Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Chapter 39.6: Final Eulogy

Well, I've given a couple days, so if anyone considers the following comments a spoiler about the final episode of Six Feet Under, that's your problem.

I enjoyed the episode, particularly the final montage while Claire was driving east through the desert, off to the unknown. As she listened to the "Deeply un-hip mix" CD from her boyfriend, Ted, her future passed before her eyes. Not just her future, but the future of her extended family. The marriage of Keith and David, Durrell learning about the mortuary business, Ruth's death with her children and George by her bedside, Brenda dying while her brother Billy rambled on about "emotional closure," Claire's wedding to Ted, and lives taken to peaceable ends (Keith's senseless murder aside).

One other little tid-bit that made me smile was Billy's t-shirt when the family visited Brenda to meet baby Willa: "What Would Jesus Bomb." I've been told these are real shirts that people can buy. I just thought it was a well placed, appropriate detail.

I'm a little confused about the end of the show for Maggie, George's daughter. Was she at a clinic to abort a child from her tryst with Nate, the night his brain exploded, was it pre-natal care, or was she simply at a doctor's appointment? I might have missed something, but the setting had to be significant, otherwise they could have placed her in any number of other spots.

I've had numerous conversations with people who don't like the show, had no sympathy for the characters, or were turned off by the subject matter. But regardless of what one thinks of the characters, I think it was good television. Interesting stories about life's difficulties. Funny quirks in so many of the people. An honesty about death that is rarely shown on television. I appreciated all of that and rarely if ever missed an episode. I'll miss the stories of Claire, Nate (who was getting rather annoying in the end), and even David (though I can't say I enjoyed watching the soul kisses he planted on his boyfriends -- so it goes.)

Rest in peace, Six Feet Under.

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