Six Feet Under

Didn't get much sleep last night. Was just going to watch Six Feet Under before bed, and at the end of that episode, Nate suffered a stroke. Well, I can't stop right there!! I had to watch the next episode, and the next, and the next....

Ended up sleeping at 4am.

Finished watching the series finale, after 5 seasons. Quite enjoyed the way it ended. Everybody died in the end. It seemed a very fitting ending.

First of all, a primer about Six Feet Under (SFU) for the uninitiated.

You remember American Beauty ? The Kevin Spacey movie, where his sad character's desire for the young cheerleader is depicted in a series of hallucinations, day-dreams, wet-dreams etc... The casual use of marijuana. The homophobic soldier who develops lust for the person he thought was his son's homosexual lover. The awful ironic ending where Spacey found death when he stopped searching for it. SFU is very much like that. It's even written by the same guy, what a coincidence.

Nathaniel Fisher ran a funeral home. His eldest son, Nate, ran from the family business. His second son, David, has a black boyfriend, Keith. His youngest daughter, Claire is finding her purpose in life. His wife, Ruth is having an affair with her hairdresser. A bus ran over Nathaniel and kills him. But this doesn't stop him from making regular appearances as Nate's hallucinations.

Garnish the main-course with a nymphomaniac, her bi-polar brother, her psychotic parents and up-bringing, a Latino family, a number of Claire's boyfriends, Nate's wives, Ruth's lovers, Kathy Bates, a featured corpse every week... and you have quite a cuisine.

Some people might find SFU pretentious. A lot of pot-induced cosmic insights trying to pass themselves off as philosophy. A lot of crazy characters that's just too damaged to be realistic. In real life, shit happens. But to have so much happen to one family, in such concentration, with each event timed to such perfection, a divine maestro must be orchestrating the drama.

Me, I think the writer must have broken into his therapist's files, and took out 20 of the thickest folders, and created characterts to personify each of the worst nut-jobs he found. Then, he plays god and makes up the most whacked out events to slap those characters around like a frenzied kitten batting a crippled mouse. It's merciless and mindlessly cruel.

Nate comes home, and his father is killed. He stays to help his mother to cope. Eventually he gets roped into joining the family business, which he left home to escape in the first place. He continues to see his father's ghost. The Corpse of the Week frequently sits up and talks to him. He develops a relationship with the nympho, one that is continually challenged by her appetite and her unusual relationship with her insane brother, who attempted to stab someone at one point. Just when he's getting into the swing of work, he has an AVM. He's finally going to marry the nympho, and his old girlfriend shows up with his baby. He does the right thing, and feels trapped in a marriage with a Dharma on lithium. Just as he begins to bond with his wife and daughter, 'Dharma' goes on a spiritual journey and disappears, only her car found, no body, and no closure.

All this drama and more for just one character. It's simply amazing how the cast managed to keep up.

Director: "Ok, your motivation for this scene... It's your wedding day. Everyone's happy for you. But you just miscarried your first conception yesterday. There was no anaesthesiologist on hand at the hospital to do a D&C, but you still carry on with the wedding because it's the easier thing to do compared to calling up every one of your friends and relatives to tell them over and over a hundred times that you just had a miscarriage. Your dead baby is still leaking out of you, and you're worried if it's going to stain your gown; the grandma underpants you're wearing is a constant reminder of this. Now you're having an argument with the hallucination of your husband's late-wife. Okay.... Camera!!"


Compared to this, directing a Keanu Reeves movie is a piece of cake. Of course, not counting those scenes when you actually need Keanu to smile.

Keanu's Director: "Ok. He's the bad guy. He pwns. So, look brave!"
Keanu: "Ok, I use my Cool-Look^TM #47."


Anyway, moving on....

What makes SFU special is the way the writer uses hallucinations and day-dreams to emote the suppressed emotions that is happening under the character's skin. It is an interesting way of using the medium to tell a deeper story. Not every emotion can be acted out. Some passions are so overwhelming that they paralyse all actions and facial expressions.

Getting to know the characters from inside their heads, is like reading The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Bridget Jones' Diary, or The Catcher In The Rye. It may be hard to explain unless you've actually read any of these books....


I also found the series to be really educational. If not for one of the Corpse of the Week, I don't think I'ld ever have known what a Prince Albert is... (Try to read the following words without cringing: "Piercing", "Penile", "Urethra", "Stretching". Oh, and please don't click on the Prince Albert link if you've got sensitive eyes... You are warned.)


The entire series has a morbid tone. But there are some hilarious moments. The way the corpse of the week is presented is always more fun than Bart Simpson's blackboard scrawls. The writer loves irony.

The situations and events the characters find themselves in sometimes are just completely impossible, yet somehow their pain and psychoses really flesh out the characters.

The dialogue is also one of a kind. Some notable quotes such as:

"What is this, some kind of Quaker thing? You f*ck someone's husband to death, and then you bring them a quiche?"

"You were the one we thought we could lose. What with AIDS, and picking up strange men from the side of the road. Screwing a whore with no condom. You know, that sort of thing. You've been begging for annihilation your entire life."


The fifth season makes following the series all worth while. The way the characters change and develop. The last few episodes gave the show excellent closure.

Everybody died.

It's wonderful.