The last episode was good
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Rico gets what he wants
David retains the family business
David, Keith & family move into the family home (after some updating)
Claire goes to NYC
Brenda keeps the girls
They all die (future deaths)
My son called during the closing minutes, but at least I didn’t miss any dialog.
My quick reaction: eh.
Nothing in this episode really pulled me in, which is disappointing for a series finale.
It seemed rushed, but I can’t complain. I’m glad the writers flashed ahead. Very satisfying. I think I’ll miss these people.
Why the black man gotta die the violent death? huh?!
Other than that, it was great. A fitting end to one of the best television shows, ever.
Claire moving to New York by herself, not knowing anyone, having no job or anything else, really unrealistic.
The ends of everyone were boring except David. I found his very emotional when he saw Keith and then went. He would obviously be heart broken and lonely after Keith’s death. (The rest were nothing all that interesting, lots of heads falling over except for the shooting).
Middle aged Claire wasn’t too well done. Gee, let’s give her blonde hair, that makes he look much older. Her hooking up with the lawyer much later on was odd. Poor bastard been waiting 20+ years? Yikes. Single Lawyer in L.A.? Right.
It’s 11 pm CST – by the time I’m done typing, west coasters will have seen the show, so no spoiler box.
The only thing I didn’t like was how Rico was written in this ep. His rant at David was so out-of-character, I thought for a minute it was a fantasy sequence. The writers made it seem like Rico was trying to rip David off, or gouge him, when all he wanted was what was rightfully his. The Diaz family dinner scene continued with that – it was like they got away with something. The only thing missing was Rico and Vanessa gleefully rubbing their hands together.
And the writers could have let him go with a bit more dignity, IMHO.
I read somewhere that a reviewer called Keith’s death racist. I’m not finely attuned to racism and others may see it differently, but I’ve never seen any racism in the writing in this show.
I do think maybe the writers felt they needed at least one violent, shocking death to wind things up, and Keith’s background in law enforcement and security made him the best candidate.
I doubt any of the actors had to try real hard to cry while filming this, especially Frances Conroy and Lauren Ambrose.
I was surprised/disappointed that they didn’t follow up with Maggie’s apparent pregnancy. Just threw it out there and dropped it.
I’m also somewhat annoyed at the rather disjointed arc that George’s character has taken over the past season: he’s nuts, Ruth gets sick of him, throws him out, he gets completely better, and now he’s back with her. Only she changes her mind at the last minute.
Other than that, I found many of the scenes in tonight’s show, especialyl between Ruth and Claire, to be very touching.
Were we supposed to get the impression that David and Keith’s sons were going to go in to the funeral business?
Uh, what pregnancy? I don’t recall any reference to her being pregnant? She was in the doctor’s office because she’s a pharmaceutical rep. Did I miss something? 
Wow. I have to say I’m really kinda disappointed in everyone who has weighed in so far.
This whole series, and most especially the series finale, was not merely some TV show for us to opine about, people. Alan Ball was trying to tell you something, HELLO.
And he did an awesome goddamn job of it, bad age makeup notwithstanding, so I’m going to keep it simple: Alan Ball Rules Everything. Thank you, sir.
(The moment when I really started to lose it bigtime: Ruth’s call to Maggie to find out if Nate was happy.)
I’m with Stoid. I loved it. I especially loved the end with everyone’s deaths.
I didn’t quite get the reasoning for Claire to lose the photo-house job, but I guess it was a device for Nate to show up and tell her to leave anyway.
What reference was there to a pregnancy? Like Cyros said, she’s a pharmecuetical sales rep, that’s why she was in a doctor’s office.
BobT, yes, I believe it was Durrell that followed David into the funeral business. There was that quick shot of him watching David prepare a body while David explained what he was doing, and then we saw him again at one of the funerals (Ruth’s?).
I will really miss this show. Thank you, Alan Ball and the fantastic ensemble cast who played their rolles to a TEE. And especially thank you for the brilliantly moving scenes at the very end. It is good to know what happened to our favorites and heartening to me at least that some saw their loved ones awaiting them. I only hope that those who go before me are awaiting me in the end. I can’t think of anything more to say other than that I’ll really, really miss this show!
I disagree. I thought the rant, while out of character for Rico, at least in intensity, seemed true in that he finally realized he was stuck with the Fishers. Nothing he said was untrue. I also saw no implication that they were “getting away with something.”
When I realized that they were going to show all of the future deaths, I thought it would be cheesy but I didn’t find it so (“old people” make-up always looks bad to me). I liked that Brenda died while Billy was ranting about something. And as for Keith, please, was working in securyt and died in the line of duty. It was a tragic and heroic death. A racist death would have been if he’d died in a drug deal gone bad.
Don’t forget, he’s an ex-cop; just the sort of person who might start an armored transport business and incur the attendant risks. I thought it was cool he’d got his own business going that didn’t depend on the whims of spoiled celebrities.
I thought it was a great episode, and Claire’s death in 2085 (at 102) was a great twist. I honestly thought she was going to die in a highway accident before ever reaching her destination.
The Loaded Dog, having her do* that does seem a bit unrealistic, but don’t forget she had her trust fund released to her. There must have been some thousands of dollars remaining, enough to find a place to live and so on.
*if you don’t know what this refers to see TLD’s spoiler above.
At least we can look forward to what Alan Ball and the rest will do next.
Well we didn’t get the big explosion with fire death and mahem killing everybody like some of us had hoped for. Over the last few weeks I was getting really sick of most of the family.
I was happy that Ruth and and Brenda came together about help raising the girls. Margaret should have been ashamed of herself tossing the stuffed monkey off the chair after Ruth gave it back. During the flash forward scene when David and Kieth got married, what was a little older Maya had the monkey on her lap, so there!
I assume that car Claire drove off in was a hybred, funny going from the Caddy to that. I wonder how much was in the trust fund? If Nate and David each got a share of the business, Claire must have had a pretty good pile of money to go to NY with.
Dinner at the remodeled house, that was Nate’s real funeral. I’m surprised he was lurking in the background.
I was really stunned at the date Claire dies (I was so hoping to see her nekkid for a moment when she was in bed with the lawyer) she will be 102.
A little like the episode two weeks ago, I only saw a little of this one - the last 25 minutes or so - but despite the makeup I thought it was done very well. Now I’ve got to start rewatching the series from where I lost track. :smack:
This was the only episode that opened with a beginning instead of an ending: little Willa Fisher, 2005 -
I would absolutely have written it the same way. If Claire’s just driving off to a new job, there’s a kind of security and familiarity there. But having the job cancelled, and having her go anyway makes it an act of some bravery – she’s going down the road to an unknown destination, as we all are. It’s time for her to really head out into the larger world. In a Prius.
Apparently Ted has pretty good taste in music after all; does anybody know the artist and song we heard at the end? I didn’t see a credit for it.
Rico’s rant seemed realistic to me; he was on the verge of getting his dream of his own business, when David pulled the rug out from under him. Very frustrating; I think I would have gone off too. Fortunately, it worked out, and there was nothing sinister about Rico and Vanessa celebrating.
All in all, a great finale. Life is messy, but things tend to work out in the end. Earlier in the season, I was sort of hoping everybody would go off a cliff in a bus because for a while everybody just seemed to be a miserable asshole. But the last few episodes got me to reconnect with the characters, so that at the end I realized I’d miss them. For that I credit both a great ensemble of actors, and Alan Ball (for the original conception of the show, even though a lot of the writing in the middle seasons was just tiresome). Really, great casting; not only fine actors, but believable as a family (anybody seeing Frances Conroy and Lauren Ambrose together might easily believe they’re mother and daughter).
I liked how Brenda’s and Claire’s imaginary versions of Nate became more positive and loving; they’re getting past the hardest stages of grief, leaving behind some of the anger and fear and holding on to the important things.
I found the flash-forwards sad but not depressing; all the characters had a lot to look back on, and had lived full lives. It’s not really important when and how we die; the years when we’re still moving around have infinite possibilities.
Didn’t David and Keith make a good-looking pair of grooms? (I was thinking that it was a real, legal wedding in the near future when California has adopted more enlightened laws.) It was great that Keith owned his own security company; also characteristic that even in his 60’s he’d still want to personally wear the uniform and do a risky job. In the later scene at the picnic, when David is in his 70s, I thought maybe the man next to him was his new partner, but in any case, Keith is clearly the love of his life. Those two actors had great chemistry together.
I’ve never liked Claire more than in this last episode. Lauren Ambrose brought such a combination of cynicism and vulnerability to the character; her wide-eyed gaze was open but not vapid. (Imagine if, say, Hillary Duff were cast in that part. Yikes.) Personally, I would have extended Claire’s life into the 22nd Century; I think a lot of people now in their twenties are going to live into the 2100’s.
It’s a shame we never found out what happened to Gabe. Maybe not.
What a terrific series this has been. The cast remained true to the characters and didn’t become ‘precious’ over the years with the awards and attention. Perhaps we can chalk that up to superb directing. The finale was flawed just like the rest of the series, but brilliant nonetheless. The happy ending with the family at dinner and everyone living out happy lives was a little much, but it’s TV, regardless of HBO’s claim to the contrary, and I think it was a nod to the viewers, who really wanted to like these bizarre characters in the end. I have to wonder if there is anyone out there who can do decent ‘old person’ makeup. That was awful.