Six Feet Under - The Complete Fifth Season

I came close to binge watching this but I'll be glad to see it end-I think. Some of the behaviors astound me. How can anyone maintain a relationship with people like this? No one is perfect but come on-seriously. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice (or more) shame on me.

That long quote I put in the title box comes from Maggie, George's daughter who plays an unexpectedly crucial role in this, final, season of SFU. On Nate's 40th birthday, Brenda gathers family and friends together at their home and throws a surprise party for him, which, despite her good intentions, quickly turns into a nightmarish experience not only to him and her but others as well. Surrounded by people he cannot connect with, Nate seeks an escape in the bedroom (was it his and Brenda's bedroom? I'll have to check), where Maggie is having her own hideout. The two strike up a conversation, and our Nate, just like the Nate we know, begins to, say, "pour his heart out": "All I get out of my 40th birthday is that life is f**king lonely." To this, Maggie, in her overly calm, Quaker way, responds: "If you think life is a vending machine, where you put in virtue and take out happiness, you're probably gonna get disappointed. I know that."We may take this as a Quaker's homespun wisdom or we may go overboard and compare it with what Socrates says in Republic, that justice (meaning, virtue) and knowledge *should* make us happy. We may even go further and how such Socratism, this unbridled optimism (if you will), is attacked by Nietzsche in his The Birth of Tragedy. Well, I may sound like I'm (trying to be) kidding, but I'm not. I have admired SFU intensely for many reasons, and one of them was that it often made me run to the bookshelf and earnestly open books whose existence I haven't really thought about for a long time. It's strange, come to think of it, that somehow great books, films, and shows all seem to find a way into each other. Somehow. Do they exist as a family, and come from the same origin?!The end of SFU marked an end of an era of sort to me. Not having HBO subscrition until recently, I had to wait till early April this year for the DVD release to watch the final season. I now own all five seasons on DVD, and adding the final season to my collection, I felt as if, the world of SFU is now *complete* and on its own, and I'd have to let it live on its own. It is as if, through the fourth season, the Fisher family felt like a part of my own extended family, but now I feel more like a *visitor* to their world. Not all SFU fans would share this, weird, feeling. Well, I think it is actually a sense of loss, which comes from knowing that their world is indeed complete/completed now.

The fifth and final season of HBO's groundbreaking series Six Feet Under brings closure to the story of the Fisher family in such a brilliant way that it's got to be considered among the very best conclusions to any television show ever.As the fifth season begins, it develops the new stages in the lives of each of the Fishers: Nate and Brenda entering married life, David attempting to start a family with Keith, Ruth struggling to adjust to her husband George's new mental state and Claire's evergrowing conflicts both in her relationship with Billy and her art. The first half of the season compellingly sets up the characters' conflicts with an uneasy and rather disturbing foreboding that something big will happen that will turn the Fisher family's world upside down and change them forever.And something HUGE does happen halfway through the season, indeed. I will not reveal what it is, but it will not only shake the Fishers to their very core; it will also force them to face their deepest inner demons, make them come to terms with the reality of loss, and eventually help them move on with their lives.The entire final season is excellent and the acting (Frances Conroy and Lauren Ambrose are especially fantastic), directing, writing and production values are outstanding throughout, but what elevates this season to something truly extraordinary are the last 5 episodes or so, which have got to be the best run of episodes in the show's history. Shocking, morbidly funny, beautiful, tragic, disturbing, spiritual and heartbreaking; one after the other, these final episodes will leave the viewer intensely involved and emotionally drained. The final episode in particular, ends the show with such a sense of closure, satisfaction and completeness to the characters and their lives in all its encompassing happiness, sadness, tragedy and fulfillment that is so tremendously moving, eloquent and trascendental, it will likely leave you in tears.A truly perfect and unforgettable way to end one of the best shows to ever grace the small screen.

Great fast transaction. Great TV Series. Sharp sound.