Turtle Power

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Good Grief



I know I am about two months late, but I wanted to weigh in on the series finale of "Six Feet Under." No other series finale, or any television episode has affected me quite that much. During the last ten minutes, I was crying like a baby. (And I know that the old people wigs were ridiculous looking, but I was able to look beyond that.) And believe me, I am not one to cry during televisions shows, movies, commericals, etc. It gets even more pathetic, because the ending was not unexpected. I knew what was going to happen! So why did it affect me so much? The answer is three-fold.
1.) Claire is supposed to be my age. At the end of the episode, she is going off on her own, really for the first time. Watching this episode two months after I did the exact same thing really got to me. When I was driving off from home, having had a tearful goodbye with my parents, I was sobbing in my car just like Claire. (Although Claire's fender did not fall off in the process.)It was incredibly scary to take such a big step in my life, and driving into the unknown. Seeing Claire do the exact same started the waterworks.

2.) The fact that the audience is able to see what happens in the main characters lives also got the tears flowing. I like that they did not just show the deaths, but also all the good things that happened as well. Such is life...

3.) What affected me most was the simple concept of the series finale, and the show as a whole: that life is about death. Ever since the end of January, when my grandfather died on the 24th, and I found out the next day that my friend Linda from high school was murdered in her apartment at Johns Hopkins (www.lindatrinh.com) death has been on my mind much more than it ever had. The two deaths happening so close together was also such a daunting contrast. I miss my grandfather so much, but I have accepted that he was 83, and that is what happens. But for Linda to be killed at 21, I do not think I will ever be able to accept. I do not think there will ever be a time in my life, where she is not constantly on my mind. She was such an incredibly amazing person, and there is no way in my mind that I can make sense of her death. It might make it easier for me if I was religious, or if I believed in heaven. But I am not, and I believe that when you die, you die, that's it. Although "Six Feet Under" as a whole, did not necassarily take that approach (with the reoccurence of dead characters such as Nathaniel, and Nate), it still shows how fragile life is, and how quickly it can be taken away (ex. Nate, and Keith being gunned down.)

By the time the credits rolled around, I was a blubbering mess. After I got off the couch, I saw that I had missed a phone call from home. Stone Groove had left a typical stupid message (something about pretending to be Howard Stern), which made me start crying even more because it made me think that one day he was not going to be there.

I'm sorry that this was such a depressing entry. I really wanted to share how much the show affected me. It has been a couple weeks since I have watched it, and in non-crying, undramatic hindsight, I give the series finale an A- (The minus is for the awful old people hair.)

RIP: Six Feet Under: 2001-2005

3 Comments:

  • one of my favorite moments of freaks and geeks is in the episode where sam wants to get an atari. his parents say maybe. then sam spends the episode helping neal try to find out if his dad is cheating on his mom. at the end, sam's parents buy him the atari and he bursts into tears. that moment to me is one of the most powerful subtle scenes i've ever seen in a movie or on tv.

    By Blogger Listmaker, at 10/12/2005 5:32 PM  

  • Oh, Amy, I love how your blog centers around television. I don't live in New England or have a blog, but please keep in touch anyway! And I will check for updates, you know, in case you mention some other oldies-but-goodies, like... er... the Snorks.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/13/2005 12:52 PM  

  • Oh Beth, how I miss you! How is France? You know, I did not even notice that all I have written about it television. Thanks for pointing that out haha. Oh, and I'm holding your sweatshirt for ransom. I guess you will just have to come visit me in Boston when you get back from France to get it back. Miss you!

    By Blogger Turtle Power, at 10/13/2005 1:17 PM  

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