Sad To See Six Feet Under End

Sad to See Six Feet Under HBO Show End

I have been an avid Six Feet Under watcher. Tonight I will see the last episode and no doubt get a hint of what the future holds for all the characters who have seemed so much like real people in my life. I have been thinking about Brenda and how she will deal with the bitter rejections she seems to have received from Nate, her widowhood, and her parenting challenges which most likely will include the continued raising of Lisa's daughter Mya (Nate's first wife) and her own new baby soon to be. Ruth, The Mom, I know will survive as she seems to have discovered a deepening respect for her second husband, George, whom she had written off earlier as too crazy for her. She also seems to learn from life in spite of her dogged ritualistic personality so embedded in the traditional family.

The show has definitely been credited with teaching America how to face the issue of death and dying in our society, although the show unrealistically focuses on sudden death rather than the more ordinary and common death that is associated with old age and chronic illness which does not happen suddenly and without warning. What has drawn me to the show is the fact that the characters were allowed to develop and become fully human with all the faults and strengths and embarrassing experiences that happen, but perhaps not as often hopefully, to us all. I also think each show is handled with artistic integrity of a very high degree, something unusual for television. Each episode is more like a film than a made for television episode. This has been noted on a HBO documentary on the show but deserves further mention.

All the characters are treated with respect and dignity by Creator Alan Ball and the other writers of the show. None is a caricature of a person or stereotype and each one always surprises the viewer at the complexity of the human spirit and layers of emotion that dwell deep within each one of us. I loved the way the character who is the partner of the Fisher’s, (Frederico) Rico Diaz, has been fleshed out and changed as the show goes on. In the documentary Rico is depicted as an artist, the one who makes dead people look good for their relatives and loved ones to see before they are buried. I never thought of him that way before but it is so true. Rico is so intense in his quest for control over what he sees as his rightful domain. He has enlivened the show and forces the various Fisher family members to change and often respond to his constant ambition and concerns which always seem somehow right but not coming at the right time for the Fisher’s. Rico grew on me as time went on and made me rethink who he was many times.

Brenda is more of a mystery to me. She is so intelligent it hurts sometimes as she takes everything in yet emotionally she often seems to float on the surface trying to just stay alive. I think she has it in her to find the strong part of herself and at the same time not disappoint those who need her. The best part of the show to me is the women. Clare too I know will break off on her own as the show has hinted and become stronger too. But the hardest of all to let go of is David, the Gay brother, who has helped the other significant people in his life find happiness like his lover, Keith, and their newly “adopted” children; yet as a result of terrible situations beyond his control David has suffered a breakdown and seems lost to the world of hallucinations, hopefully, a temporary form of psychosis of some sort that he will come out of and transcend.

Yes, it is true the show has many of the characteristics of a traditional soap opera. But the show is so surreal and so inside the character’s heads it transcends the typical faults most soap operas display which make the characters so unidimensional. The dream sequences have added a great quality of realness to the show. We all have dreams and the lines between them and our waking lives is always quite revealing to know. The good part is that often the viewer at first is never exactly sure whether what we are seeing is a dream or the real thing (whatever that is) and that keeps the show fresh and alive.

Now I wait only a few hours before the last show begins hoping I too will find solace in knowing Alan Ball will make these seemingly real people find some peace in their lives; otherwise they will be hopelessly locked in my psyche screaming like ghosts looking for their real homes on earth rather than floating free somewhere in tv dreamland heaven. Last of all, I say to the actors of this show, I salute you and your magnificent portrayals of these people who have inhabited the Six Feet Under set all these years.