"HOW'S LIFE? GOOD. HOW'S DEATH?:" What a brilliant, note-perfect season finale Sunday for "Six Feet Under," capping off a very different but nonetheless very strong season for the HBO show. (Spoilers!)
Each character in the Fisher family when through a very believable, very human character arc throughout the season: Nate (Peter Krause) nearly died in the first episode, going through a surrealistic hall of mirrors that will go down in history as among the show's most memorable sequences. Falling into an unhappy, clearly mismatched marriage with Lisa (Lili Taylor), Nate struggled throughout the season to rediscover his identity- even moreso after Lisa disappeared and later turned out to be dead. His brother David (Michael C. Hall) continued in perhaps the most richly drawn gay relationship in television history, with Keith (Mathew St. Patrick)- one that led to the eternal-classic Gay Paintball War sequence in the eighth episode. Claire (Lauren Ambrose) continued to grow as a character (and Ambrose as an actress), attending art school, dating tortured bisexual artist Russell (Ben Foster), eventually having an abortion, and taking a "walk through heaven" in the finale. And matriarch Ruth (Emmy shoo-in Frances Conroy) grew perhaps most of all: first sharing time with guest star Kathy Bates, then engaging in a bizarre "Harold & Maude"-like near-affair with intern Arthur (Rainn Wilson), and eventually meeting and marrying George (James Cromwell).
The finale brought all of these elements to a roaring crescendo- also throwing in a guest appearance by the always-welcome Richard Jenkins as the family's deceased patriarch- the image of the always-stoic Mr. Fisher crying in the corner near the end of the finale was among the season's most heartbreaking images. And since the show's primary couple for the first two seasons, Nate and Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) was split for the entire season, it only made sense that the season ended with them in the same room.
Great as they are, HBO's shows (especially "The Sopranos") have been in the unfortunate habit of huge letdowns in their season finales the last few years. Not this time- Sunday's episode was enough "Six Feet Under" to keep its fans happy for a long time- especially considering the show is not scheduled to return until the summer of 2004.
Here's Salon's review, and Slate's, referring to Lisa as the show's "Dark Hippie-Villain."