Six Feet Under

Yesterday provided a surrealy sad day. When HBO's Six Feet Under series came out, my wife and I became faithful watchers. It is a gritty, disturbing show that shocks one into recalling what the world is like for many. The characters mostly are narcissistic, amoral and contradicted.

I received seasons four and five as gifts - we dropped HBO after season three, so we had a lot of catching up to do. Well, last night, we finally finished. The conclusion was the best I ever have seen in a TV show besides Dawson's Creek, whose finale still ranks as the best.

As you clever ones might have figured out by now, Six Feet Under deals with death. Each episode begins with a random death, which the main characters - proprieters of a funeral home - service during the rest of the episode.

The finale of Six Feet Under concluded with a future portrayal of each main character's death. The protagonist died several episodes ago, but as the youngest daugther drove across the country - from L.A. to New York City - to start her new life, viewers were shown highlights of what the future brings for each character and ultimately his or her death. I was strangely powerful and affecting.

I think what affected me so much was the realization of how the present affects the future. I know, Capt. Obvious; but seening deployed in such a manner offered a stark reality. We had lived with these people for five years, and witnessing the effects of their choices and their ultimatley end was strangely sad. Excellent cinema. I found myself being actually happy and sad as the characters died - never before (that I have seen) has a movie shown the finality of every character.

While many will be appalled by the amoral and mature themes discussed in the series, I think it provides a great snapshot into much of the world.