You can't take a picture of this, it's already gone.
This week I finally saw the finale of Six Feet Under for the first time.
There will be spoilers below the link, so all I'll say here is that the show overall is easily the best I've ever seen, and that final sequence in particular one of the most moving, haunting and emotionally devastating moments I've had the pleasure of seeing. I cried like a baby. If you haven't seen the show, please do. You won't regret it.
Good GOD. I think I realised what was going to happen around the time it cut to Ruth's death, and I realised "oh God, I know what they're going to do here, I don't think I can handle this." It was so fitting to see each of their deaths; I think the one that made me bawl most was David's - the way he sees Keith, strong and vibrant and young, before he passes away was so powerful - Keith really was his soulmate. And the little smile phantom-Nate gives to Ruth... heartbreaking. My friend Nicky said that that smile kind of "redeemed" Nate in her eyes after the way he behaved in Season 5, which is an interesting point; I kind of had a different reading of how he was in the final season. I loved how Claire lived to be 102, and seemed to fulfil her dreams and have a rich life, although she dies alone (who doesn't?). But man, I just cried and cried. The characters all felt SO real to me, I really feel like I know them, and to see each of them die, one by one, wrecked me, ha. I haven't been able to get the ending out of my head since. I think it was fitting that we see that final sequence through the eyes of Claire - it's her car journey, she is the one whose face we see at the end. It was fitting because of her character arc. Lots of the characters in Six Feet Under (I'm thinking especially of Claire and Brenda) are so concerned with not being cliche or trite that they are terrified or incapable of emotional sincerity. Either that or they're emotionally repressed (David, Ruth). What Claire finally learns is how to put that aside and how to just be honest, and the bravery that entails, and I think that's kind of what the show is about too. So I think it was apt to have Claire be the one to take us through that final sequence.
I suppose in a way it kind of made me evaluate my own life and how I live it - that you have to live NOW, you never know when it's going to end, all you know is that it WILL end, it is ending, every day. So live now, don't waste time. For a TV show to have that kind of effect is pretty staggering, I think. Like I said, I've been haunted by it ever since. I've watched that ending again more than once and I've cried each time I've seen it. I don't think there's anything else I can say that about.
And the music was perfect too; I went and downloaded the song from iTunes straight away, ha.
Gah. So much <3 for that show.
If you're reading this and you want reminding of the end, or you haven't seen it and don't plan to but are curious, here is the sequence I'm talking about:
There will be spoilers below the link, so all I'll say here is that the show overall is easily the best I've ever seen, and that final sequence in particular one of the most moving, haunting and emotionally devastating moments I've had the pleasure of seeing. I cried like a baby. If you haven't seen the show, please do. You won't regret it.
Good GOD. I think I realised what was going to happen around the time it cut to Ruth's death, and I realised "oh God, I know what they're going to do here, I don't think I can handle this." It was so fitting to see each of their deaths; I think the one that made me bawl most was David's - the way he sees Keith, strong and vibrant and young, before he passes away was so powerful - Keith really was his soulmate. And the little smile phantom-Nate gives to Ruth... heartbreaking. My friend Nicky said that that smile kind of "redeemed" Nate in her eyes after the way he behaved in Season 5, which is an interesting point; I kind of had a different reading of how he was in the final season. I loved how Claire lived to be 102, and seemed to fulfil her dreams and have a rich life, although she dies alone (who doesn't?). But man, I just cried and cried. The characters all felt SO real to me, I really feel like I know them, and to see each of them die, one by one, wrecked me, ha. I haven't been able to get the ending out of my head since. I think it was fitting that we see that final sequence through the eyes of Claire - it's her car journey, she is the one whose face we see at the end. It was fitting because of her character arc. Lots of the characters in Six Feet Under (I'm thinking especially of Claire and Brenda) are so concerned with not being cliche or trite that they are terrified or incapable of emotional sincerity. Either that or they're emotionally repressed (David, Ruth). What Claire finally learns is how to put that aside and how to just be honest, and the bravery that entails, and I think that's kind of what the show is about too. So I think it was apt to have Claire be the one to take us through that final sequence.
I suppose in a way it kind of made me evaluate my own life and how I live it - that you have to live NOW, you never know when it's going to end, all you know is that it WILL end, it is ending, every day. So live now, don't waste time. For a TV show to have that kind of effect is pretty staggering, I think. Like I said, I've been haunted by it ever since. I've watched that ending again more than once and I've cried each time I've seen it. I don't think there's anything else I can say that about.
And the music was perfect too; I went and downloaded the song from iTunes straight away, ha.
Gah. So much <3 for that show.
If you're reading this and you want reminding of the end, or you haven't seen it and don't plan to but are curious, here is the sequence I'm talking about:
Click to view