever? Do you think everyone's death did their character justice? Watch the final moments first if you need to jog your memory and remember, "Everything. Everyone. Everywhere. Ends."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-07-2008 @ 10:24AM
Scott said...
My eyes teared up a little just reading your piece, Jonathan. You are absolutely right that "Six Feet Under" had the best series finale ever. "Mary Tyler Moore", "St. Elsewhere", "Newhart" (for the last 5 minutes, only), and a few others may have been in the running, but "Six Feet Under" has them beat by a mile.
I watched this show on HBO from the airing of the first episode through to the end. At about the 3- or 4-year mark I almost gave up on it--most of the uniqueness of the funeral home situation had worn off, and it got very soapy. I came to dislike most of the lead characters, how much pot smoking they all seemed to do, and the really bad life choices many of them made (Claire in particular was a favorite character who kept making bad decisions and getting together with the wrong people--but look at her mother's horrible choices since Nate Sr.!)
But I stuck with the show, and was duly rewarded by a very strong creative resurgence in the final season, leading to Nate's death and unforgettable burial and then this incredible finale. I have a close friend who just last year started watching the show on DVD. He disliked the lead characters even more than I did, and was ready to give up by year 3 as well. I urged him to stay with it, and promised him the best series finale he'd ever seen. He made it to the end, and thanked me.
I came to realize we weren't supposed to like all of them, or their life decisions (I DESPISED Lisa, and cheered when she um, left the show). The characters grew, changed, and related to each other in ways that few other series have accomplished. It had an array of extraordinarily talented actors (I now see Dexter Morgan when I see Michael C. Hall's face, but it took quite a few episodes of "Dexter" before I stopped seeing David Fisher.)
Thanks for revisiting the series this week. I'm not sure I'd ever want to re-watch the whole thing from the beginning, but I know I'll seek out that final show again. I won't be able to recapture that sense of superb closure that I got after watching the episodes for five years and getting to know these characters so well, but I can appreciate a perfect finale anytime.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:24AM
Brandon said...
I absolutely agree, we have had this episode TiVo'd since it first aired.....In my opinion, there has never been such an amazing ending to a television series. My hat's off to Alan Ball, I will always follow any future work that he does.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:25AM
Lynn said...
Wow. Scott, those are basically my exact feelings on the show.
Also, when I watched the finale the first time, I bawled like a baby and then I watched the "death" sequence again on youtube the day after. Cried again. It's been a while since I've seen it but I didn't think it could still emotionally effect me so much, out of context. And here I am sitting here with tears coming down my face as I write this. Great series finale.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:25AM
Sean said...
I always thought that at Claire's wedding Anthony (or Durrell) was with his husband on the left side and Durrell (or Anthony) was on the right side with his wife and kid showing that one of them became gay while the other was straight.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:25AM
Bradley said...
Agreed that this was the best series finale ever. It's so good that I don't think I could ever watch it again because I don't want to tarnish the feelings I had while watching it, which of course where brought back while reading this review.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:25AM
kawai said...
seriously, same here, my eyes just teared up a little just reading this. what an amazing show and the most amazing series finale. i can't believe how much i grew with that fictional family and how much emotion i felt with that final episode. it's still shocking how much i feel just reading about the final episode here.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:25AM
Cincinnati Mike said...
Good call, Jonathon.
Like a lot of people, I tuned out in season three, sort of popped back in around "That's My Dog," and then tuned out again until the finale. I played that closing montage over and over until the tape broke! Just classic TV. And a great writeup!
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7-07-2008 @ 10:26AM
Carissa said...
AGREED! I can't even talk about it. The song Breathe Me was a perfect choice for the death montage, and I am taken back every time I hear it. That other programs have used that song irks me because it fit so incredibly well with that ending. It's like using the Mash theme song on another television show.
To wrap up one of the best explorations of life and death with the deaths of each of the leads was an inspired decision and absolutely the best finale of all time.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:26AM
jennifer said...
Billy was still going on about Claire and what went wrong when Brenda died. Closed Captioning really comes in handy sometimes.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:26AM
mvw said...
Ruth did not visit Nate in the hospital in "Ecotone"; she was camping when her son died and didn't get to say goodbye.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:26AM
chgosaint said...
I loved the first three seasons of this show, but then gave up after a while. Just reading this article and the obits had me in tears. I think I need to go to netflix and order the final season. Between Toomey's article and Scott's posting I want to say thanks, I am going to go look up an old friend.
BTW, St. Elsewhere was one of the best series finales ever. It made me rethink the entire series and explained completely why Howie Mandel could have been considered a dramatic actor.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:26AM
Bruno Carvalho said...
This was the BEST show of TV. No doubt. The best finale ever too.
www.ligadoemserie.com
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7-03-2008 @ 2:39PM
Gwin said...
I'm not a big crier, but I did cry when I saw the finale way back when... and it haunted me for days afterwards.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:27AM
Mark said...
Agreed. Now if only they hadn't crapped out on Deadwood it would be perfect.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:27AM
Antonio said...
Yeah, I was haunted ny the ending too, for weeks. Like real deaths in the family. Made me think of when my time comes. Boy, it was one of the best show endings ever. I get chills reading this again.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:27AM
Midnight13 said...
I was going to point that out as well. That Ruth was not present when Nate died. David was in the room but he was asleep and woke to the sound of Nate flatlining. Another great, sad moment from the series. The future montage was great to see. How everyone develops, I had to watch it multiple times just to take everything in, you notice something new each time you watch it. The series as a whole was amazing, the first season is flawless, and I wish the show maintained its black humor throughout. I think its what most people missed by the time season 3 came around. But its a series that I will continue to revisit every now and then, there won't be another like it.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:27AM
torrentprime said...
Agree on the finale; I was crying like mad as well. I enjoyed the final answers on everyone's life, and it made such sense: this show was about death, and thus how could it end unless we know how the main characters died? Beautiful, sad ending.
But I have to call you out for this bit of dangerous, backwards thinking:
"It's quite the stylistic choice and poses the obvious, controversial question: is he gay because that's how he was raised? "
That's only an "obvious" question if you're a right-wing radical who believe that gay people get "turned" gay by having a gay parent(s) or an overbearing mother or an absent father or any other of the nonsense that the right uses to portray gay people as secret recruiters, seeking to turn children gay. It's beyond offensive, and it perpetuates stereotypes that lead directly to repression of gay people's rights by reinforcing fears and paranoia. I'm frankly surprised to see something so backwards on a site that deals with so many modern issues in such a modern way.
Just in case anyone is confused: gay people do not develop gay by having gay parents, just as straight people do not turn out straight because they have straight parents. All the best and most recent scientific evidence points to genetic and biological components to sexuality, and something as cut-and-dry as "gay people get turned gay by gay parents" is right up there on the scientific scale with the Flat Earth society.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:28AM
Karen said...
Well put. I agree: Jonathan, htat was a cracpot thing to say.
Personally, I thought it was Durrell holding hands WITH Anthony. Brothers do that kind of thing at funerals, you know.
7-07-2008 @ 10:28AM
Jere said...
I thought it was an excellent idea for a show. I watched the first couple of episodes and didn't care for it to much. Nate was a jackhole and cared about no one else. He had many opportunities to be happy and always did what was expected of him, making himself miserable because of it. And I don't care for characters that let life run them over. I kept watching the show on and off because of my wife. SFU has some outstanding episodes and great writing and acting. But watching characters continue to make bad choices and not enjoy the gifts they have, not my idea of fun.
It was not until Nate died, that I really started paying attention to the show again. At the exact moment that Nate was finally happy, he died. He had no other reason to live. Up until then, he did things that he thought he was supposed to do, much like the rest of the family. Nate chose himself and he got everything he ever wanted and died.
Then the next episode starts with Nate singing and being happy and that was the begining of the outstanding sendoffs for all of these characters.
I thought the last show was amazing. I watched the ending on my DVR 10 or 15 times the next day. Shows should not be obligated to the future of their characters; however, SFU was required to, due to the unique set-up of each show. I did not know what they would do after killing Nate early. It was the perfect ending for the show. Nate's death, as opposed to every other one delt with in the show, finally illustrated to everyone that life must be lived. This was the jumping off point for all. Instead of struggling with all of the reasons why "you" can not do it. They did. Each character took control of their lives and reached for their dreams. The show eneded when the struggle was over. The drama died, as did the show. Perfect.
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7-07-2008 @ 10:28AM
Mr. Beast said...
I can only say two words - Thank you.
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