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Six Feet Under

post #1 of 21
7/5/09 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
I have one excuse for not watching this show when it originally aired and that is that I was 16 at the time and more interested in stuff with explosions and boobs. Now I'm older I've learnt to evenly spread out my appreciation of the finer things in life and my love of exploding tits.

I've never been a big TV guy, up until a few months ago I watched maybe three hours of TV a week, but massive amounts of downtime between University semesters and low prices on DVD Boxsets have made me start picking up shows I missed out on like Chuck, and Supernatural and Mad Men and this.

I'd actually had the boxset since March but I only started with it yesterday due to how much 62 hours of television intimidated me and I love the show, I pretty much watched the first three episodes in one go, and I watched two more today. As it stands I'm probably going to be alternating seasons of this with Supernatural to try and get some brains inbetween my lunk headed demon hunting.

It's a truly fantastic show and the central cast are incredibly gifted. Hall and Freddy Rodriguez are my favourite actors in thus far. I already knew Hall from Dexter but he does some great stuff as David and his relationship with Keith is a fascinating and really sweet emotional bedrock for the show. Meanwhile Rodriguez offers nice context for the Fishers.

I love the dark, quirky, humour of the show but the thing that's getting me so far are the odd moments of melodrama which work due to how acerbic the rest of the show is. The prayer circle for the dead gangster would probably be cheesy on any other show, but it feels earned on this show.

If anyone else is working their way through the show I'd love to hear what you think and I'd love to hear the opinions of people who actually watched it as it aired.
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post #2 of 21
7/5/09 at 5:30pm
Always surprises me that Sex and the City gets mentioned above this in the "Golden Age of HBO" discussion. Because it was a great show among giants, I think it's gotten forgotten a little, but what I've seen -- up through the start of season 3 -- is a pretty fantastic and wonderful show. The end of season two/start of season 3 is my favorite representation of the afterlife in film or television.
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post #3 of 21
7/5/09 at 5:33pm
First two seasons are fantastic. Things kind of fall apart in seasons three and four (which are hit-and-miss at best). But then a brilliant season five and the best series finale I've ever seen ensure the show its status as a classic.
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post #4 of 21
7/5/09 at 6:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zak chase View Post
First two seasons are fantastic. Things kind of fall apart in seasons three and four (which are hit-and-miss at best). But then a brilliant season five and the best series finale I've ever seen ensure the show its status as a classic.
This pretty much mirrors my feelings for the show. I also agree that it's already kind of unsung and forgotten in the wake of Sorpranos, The Wire and Deadwood.
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post #5 of 21
7/5/09 at 6:10pm
I felt like a sibling died when the show ended. I love it to pieces. I connected so much with Claire it's scary. Even the slow seasons are better than anything else I've seen on TV. This is my favorite HBO series by far with Carnivale (another series that is underrated) a close second. I just connect so much better with those shows than The Sopranos or Deadwood. To this day when I hear the Sia song that played during the finale I tear up. It's that emotionally affecting.
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post #6 of 21
7/5/09 at 6:14pm
Around season 3 or 4 SFU started giving off the same Soap Opera-ish where the fuck are we going with this? vibe that so many shows of its ilk do a couple of seasons in. I ditched it at around that point - though I've heard pretty good things about the final season.
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post #7 of 21
7/5/09 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
The scene with Nate in his father's private room, flicking through the record collection their, was amazing. I'm already partially in love with the show and Brenda's brother is scary as fuck.
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post #8 of 21
7/5/09 at 8:44pm
My second favorite show of all time, and like Diva said, despite the latter seasons soap opera leanings, it felt like a family member passed away when it came to the end of its run. I always liked David and Keith, but that grew into love after I felt that Nate became too morose. I fucking hated Clair up until the last few episodes. Hell, the last episode seems to be mostly about getting the viewer to unhate the girl.
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post #9 of 21
7/5/09 at 9:12pm
How can you hate Claire? She's a selfish brat, but who wasn't at her age? Good call on David and Keith. Their relationship just blossoms as the seasons progress, unlike Ruth's relationships which get worse each time (save for Rainn Wilson's character; he was great). Once George is in the picture it gets pretty tedious. I love the episodes, however, where Ruth gets to find herself. Also, being a big fan of Patricia Clarkson, whenever Ruth's sis Sarah comes to town it always meant a rockin' good time. Anything with Olivier is gold. I wish there was a show just about him.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
The scene with Nate in his father's private room, flicking through the record collection their, was amazing.
That's one of the best episodes. So affecting.
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post #10 of 21
7/5/09 at 9:32pm
I loved it, I missed the last season although I caught the great finale. The soap opera stuff tired me and I hated the introduction of Cromwell buried this show for me. I enjoyed every second Keith was on screen and Claire grow for me until some poor writing in the end.
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post #11 of 21
7/6/09 at 1:25am
I didn't mind Cromwell so much, but the whole mystery/resolution to Lili Taylor's character was terrible and mostly the reason why Seasons 3 and 4 are considered subpar.
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post #12 of 21
7/6/09 at 1:47am
My Mother and I were going through this but never made it past Season 3 or 4. We've been meaning to pick it back up for years and finish it. This is good inspiration.
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post #13 of 21
7/6/09 at 5:04am
Thread Starter 
I don't get the hate for Claire either, she's a bratty teen but her entire thing about being trapped in her own head, being dislocated from everything and questioning everything around her reminded me of myself at times. It's Brenda who irritates me the most at the moment.
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post #14 of 21
7/6/09 at 5:51am
There was a sameness to Claire throughout the series that bugged me. Yes, Claire is supposed to be a bratty teen who lives inside her own head, but to me (and several friends whom were also fans of the show) she seemed endlessly those things, and it wore me down over time. So did Brenda really, by the end of the series I didn't feel much for her at all.

Ratty's mention of the murder mystery in seasons 3 through 4 settles on the show's biggest mistake ever in regards to story threads. Not quite jumping the shark, but very, very close.
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post #15 of 21
7/6/09 at 10:12am
My favorite of all the HBO shows. I think David and Keith's relationship is the heart of the series, or at the very least, it's the only relationship written with care by the show's writers. Everyone else on the show just became irritating for me by the end of it's run. Season 1 is sublime, but for me the quality dips with each season after.

This moment from episode 2 crushes me:

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post #16 of 21
7/6/09 at 10:15am
I always got the feeling the finale was playing with loaded dice, but yeah the first couple of seasons of this are pretty good. As mentioned above, the Lilly Taylor stuff really hampered things toward the end.
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post #17 of 21
7/6/09 at 10:20am
Spike - have you been spoiled at all on what happens during season 5?

I remember starting to lose interest during Season 3 or so, but there's a terrific episode (That's My Dog) in season 4 that turned everything back around. It's probably the most unnerving, traumatic, and effective hour I've seen on television, and a testament to how great SFU's characters are.
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post #18 of 21
7/6/09 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
I don't get the hate for Claire either, she's a bratty teen but her entire thing about being trapped in her own head, being dislocated from everything and questioning everything around her reminded me of myself at times. It's Brenda who irritates me the most at the moment.
She'll do that for a while (especially in the first couple seasons), but you'll end up going back and forth on pretty much every main character throughout the run of the show. If a character doesn't spend at least a few episodes as a self-involved jackass, he or she still makes a few unbelievably ill-considered choices. It's the cumulative effect of spending time with all of these flawed people that makes you love (or at least like) them by the end.

It's only a couple of the supporting characters, like Brenda's mother, that remain thoroughly unlikeable (though props to Joanna Cassidy for making even that horrible character complex and entertaining).
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post #19 of 21
7/6/09 at 10:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor View Post
Spike - have you been spoiled at all on what happens during season 5?
Excellent question, as knowing in advance what's coming would seriously damper the effectiveness of that season.

If you haven't been spoiled already, Spike, avoid spoilers like the plague.
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post #20 of 21
7/9/09 at 4:31pm
Thread Starter 
I've been spoiled about Nate, nothing else.

I'm on episode 9 of the first season and the russian florist is easily my favourite background character.

"heh heh heh heh. Look! It's your son pissing against a wall! Bweh, Bweh, heh, heh, heh"
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post #21 of 21
7/10/09 at 4:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brotherman View Post
This moment from episode 2 crushes me:
Jesusfuck, that moment is wrecking.

I'll say that I like s3 and, despite some subparness, both s4 and s5 have enough truly fantastic great moments to be worth a watch.
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