What’s with the bird and cakes? Is it an just am omen/fable created by the staff or one that has been passed down through the ages but I’ve just never heard of.
All in all, this is one phucked up family…
I thought the bird woud start talking to Nate in Lisa’s voice or something.
I also really thought last week’s was a setup for one of 2 scenarios this week: 1. George would really go 'round the bend, mistake Ruth for his mother, and take her out in a ‘how could you do that to me when I was just a kid’ scene, or 2. Ruth would get completely fed up and George would have an ‘accident.’
This show used to be quirky and filled with humor. Now it’s just depressing. Other than Rico (for now), everyone’s life is going down in a depressing cycle of shit. The thing is, they’re all pretty much good people and horrible things keep happening to them. I can see why this is the last season because they are out of things to do. It’s a shame.
Haj
Since the series began with Nathaniel Fisher getting run over by a bus, I speculate that the series will end with the entire cast (including Rico’s kids) in a bus on the way to some place for some event. The bus will go over a cliff.
That way there will be no way to revive the series.
And it will be funny.
I can’t be alone on this: bird - blue bird - “May the bluebird of happiness crap all over your birthday cake!”
Or bird - blue bird - bluebird of happiness - DEATH to the bluebird of happiness, dammit!
I like the idea of the bus off the cliff, but I’m guessing the season will end with either Ruth or George dying - each in its own way ends the circle. Although the world would be a much happier place if the entire Fisher clan went down in flames and the rest could find more normal partners.
The bus could crash through a billboard of Cliff Richard. As it comes to rest at the bottom, they’ll say, ‘Whew! That was close!’
(Spoiler for those who have not seen the final episode of the referenced series.)
And then the bus will blow up.
I like the little stuff that happens better than I do the big story lines. The plot is too melodramatic, but the little touches are, well, touching.
Last night it was Vanessa’s smile when Rico finally owned up to what he did, and George saying “Nobody was ever lucky to have me.”
Even better, in my opinion, was the Billy/George Johnny Cash duet. Still, I end up feeling depressed for the rest of the night after watching that dirgy show these days.
Haj
Indeed, very depressing.
Here’s how the show ends:
Second-to-last-episode: After a couple of weeks of conflict, Nate Jr. is killed by Billy. The moment the gun goes off, Nathaniel Fischer (the elder), an alcoholic, never-married funeral home director, wakes up after another night of drinking too much rotgut, and realizes the whole thing was a dream.
Then he has to wonder: what’s worse, being dead as he was in the dream, but having a family (albeit, a messed up one) that loved and misses him; or being alive, alone and alcoholic.
The remainder of the episode sees him talking to his therapist, dealing with his crumbling business and in-general coping with his fucked-up life. He’s beginning to wish he were dead with a family that missed him.
Final episode: Nathaniel continues contemplating his existance. Goes off the deep end at a funeral-- shows up drunk, disgraces himself. The family is mortified, decides to sue. Nathaniel can’t take it anymore, so he puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. Episode starts with the normal subdued color of the show, but slowly fades to all black-and-white by the time Nathaniel puts the gun to his face.
The moment the gun fires, cut to Ruth bolting upright in bed, sweating and hyperventilating. She looks over, and there’s Nate Sr. sleeping peacefully next to her. Filmed in vibrant technicolor.
Fade to white. End of series.
It’s probably a good thing I don’t write for 6FU, as I would probably be hated by all. 
Happy
I agree about the show getting too unrelentingly depressing. I watch an episode this season and just feel blah. If I hadn’t already invested in the previous episodes, I doubt I would have bothered to watch this season.
I’m just waiting for something, anything, to happen.
I flew by the comments in this thread as I haven’t seen the episode yet…so I don’t know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but in today’s Hollywood Reporter, they announced that starting July 10th, Six Feet Under will be moving back to Sunday’s.
Seems the grand experiment to move the audience to Mondays hasn’t panned out as well as they had hoped.
Just read some speculation about the way the series ends. Putting it in a spoiler box, because it makes a lot of sense to me:
We’ll get a flash forward showing how and when each of the main characters dies.
I’ve been a fan of 6FU since day one, and after seeing what has happened to the show, I have to say that it needs to end. It’s lost so much of what made it a great show. Instead of exploring themes through the characters and their journey, it has degenerated into a soap opera – in a funeral home. Tragic. It doesn’t have to end this way. Hopefully the writers will be able to redeem themselves by the last episode.
As to the bird, it might be a symbol of “fleeting” happiness. (Trite, I know. Gimme a break here.) What kind of bird was that, anyway?
George and Billy comparing notes on their mental health was worth watching. Cromwell and Sisto are wonderful actors.
Otherwise, an episode I had to force myself to sit through. I’ll rewatch it just to see if I was wrong in feeling that way.
Is his therapist Bob Newhart, by any chance?
What bothered me the most was that the Nate/Brenda fight seemed contrived as hell. He has been in love with her since Ep 1.1/ he’s just pretending to love her… he wants another baby/ he dreads having another baby-- which is it? It’s a TV drama cliche to wreck relationships that are going to well because happy relationships aren’t fun to watch. The writers of 6FU have taken that to heart, I guess, except with David and Keith (for now).
The parallels between Claire and Ruth are a bit heavy-handed, though Ruth’s lack of compassion for her daughter in this situation is a bit hard to take. Ruth has learned the truth of the old saw, “Marry in haste, repent at leisure.”
I have to admit, I feel bad for George and want him to get better; what happened to him with his mom would send anyone around the bend, whereas Billy is and always has been a complete asshole. Claire has the worst taste in men I’ve ever seen.
Does anyone think Rico and Vanessa are actually getting back together? I doubt it. That’s another TV drama cliche-- the split couple having one more night together and the estranged, cheating partner thinking a reconciliation is happening when it’s not.
Yeah, this show is depressing… 
Wow… I hope you are right. That would be an excellent finale.
This is SFU so it has to be way more depressing. Vanessa takes Rico back and everything is going great. Then she finds out that that gal he was dating didn’t really die like he said and she throws him out for good.
Haj
A couple of weeks ago, an article in the L.A. Times said that the first half of the season is more of the same, but that they’re setting us up for a fantastic finish. I hope so.
The opening scene deaths are usually pretty funny, or at least interesting. This was the lamest of them all…I mean, nothing against people who die of old age on a toilet seat in a double wide, but…is that the best they could come up with?
And with all that is going on, does anyone really think Brenda would organize a surprise birthday party, inviting people she hates, to their house? Out of character.
Billy looks good in tighty whities, but how long does it take for the rest of the family to notice he is a nutcase? Does he have to show up with a bomb taped to his chest?
Ruth is becoming a major bitch. If George kills her in the last episode, it will be worth watching this season.
As a Gay man, I am upset that they are showing David and Keith trying to have a kid. If there was ever a couple who should NOT have children, they would be way up on the list. Granted, Nate and Brenda are not exactly poster parents…but for David and Keith to be parents?..well…I see a spin off series for their kid when he grows up: The Six Feet Under Serial Killer.
As much as I loved this show when it started, I am almost relieved this is the last season.
As soon as they introduced George’s daughter, I said to my wife “uh-oh”. There’s sexual tension between these two which will, of course, lead to Nate having a fling with her and Brenda catching them at it. The complete meltdown of nearly all the characters this season is annoying.